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Hi all,

I'm wondering what insight people have about leaving biglaw early for a "staff attorney" in house position? Is this a no-no? Are these crap positions because staff attorneys are stuck at the bottom of the ladder for a long time/forever? I'm a year in, but there are a couple of these types of positions available in my market for some Fortune 500s looking for 1-2 years experience in the niche type of work I do. I'm just curious. Thanks for any insight.

I am interested in what the response is so I am subscribing to the thread.

However, I did not go from big law to in house, so I am of no use there. Also, I am "Counsel" not "Staff Attorney" although this could very well be just a difference in wording as the job declaring ion is likely similar.

I'm not in house but I have looked into moving into an in house job from time to time. From what I understand "staff attorney" in house just means the basic type of attorney at a general counsel's office (aka counsel, attorney, associate general counsel in a smaller legal department, etc.) It doesn't at all have the kind of stigma that it has in biglaw and is probably the default position that you would lateral into from biglaw as a relatively junior associate.

Honestly, I would contact the HR person/someone in the GC's office (better if they went to the same school as you) and ask what the "staff attorney" position is and is it akin to a b/l staff attorney.

what is a staff attorney in big law?

Anonymous User wrote:What is a staff attorney in big law?

non partner track associate

foregetaboutdre wrote:Honestly, I would contact the HR person/someone in the GC's office (better if they went to the same school as you) and ask what the "staff attorney" position is and is it akin to a b/l staff attorney.

More or less this. There's no way anyone can credibly answer this question for you. Titles generally provide very little insight into actual day-to-day job functions/opportunities for promotion.

at the investment bank I worked at staff attorney was a title they used as a work around when they couldn't get headcount for a counsel position. functionally there was no difference in your job, benefits, etc. this is obviously a unique situation though

theres no general rule for in-house positions based on title so you would really just have to ask HR as someone else mentioned

As others have said, there isn't standardization for titles in house. At my company, "attorney" without "staff" before it is essentially equivalent to "associate" while "counsel" is more like partner. Other companies do all sorts of title malarkey like calling every attorney a "Vice President." You just have to look at each position individually. The debt is also meaningless if you are doing government or public interest work.