Is it ever "too early" to go in house? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I am currently a 3rd year associate at a mid-sized firm in a secondary market. I was recently offered a job as an in-house attorney at a strong company. The work seems interesting and I would still make over $100,000 (which I will try to negotiate up). My concern is that it is too early for me to go in house and I would like some feedback. Any major drawbacks to jumping ship early?

[BaiAilian2013]

I am currently a 3rd year associate at a mid-sized firm in a secondary market. I was recently offered a job as an in-house attorney at a strong company. The work seems interesting and I would still make over $100,000 (which I will try to negotiate up). My concern is that it is too early for me to go in house and I would like some feedback. Any major drawbacks to jumping ship early?

I think the major drawbacks are that the quality of the opportunities may not be the best early on, and the lost income. So if this is the type of opportunity you would want and you're not fretting over the money, don't overthink it.

[1styearlateral]

You can always go back to the firm life if you end up not liking in-house.

[unlicensedpotato]

You can always go back to the firm life if you end up not liking in-house.

Given the difference between the roles/responsibilities, I doubt this is typically the case.

[Anonymous User]

You can always go back to the firm life if you end up not liking in-house.

Given the difference between the roles/responsibilities, I doubt this is typically the case.

At my firm this happens all the time. I can think of at least five people who have done in-house stints, and even more who have come back after working for other firms. So long as you leave on good terms, it's not a big deal (V10 transactional).

[nealric]

There's no bad time, just bad opportunities which may or may not correspond to timing.

[1styearlateral]

You can always go back to the firm life if you end up not liking in-house.

Given the difference between the roles/responsibilities, I doubt this is typically the case.

I was under the impression that firms liked to hire experienced in-house counsel because then there'd be an opportunity to bring in more work with someone who has a relationship with people at the company. My old boss was in-house for 10 years before he was offered a partnership position at the firm. It's no surprise that his old company is one of his biggest clients.

[nealric]

You can always go back to the firm life if you end up not liking in-house.

Given the difference between the roles/responsibilities, I doubt this is typically the case.

I was under the impression that firms liked to hire experienced in-house counsel because then there'd be an opportunity to bring in more work with someone who has a relationship with people at the company. My old boss was in-house for 10 years before he was offered a partnership position at the firm. It's no surprise that his old company is one of his biggest clients.

It can happen, but it's not really that common in my experience. There's no guarantee that your old company will send you work if you leave, and firms know that. Some in-house people are really well connected and probably could turn those connections into a decent book fairly easily. Many others would struggle to develop business- they've been out of the client development game for a long time (if they were ever in it in the first place). A lot of people go in-house precisely because they don't want to do client development.

[Anonymous User]

It is only common in certain fields (i.e. technology transactions, privacy and commercial transactions group).

[Anonymous User]

OP Follow up- tips for negotiating salary?

[Anonymous User]

There's no bad time, just bad opportunities which may or may not correspond to timing.

can you elaborate on bad opportunities? and, conversely, what makes an opportunity good?

[nealric]

There's no bad time, just bad opportunities which may or may not correspond to timing.

can you elaborate on bad opportunities? and, conversely, what makes an opportunity good?

Bad opportunity: poorly paid low-level compliance job at a poorly run small-cap company in a struggling industry.

Good opportunity: highly paid high-growth potential position in a large well-run company poised for significant growth that values its legal department highly.

[favabeansoup]

There's no bad time, just bad opportunities which may or may not correspond to timing.

can you elaborate on bad opportunities? and, conversely, what makes an opportunity good?

...that values its legal department highly.

Highly underrated. OP try to figure out how the other departments (sales, etc. ) interact and treat legal.

[Diplock1]

There's no bad time, just bad opportunities which may or may not correspond to timing.

can you elaborate on bad opportunities? and, conversely, what makes an opportunity good?

...that values its legal department highly.

Highly underrated. OP try to figure out how the other departments (sales, etc. ) interact and treat legal.

How would you go about finding this out?