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I have received a few offers already, what is the best way to decide other than prestige/ gut feeling?

Anonymous User wrote:I have received a few offers already, what is the best way to decide other than prestige/ gut feeling?

Well, with the wealth of information you've just provided, the answer is it depends.

What's important to you? Prestige/reputation? Location? Culture? Hours? Practice areas? How much you like the people?

Figure those things out and then go for second looks and speak to more people until you can determine which firm fits what you want.

Accept an offer in the V8 to V25 range. That's the Goldilocks amount of prestige.

Money? Location? People? Type of work? Same criteria you would use to evaluate any job offer?

lol you're gonna be a lawyer dude. analyze the choices, weigh the various pros and cons based on your personal preferences, and decide. not really that difficult.

Practice area strength should be an important criterion, as should whether you connected with the people at one firm more than another and whether the firm/office looks to be financially healthy. Those things being more or less equal, I think it's a good idea to consider career flexibility at the margins (i.e., Are you locked into a practice area from the outset? Does one firm offer appreciably better exit opps?)

I suggest looking for prestige in the practice areas that interest you. You want to make sure you can get the experience you want, and some very prestigious firms may not get much work in areas they aren't known for.

Equally or even more important are the people. First year lawyers are useless. You will be useless. Find people you think you'd be comfortable asking for help, clarification, etc. Being anxious because you know nothing sucks. Adding a fear of asking questions on top of that makes it much worse.

Also, acr is right - this decision is about judgment, which also happens to be a key skill of the profession.