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I was contacted by a headhunter for a Knowledge Management Attorney roles in one of the V100 firms. Does anybody know anything about these roles? I have some experience doing KM work and database work prior to law school,and from reading the job description it seems like some combination of finding precedents, tagging and sorting precedents, updating standard form documents, etc. Hours are supposed to be 9-5 and the headhunter said that the pay would be good (cited $130-160 as a range).

Is this a complete career dead-end? (V50 biglaw junior associate, burned out, trying to figure next steps).

I have always wanted to do this. Such a sick gig. I imagine you could go back to practicing full time if you wanted. But why would you want to?

Martin Brody wrote:I have always wanted to do this. Such a sick gig. I imagine you could go back to practicing full time if you wanted. But why would you want to?

I somehow doubt you could, at least not to another big firm. This sounds like somewhere between paralegal work and attorney work. You aren't doing filings, but you're updating standard form documents. You're not really analyzing precedents and applying them to facts and doing that kind of research/writing work, but you're "finding" and "tagging and sorting" the precedents. The problem with this kind of job, at least as the description suggests, is that it's such a specialized little niche that you're potentially making yourself unmarketable by doing it. Many other things people consider -- going in-house legal, going to government, going to a business role at a company, whatever -- aren't potentially dead ends since they can still advance in those jobs or, at worst, are still getting actual experience at a lawyer that can transfer elsewhere.

But that's just my gut. I know nothing about this role or if anyone here has been in it and where they've managed to go from there (if anywhere). I'm also not saying this is a bad gig to get; I'm just suggesting it might in fact be a dead end.

I have seen people leave biglaw and go to other firms, in house, government and even non legal roles and then come back to practice at a large law firm. You might have to go down a class rank or two. But people do it all the time. I don't see why a knowledge manager would be any different.

OP here.

I wouldn't want to come back to a big firm. I have some discomfort with the idea that this job is too narrow to do anything else with. I also feel like I'm a state where I don't really even know how to plan a career anymore, but I'm seriously depressed at the thought of staying in biglaw for more than another year. My index card goal has always been law school -> biglaw to -> in-house (for steady hours and a good paycheck) to ????.

This role seems to be good hours for good pay. I don't know what I'd do next or where I'd go, but if I went in-house to some nebulous role, I don't know what I'd do either. I'm just stressed out feeling like I don't even know how to evaluate the quality of an exit.

Is there a risk of this type of position being phased out in the next several years? Akin to how libraries have been severely downsized and legal librarians are on the ropes.

I know companies other than law firms have knowledge management/content management roles. Would this type of role be transferable?

I have seen people leave biglaw and go to other firms, in house, government and even non legal roles and then come back to practice at a large law firm. You might have to go down a class rank or two. But people do it all the time. I don't see why a knowledge manager would be any different.

Well, you sort of lumped "other firms, in house, government and even non legal roles" but those are not all the same. Usually people at "other firms, in house, [and] government" are still doing legal work, sometimes at an even more substantive level than they would be doing at biglaw. It's easier to go from law->law->law. Non-legal roles are different, and I would guess that it's much rarer (although certainly not impossible) for someone to go from law->non-law->back to law.

But since OP isn't interested in going back to a big firm anyway...

Anonymous User wrote:OP here.

I wouldn't want to come back to a big firm. I have some discomfort with the idea that this job is too narrow to do anything else with. I also feel like I'm a state where I don't really even know how to plan a career anymore, but I'm seriously depressed at the thought of staying in biglaw for more than another year. My index card goal has always been law school -> biglaw to -> in-house (for steady hours and a good paycheck) to ????.

This role seems to be good hours for good pay. I don't know what I'd do next or where I'd go, but if I went in-house to some nebulous role, I don't know what I'd do either. I'm just stressed out feeling like I don't even know how to evaluate the quality of an exit.

Lots of people on TLS will tell you to take the job. I'm not saying don't take it -- the hours and pay sound amazing. There aren't many places you can get a 9-5 job paying 130-160k. For long-term prospects, though, I would at least research whether there's any room to advance in this role and whether it would be transferable elsewhere if you had to look for another job down the road.

Did OP ever make a decision or find out any more information?