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Bit of background - working at large, global company for 10 years, continuing to work through law school. Want to be a litigator and like environmental lit. Have an offer from a V50 in a NE market that I really like and does exactly what I want to do (would be in the lit group and they do a lot of enviro litigation). However, was also given an offer to stay in-house post graduation as the environmental/litigation counsel. V50 will offer better pay ($180, but with high COL) and (I think) better long term opportunities (hard to go to a law firm if you start in-house, or so I am told) and while the hours will def be worse, the billables are 1800 which isn't terrible. The in-house position will be with people I know, I will be expected to move to the Midwest post-graduation (not necessarily a problem, but would prefer east coast where the V50 is) with a possibility of working abroad (Europe) for a short stint within the first couple of years, and while the hours will be better (generally everyone is gone by 6PM but there is some night work from home, almost no weekend work) the pay will be less (still working it out but likely starting ~$120-130, but may be evened out by COL) and I am not a huge fan of our corporate management.

I am leaning toward the V50 just because I think my long-term opps will be better. I want to be a litigator and while the company does tend to get hands-on in its lit (editing briefs, showing up at court), it tends to be more of a litigation management role and I think I will have better learning opps at the firm. (And with my connections in the industry I am positive I would be able to find in-house employment at a similar company after a couple years at the firm if I wanted to). I understand I would be "starting at the bottom" in a sense, but also know exactly what I am getting into. On the other hand, in-house would allow me to work in other areas I enjoy (corporate compliance, international trade, industrial security, etc...), which I may never see as a litigator at a V50.


Also - TTT, top 10%, secondary journal, moot court, if that means anything as far as the math here goes.

Any thoughts/comments would be appreciated. I get a lot of feedback from the attorneys I work with but would appreciate any from the larger community, especially with regards to the ability to go to a law firm after starting in-house.

Thanks!

What kind of debt will you have? You didn't mention it, so I'm assuming not much. I would probably lean toward the V50, because the in-house opportunities will there down the road and you'll learn a lot more doing that. I wouldn't want to forego those opportunities to work in-house in an area you don't seem like you want to live in, working for corporate management you don't like. I would guess you'll have much better opportunities as exit ops after the V50.

First, congrats on those fantastic options. Considering that you're at a TTT law school, you did amazingly well.

As for your choice, you're thinking about all the right things. If your goal is to be a litigator, then it probably makes sense to start at a law firm instead of in-house. Although the in-house job will almost surely give you more free time, and although the pay is pretty good for a first-year grad, your opportunities for advancement and lateraling will likely be limited for your entire career if you start there right out of school.

Roy McAvoy wrote:What kind of debt will you have? You didn't mention it, so I'm assuming not much. I would probably lean toward the V50, because the in-house opportunities will there down the road and you'll learn a lot more doing that. I wouldn't want to forego those opportunities to work in-house in an area you don't seem like you want to live in, working for corporate management you don't like. I would guess you'll have much better opportunities as exit ops after the V50.

Thanks for the feedback! Debt would be <$50K (I am debt averse so consider this significant, but also understand this is really low for many law students).

Would also point out that the legal dept. colleagues with whom I would work in-house are great, including my GC; my reservations are more about our corporate management, but they are significant reservations nonetheless.

Roy McAvoy wrote:What kind of debt will you have? You didn't mention it, so I'm assuming not much. I would probably lean toward the V50, because the in-house opportunities will there down the road and you'll learn a lot more doing that. I wouldn't want to forego those opportunities to work in-house in an area you don't seem like you want to live in, working for corporate management you don't like. I would guess you'll have much better opportunities as exit ops after the V50.

Thanks for the feedback! Debt would be <$50K (I am debt averse so consider this significant, but also understand this is really low for many law students).

Would also point out that the legal dept. colleagues with whom I would work in-house are great, including my GC; my reservations are more about our corporate management, but they are significant reservations nonetheless.

rpupkin wrote:First, congrats on those fantastic options. Considering that you're at a TTT law school, you did amazingly well.

As for your choice, you're thinking about all the right things. If your goal is to be a litigator, then it probably makes sense to start at a law firm instead of in-house. Although the in-house job will almost surely give you more free time, and although the pay is pretty good for a first-year grad, your opportunities for advancement and lateraling will likely be limited for your entire career if you start there right out of school.

Thanks for the feedback! As for my options out of TTT I have a lot of soft factors - working with our in-house legal department for the past 10 years I have developed connections at many firms, including where I have the V50 offer, which I am sure was no small part in my getting the offer.