Accepting a Big4 job while searching for Law jobs. Forum

[Anonymous User]

Hi! I am graduating law school this May, and am looking to break into data privacy law (I have significant experience in the field from before law school). I have an employment offer from a Big 4 firm as a privacy associate where I would be doing consulting work. The job duties align pretty closely with what I envision I would be doing as an in-house privacy counsel, and overall seems like an interesting career path to me. My issue is, that I think I would rather be a practicing attorney than a consultant (mostly because I paid a lot of money for this JD, studying for the bar is no joke, and exit options from a consulting position into a legal position aren't as plentiful).

I believe that I have a couple of prospects that may be able to offer me a job as a junior privacy counsel after I take the bar in late July, but neither of the company's standard practice is to make an offer of employment this far in advance. And as we all know, nothing is for certain until it is in writing - for all I know they may just fill that position with a more senior attorney while I'm still studying for the bar.

So my question is, what kind of repercussions can I expect if I do accept this current offer, find a more attractive counsel position in August, and then go back on my acceptance? Obviously I would return the sign-on bonus, but I'm thinking more long-term. Is there enough back-and-forth between Big4 privacy practices and privacy lawyers where it would hurt my reputation and/or chances at future employment? I also don't want to screw anyone over by having them depend on me, but I have a feeling that my presence wouldn't be missed as much at a firm of that size. Thanks for your suggestions!

[Anonymous User]

The big4 probably wouldn’t care at all. You’re easily replaceable.

[albanach]

Hi! I am graduating law school this May, and am looking to break into data privacy law (I have significant experience in the field from before law school). I have an employment offer from a Big 4 firm as a privacy associate where I would be doing consulting work. The job duties align pretty closely with what I envision I would be doing as an in-house privacy counsel, and overall seems like an interesting career path to me. My issue is, that I think I would rather be a practicing attorney than a consultant (mostly because I paid a lot of money for this JD, studying for the bar is no joke, and exit options from a consulting position into a legal position aren't as plentiful).

I believe that I have a couple of prospects that may be able to offer me a job as a junior privacy counsel after I take the bar in late July, but neither of the company's standard practice is to make an offer of employment this far in advance. And as we all know, nothing is for certain until it is in writing - for all I know they may just fill that position with a more senior attorney while I'm still studying for the bar.

So my question is, what kind of repercussions can I expect if I do accept this current offer, find a more attractive counsel position in August, and then go back on my acceptance? Obviously I would return the sign-on bonus, but I'm thinking more long-term. Is there enough back-and-forth between Big4 privacy practices and privacy lawyers where it would hurt my reputation and/or chances at future employment? I also don't want to screw anyone over by having them depend on me, but I have a feeling that my presence wouldn't be missed as much at a firm of that size. Thanks for your suggestions!

I'm not entirely sure what you expect to be doing as a lawyer. Do you mean you'd like to enter a corporate compliance role, where most data privacy work tends to be located? Or do you want to join a law firm and work as a privacy specialist there?

[Anonymous User]

I'm not entirely sure what you expect to be doing as a lawyer. Do you mean you'd like to enter a corporate compliance role, where most data privacy work tends to be located? Or do you want to join a law firm and work as a privacy specialist there?

Op here. So one of my two possible opportunities are within the privacy practice of a mid-size law firm, and the other is with the in-house counsel of a F100 company.

[chruck]

Did you get a CIPP before or during law school? As someone considering consulting, I wanted to know if that helped.

You seem worried about burning a bridge at the big4 you have an offer from. I don’t know how the big4’s privacy consultanting groups stack against one another, but it seems like you could have opportunities at the other three accounting firms if you renege. However, I don’t know if these firms all have privacy consulting groups you could jump into.

You may also want to check LinkedIn to see what type of career paths the privacy consultants have. My limited LinkedIn searching for FCPA consulting made it seem like doing lawyer -> consultant left open the possibility of going back into law.