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Anonymous User wrote: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!

albanach wrote: 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?