lit: biglaw vs boutique Forum

[keceke]

Hey all,

I know that this has been covered before, but the consensus in the previous threads I've found seems to be that starting your lit career at biglaw leaves you with better exit options (vs starting at a top-tier boutique). Am I missing something here? I would've thought that getting early substantive experience trumps the "prestige" of a biglaw firm for lit exit options (other firms, government, etc). I guess I'm talking about top-tier boutiques that are not at the Susman/WC level but which tend to be at/near the top of chambers rankings in local markets.

[keceke]

For AUSA at least, my impression is that substantive experience is more important than coming from a big name, big law firm. The exception might be biglaw that have institutional ties with USAOs. The lit world operates different from transactions. If you're going for lit, be wary of your corp friends' Vault-chasing.

Moderator note: Don't abuse anon to respond to yourself! -QContinuum

[timbs4339]

Hey all,

I know that this has been covered before, but the consensus in the previous threads I've found seems to be that starting your lit career at biglaw leaves you with better exit options (vs starting at a top-tier boutique). Am I missing something here? I would've thought that getting early substantive experience trumps the "prestige" of a biglaw firm for lit exit options (other firms, government, etc). I guess I'm talking about top-tier boutiques that are not at the Susman/WC level but which tend to be at/near the top of chambers rankings in local markets.

I'd say biglaw leads to broader exit options. Biglaw firms are more likely to have the kind of institutional relationships with F500 companies that have large legal departments that actually have positions for litigators. They are also more likely to have a wide variety of regulatory/investigations work with different agencies if you want to go that route.

Boutiques are definitely more likely to give you substantive experience early on. That can be more helpful if you want to be trial lawyer or AUSA or if you really really like the day to day of litigation and see yourself doing that for 30+ years.

[TheProsecutor]

For AUSA at least, my impression is that substantive experience is more important than coming from a big name, big law firm. The exception might be biglaw that have institutional ties with USAOs. The lit world operates different from transactions. If you're going for lit, be wary of your corp friends' Vault-chasing.

If you look at SDNY, EDNY, EDVA . . . a lot of them come from Wachtell and Williams & Connolly. Wachtell has a reputation for hiring only superstars and Williams and Connolly is probably the most prestigious pure litigation firm in the country. In essence, I think you're right about experience being more important than name of the firm, but I also think that if you go to Wachtell or Williams and Connolly, you're probably in the best possible position to become an AUSA at one of the major offices.