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Midlevel lit (major market, biglaw, non-IP) associate/T10 graduate here. Looking to lateral to Austin (have ties). I understand the market is small -- but how difficult to actually land something here?

It's an IP heavy town, so prepare for some steep hurdles.

If you have ties, I'd start reaching out now and meet folks during Thanksgiving. Austin is a very insular market & largely dominated by UT. Networking is a must, plenty of HYS folks who fail to break into the market every year (and not for lack of talent or credentials, obviously).

You may also consider long term strategies:
a) Try to get into the big TX market first and then lateral from a big TX office in Houston/Dallas to their Austin shop. That lateral is very difficult but it may be easier than landing Austin outright. And getting Houston is definitely 10 times easier than Austin.

b) You said mid-level, but even so you could try clerking for a year in town* and then use that to for leverage. The fed judges in town love folks with local ties. So you'd have a leg up, provided these ties are substantive enough & you can carry a decent conversation. Some clerkships are easier to get than others, as you'll no doubt figure out.

Good luck!

* This is of course non-traditional. But I've seen it used with success here and in other insular markets.

Thanks for the advice. Seems tough. I see that many of the biglaw offices in Austin are relatively small (and as you point out, IP heavy). I also see some lit boutique options (that likely pay well, but not market). Is it correct to assume that it's probably a better long-term strategy to try to land something at a local-ish boutique (McKool, Scott Douglas, Reid Collins, Graves Dougherty), rather than a satellite office where there are 1-2 non-IP lit partners and, presumably, much of the work is coming from Dallas/Houston?