From plaintiff firm to biglaw/midlaw Forum

[Anonymous User]

Currently a junior in a well-reputed and (relatively) large plaintiff law firm. I'm not sure how realistic it is to lateral to law firms with market rate. From what I know, these firms generally do defense work. How am I going to tell a compelling story other than $$$, more resources and brighter career prospect?

[Anonymous User]

Will depend on stats, firm, practice area, and how long you’ve been there. Why are you trying to do it, and what do you mean by brighter career prospects? Most people looking to switch sides go biglaw to plaintiff.

[objctnyrhnr]

I am a mid level biglaw associate. I acknowledge that there are a small handful of relatively very prestigious plaintiffs’ firms (mainly in nyc I believe). If you are at one, you might get a look. If you aren’t, and for like 97% of the plaintiffs’ bar, I can, unfortunately, tell you that on the whole, the biglaw lit crew looks down on them.

Generally speaking, they have a reputation of frivolity, sloppiness, mediocre attitudes, poor writing ability, poor researching ability, and just generally not the kind of lawyers that at least my firm and associates at other firms to whom I have spoken would be excited about the prospect of hiring. Remember—a good chunk of biglaw commercial litigation is defending class actions against big companies brought by relatively small plaintiffs’ shops.

I’m not trying to sound pompous and I acknowledge that there are exceptions. In fact, I entered biglaw as a lateral with somewhat of an unusual pre biglaw resume, so it can certainly be done. Beyond that, probably depends on how junior you are (more junior = better) whether you clerked, whether you had the grades, and your school.

Relatedly, if you want to maximize chances of making this happen, I highly recommend doing your best to try to clerk up the chain and attempting the transition from there. If you can get that fedclerk resume stamp, I can picture it making a world of difference for you.

Good luck, and I’m sorry if my post was not what you wanted to hear.

[Anonymous User]

I think the best way to move up the chain so to speak would be to work at a lit boutique that does a mix of plaintiff and defense work. You could much more easily explain the move when interviewing at these types of boutiques - you could tell them you would like a wider array or experiences on both sides of the v and that you want to continue your trial focus, etc etc. Then, if you decide you still want to make a go at biglaw, you would likely have a better shot.

That said, there's no harm in applying to firms. Find a good recruiter. Good luck!