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As the title says, how strict are big law firms with regards to experience requirements? There are some openings I see that ask for one year of experience minimum. I have been working for 5 months now, but I do feel like I could consider my internships as experience too, which would put me around a year.

Could anyone shed light on this? It's a generic question but I'd rather not jeopardize my chances or my current career with a poorly-timed application. Any thoughts are appreciated.

You can’t count your internship experience.

Also, a lot of jobs that are 1-3 years are usually looking for closer to 3 years.

5 months is realistically not enough experience to get an interview unless you have past experience pre-law school in that field or you have some other compelling reason for being a stellar candidate.

Additionally, if you’re currently not at a biglaw firm, it’ll be even harder to lateral this early in your career.

I don’t think it’ll hurt to try unless you’re afraid of your current firm finding out (not that likely), but don’t apply thinking you will get an interview.

So, if the listed range is 2-5 years, someone who is a stub year looking to lateral has no shot?

Anonymous User wrote:So, if the listed range is 2-5 years, someone who is a stub year looking to lateral has no shot?

Never say never, but highly unlikely. A firm looking for 2-5 years is going to be looking for someone who has substantial experience doing junior level work, and someone who can or is already managing lower level associates.

Depending on how busy the group is, though, they may hire you into a group as a first year. I know that my firm regularly interviews first years for positions wanting 3-4 years in busier practice groups.

2013 wrote:You can’t count your internship experience.

Also, a lot of jobs that are 1-3 years are usually looking for closer to 3 years.

5 months is realistically not enough experience to get an interview unless you have past experience pre-law school in that field or you have some other compelling reason for being a stellar candidate.

The postings I have seen list 1 year as the requirement, not 1-3 years. Could that skew the odds in my favor? It seems that you have a lot of insight into what the firms are looking for - what kind of skills would they be looking for to hire a candidate with one year of experience?

Anonymous User wrote:

2013 wrote:You can’t count your internship experience.

Also, a lot of jobs that are 1-3 years are usually looking for closer to 3 years.

5 months is realistically not enough experience to get an interview unless you have past experience pre-law school in that field or you have some other compelling reason for being a stellar candidate.

The postings I have seen list 1 year as the requirement, not 1-3 years. Could that skew the odds in my favor? It seems that you have a lot of insight into what the firms are looking for - what kind of skills would they be looking for to hire a candidate with one year of experience?

I don’t have that much insight. My mentor is on our hiring committee and we talk about that stuff sometimes because I’m generally curious about recruiting.

You should just apply. The worst that could happen is that they say no.

How strict they are depends on how desperate they are for candidates. If they entire department is swamped and just looking for warm bodies, that's a very different situation from a firm looking to replace the unique skills of a specific go-to associate. Worst they can say is no, though it's generally better to wait until you have a few years experience before attempting to lateral unless you are in a truly awful situation. You need a compelling story for why you want to leave after five months.