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Hi all—

Curious about something. Has anyone worked in the Northern VA market? Thinking of moving back, would be looking for a job in Tyson’s corner with a regional office of a big law firm. Am a 2nd year corporate attorney working at a boutique firm in NY that pays about 85% of big law salary (not counting bonus— bonuses are significantly lower) and has an hours requirement of about 1700/year. Associates from my firm almost uniformly come from, or leave for, big law offices.

Curious about culture, hours expectations, etc. Don’t really want to transition to NYC or DC big law because the hours sound nauseating, so wanted to see if N. Virginia was more chill.

NoVa mid level corporate associate here. Hours are no different than DC in my experience. 2000 is the expectation and is often exceeded by a few hundred hours. Face time requirements are probably less, with more flexibility in working remotely. Most everyone out here has a family they are trying to see mornings/nights/weekends/vacations.

yeah nova is basically DC, you shouldn't really expect anything different at a biglaw satellite office

5ky wrote:yeah nova is basically DC, you shouldn't really expect anything different at a biglaw satellite office

I disagree. It depends on which firm you're talking about. This is a generalization, but I think some of the lower Am Law 100 firms might have a less intense billable hours expectation in Nova. I know OP said he/she was looking at Tysons, but they should also consider Reston. Friends that have worked in these markets did not put in the same time/hours as friends in DC. Based on my anecdotal evidence, not all hope is lost, OP.

culturally there's really not much different about nova than DC is part of the thing. many partners live in nova so whether they drive it to work into DC or nova doesn't, in my experience, make much difference. clients are typically the same, but i only have my own anecdotal evidence of working in DC and being across from nova firms not infrequently.