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I'm currently a first year at a big law firm in a major east coast market looking to move to NYC in the next year or so and do not think I want to transfer to my firm's NYC office (the NYC office does not have the strength in the type of practice I want). I'm in the early stages of figuring out when, how, where to lateral and don't know even where to begin when thinking about those questions or what else I should be thinking about.

Tips? How did you go about lateraling? Warnings?

Anonymous User wrote:I'm currently a first year at a big law firm in a major east coast market looking to move to NYC in the next year or so and do not think I want to transfer to my firm's NYC office (the NYC office does not have the strength in the type of practice I want). I'm in the early stages of figuring out when, how, where to lateral and don't know even where to begin when thinking about those questions or what else I should be thinking about.

Tips? How did you go about lateraling? Warnings?

You're in a better position than me. I'm in a mid-size law firm. My number one advice is to be discrete. Don't tell colleagues or make any noticeable changes to your work habits. Find a good recruiter you trust to be discrete with your candidacy. Reach out to people you know who have left your firm or people you network with and see if you can get a referral to interview from there.

I think the best way to land a new job is through personal connections. Almost every recruiter pretends like he or she has a personal relationship with the hiring partners or firm leadership, but the truth is that when they send in your resume it's going in the same pile as everyone else's. I am an associate at a V10 firm and have lateraled a couple of times. I used recruiters each time and they were all basically trying their luck.

If the recruiter gets you to the promised land and the firm turns out to be stingy (be it moving, bonus, etc.), feel free to walk.

Anonymous User wrote:I think the best way to land a new job is through personal connections. Almost every recruiter pretends like he or she has a personal relationship with the hiring partners or firm leadership, but the truth is that when they send in your resume it's going in the same pile as everyone else's. I am an associate at a V10 firm and have lateraled a couple of times. I used recruiters each time and they were all basically trying their luck.

I agree that this occurs a lot. Still, I’m curious, anybody have any anecdotal evidence to corroborate this assertion?

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:I'm currently a first year at a big law firm in a major east coast market looking to move to NYC in the next year or so and do not think I want to transfer to my firm's NYC office (the NYC office does not have the strength in the type of practice I want). I'm in the early stages of figuring out when, how, where to lateral and don't know even where to begin when thinking about those questions or what else I should be thinking about.

Tips? How did you go about lateraling? Warnings?

You're in a better position than me. I'm in a mid-size law firm. My number one advice is to be discrete. Don't tell colleagues or make any noticeable changes to your work habits. Find a good recruiter you trust to be discrete with your candidacy. Reach out to people you know who have left your firm or people you network with and see if you can get a referral to interview from there.

I don’t think you need to be discreet about it. I’m very vocal with coworkers regarding my desire to lateral to a different market (sans my supervising partner). I have gotten some leads from them. At the end of the day, most people lateral and no one really cares that much.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:I'm currently a first year at a big law firm in a major east coast market looking to move to NYC in the next year or so and do not think I want to transfer to my firm's NYC office (the NYC office does not have the strength in the type of practice I want). I'm in the early stages of figuring out when, how, where to lateral and don't know even where to begin when thinking about those questions or what else I should be thinking about.

Tips? How did you go about lateraling? Warnings?

You're in a better position than me. I'm in a mid-size law firm. My number one advice is to be discrete. Don't tell colleagues or make any noticeable changes to your work habits. Find a good recruiter you trust to be discrete with your candidacy. Reach out to people you know who have left your firm or people you network with and see if you can get a referral to interview from there.

I have heard, though, that some people think juniors should not use recruiters unless absolutely necessary because the hiring firm would have to pay the recruiting fee, so it might be one more reason for them not to hire you vs. another junior lateralling without use of a recruiter? Not sure how much merit to that point, but food for thought....