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So I know high paying Midlaw jobs are hard to find but I’m a fourth year at a V50 and this Midlaw firm that only has offices in one state is offering to match my current compensation. Billable hours are probably a bit less, but who really knows. What are the pro/cons to joining this Midlaw form with 150ish lawyers beyond the obvious prestige loss?

Biggest pro I can think of: possible greatly increased partnership prospects
Biggest con I can think of: potential near-flat compensation growth

What are your longer term goals, OP?

I think the work can sometimes be a bit more interesting and the people less stressed out. That means something to me.

varies wildly based on what firm we're talking about

You could end up in a hellhole sweatshop billing 2100+ hours while making a little more than half of a biglaw associate, working for the worst types of lawyers imaginable. You could end up in a very intellectually challenging and fulfilling firm doing high stakes work, billing 1900-2000 hours while making more than biglaw associates after bonus, working under amazing mentors.

There's the same range of experiences in biglaw, but because biglaw is, well, so big, you're more likely to end up in the "average" biglaw situation--billing a lot of hours as a cog, making really good money, and trying to lateral out asap.

Anonymous User wrote:So I know high paying Midlaw jobs are hard to find but I’m a fourth year at a V50 and this Midlaw firm that only has offices in one state is offering to match my current compensation. Billable hours are probably a bit less, but who really knows. What are the pro/cons to joining this Midlaw form with 150ish lawyers beyond the obvious prestige loss?

TLS consensus is that midlaw is bad because it's biglaw hours for lower pay. Anecdotal, but I've seen a few posters describe great midlaw situations with good pay and QOL.

If they're matching the pay I think it's reasonable to assume they're going to work you pretty hard. If that's the case, what's the point of the move?

Anonymous User wrote:So I know high paying Midlaw jobs are hard to find but I’m a fourth year at a V50 and this Midlaw firm that only has offices in one state is offering to match my current compensation. Billable hours are probably a bit less, but who really knows. What are the pro/cons to joining this Midlaw form with 150ish lawyers beyond the obvious prestige loss?

Whenever and wherever I've interviewed, billable requirements/expectations are one of the top things I investigate and ask about. If you didn't ask, and are now considering an offer, now's the time to ask. I wouldn't call up the managing partner to ask, but current associates have always, IME, been very willing to talk about billables and whether there's enough/too much/too little work to go around.

(Important related questions: When are folks expected to roll in in the morning, what are facetime requirements/expectations, is vacation respected, etc.)

Anonymous User wrote:So I know high paying Midlaw jobs are hard to find but I’m a fourth year at a V50 and this Midlaw firm that only has offices in one state is offering to match my current compensation. Billable hours are probably a bit less, but who really knows. What are the pro/cons to joining this Midlaw form with 150ish lawyers beyond the obvious prestige loss?

I've worked in midlaw for a little while and am now transitioning out. From what others have said to questions I had about transitioning to biglaw on this forum, there aren't many differences apart from availability and possibly working hours. In terms of billables, I was required to bill 2000 in my old firm, which from what I understand is on par or near biglaw hours. Additionally, I worked early everyday and stayed much later some days out of the month. The perks, office, resources, and culture are all the same or similar. Midlaw may just have a closer knit office.

Like others have said, it's going to vary widely.

Purely anecdotally, I recently switched from midlaw to biglaw. Midlaw was less hours (and thus more time for fun stuff), but less money (and with a flatter raise structure, much less money eventually). In midlaw, leaving for an appointment or a kid's event was completely fine. In biglaw, sometimes it's fine, sometimes it's not. The work at my midlaw shop was less interesting. I was almost assured to make partner eventually in midlaw, but in biglaw it will be extremely difficult. The exit options out of midlaw were not amazing, where the sky's the limit leaving biglaw. in the end, it was a tough decision, but I'm generally happy in biglaw now.