Practice group red flag? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I am a summer associate in a niche corporate group at a major market. It seems a few of mid-level/senior associates in my group, including one of my callback interviewers whom I really liked, have constantly left over a couple years. Should I be concerned? It's a relatively new group in the firm, and the number of SAs in the group is also quite large considering the number of attorneys. I still have an opportunity to explore other practice areas and can ask moving into more general corporate group so want to hear others' insights. The practice area itself is what I like to do though.

[UnfrozenCaveman]

Might be a good time to reach out to the former associates and ask questions. My guess is you’ll have to pry a bit to get them to say much.

[dabigchina]

without knowing more, it's hard to say whether it's because the group is terrible or if there's some other reason for it. It might just be because the group is hot and associates can go in house easily (think TTG). On the other hand, if the group is something really niche and not something that is known to have good exit ops (think lev fin), it may be something to think about.

In my limited experience, it never hurts to explore other groups as a summer.

[Anonymous User]

Not necessarily a red flag. Are they going in house or to other firms? If the latter, red flag. And if it's a small group, there are likely only a few partners to work for, so take some time to try to really get to know them and see if you can suss out if they're good to work for (and ask associates what the partners are really like when you catch them at a cocktail event after a few drinks).