Looking for international biglaw lateral options - any advice? Forum

[Dex93]

Hi all,

I am a tax associate at one of the top (at least by headcount) UK law firms, practicing in its office located in the capital city of one of the Post-Soviet countries. Unfortunately my current firm has no offices in the US.

Long story short - I graduated as top 1% of the class at the top law school in my country (tax law major, I also simultaneously graduated as top 25% of the class at a business school - tax/accounting major), passed the national bar exam and landed a job at the tax practice of one of the V40 US law firms. I worked there as an associate for 3 years and one year ago made a lateral to the current UK-pedigree law firm. The lateral was somehow forced, as I moved along with whole my practice group and there was no place for me if I decided to stay in the previous firm.

Right after the graduation I also started the tax law Ph.D. programme (simultaneously working at biglaw), and I am about to finalize it by the end of 2020.

Right after the Ph.D. thesis defense I plan to apply for the L.LM. in the US and I am wondering, which programme would give me best prospects for landing a biglaw job in the US upon graduation.

Do you have any advice? I know NYU/Georgetown seem to be the best for tax law, but since tax practice groups tend to be smaller when compared e.g. to general corporate/M&A maybe it is better to apply for general L.LM. at Ivy? Is it better to stick to taxes and then look for post-L.LM. US lateral options (I suppose, at the entry level) at tax practice, or my chances for landing a job may be better after general L.LM. and applying to whatever practice group is possible? Would it be the easiest to break into biglaw in the NYC or somewhere else?

Regards,
Dex

[FND]

Right after the Ph.D. thesis defense I plan to apply for the L.LM. in the US and I am wondering, which programme would give me best prospects for landing a biglaw job in the US upon graduation.

Do you have any advice? I know NYU/Georgetown seem to be the best for tax law, but since tax practice groups tend to be smaller when compared e.g. to general corporate/M&A maybe it is better to apply for general L.LM. at Ivy? Is it better to stick to taxes and then look for post-L.LM. US lateral options (I suppose, at the entry level) at tax practice, or my chances for landing a job may be better after general L.LM. and applying to whatever practice group is possible? Would it be the easiest to break into biglaw in the NYC or somewhere else?

Regards,
Dex

1) it'll be easier to break into biglaw in NYC than anywhere else
2) you may not need an LLM to be able to get admitted in New York - see here: https://www.nybarexam.org/Foreign/Forei ... cation.htm
3) for biglaw in NYC, the only LLM that matters is tax... but if you need an LLM to get admitted, any LLM will do
4) some states do not allow anyone without a U.S. J.D. to get admitted. Other states may require an LLM in U.S. law (so a tax LLM won't work)
5) for tax, Georgetown and NYC are the best. If you're going for a non-tax LLM, start with the T14; if you can't find a suitable target among those schools, then it comes down to where you want to practice. In NYC, Fordham, in Washington DC, G.W., in Boston, BC or BU, etc.

[64Fl]

Ivy means nothing. NYU has the best tax LLM program in the country with the best placement. Period.

[decimalsanddollars]

Other posters have covered most of your questions, but I'll just add that staying with tax law is almost certainly your best shot at US biglaw (or big4) even though the groups are smaller. Basically all tax groups recruit from the NYU tax LLM; most also recruit from the Georgetown tax LLM. Very few firms focus any recruitment energy at other LLM programs, but as FND indicated above, an LLM might be required for you to be eligible to practice. If you plan to do tax, NYU > Georgetown >>> Florida/Northwestern/Emory. If you want to do anything else, make sure whatever route you take will allow you to comply with foreign-trained-lawyer licensing requirements.

[ConfusedNYer]

NYU/Georgetown being the only LLM that really matters is I think more accurate for U.S. JDs. I know for example that the Harvard LLM program is very strong and does fairly well when it comes to helping foreign lawyers transition into US Biglaw, its just that the program is basically only foreign lawyers so it never gets discussed really on this site.