Help me choose a firm: commercial lit vs. specialization Forum

[Anonymous User]

Sorry for posting another one of these questions, but I'm really curious what people think.

5th year lit associate here. Not very happy with my current firm and am looking for a place to bounce to. I have a few offers, but am only weighing two seriously. One is for v20 firm in their commercial litigation group. It's prestigious and the people seemed great and the work is high level. The other is a fringe v100 firm in their labor and employment department. I've always wanted to break into L&E and this seems like an amazing opportunity to. The downside is that the firm is not nearly as prestigious and I won't be making market. L&E seems like it's such a great field to get into and will open up a ton of in-house doors that commercial litigation will not.

My current firm is also a fringe v100 firm and I'd like the bump of having such a prestigious firm name on my resume. But I also know that I'll probably be unhappy just doing commercial litigation and feel like it's worth it to take less money for a specialty I'll enjoy and can use to jump to a new phase of my career. Would I be shooting myself in the foot by taking the less prestigious firm for the great experience and the ability to specialize over a firm that will look good on my resume? Non NYC market, btw. I'm in Chicago.

[LBJ's Hair]

If you've never actually done L&E -- you just like the idea of doing it -- little hard to justify turning down a V20 offer just to try it out for less money at an inferior firm. It's also not self-evident to me that you'll have better exit options doing L&E at inferior firm vs commercial lit at V20. Could be true, but I don't know.

(I liked the "idea" of white collar work, to the point where I had this 5 year plan where I'd join a certain firm's group, clerk at XYZ place, go AUSA... Then I did it, and thought it was un-fucking-bearable. Not saying it'll happen to you, but some things are a lot cooler in the abstract.)

[Anonymous User]

OP here. Thanks so much for the response. I've actually done a fair bit of L&E and really enjoy it. I absolutely hated doing commercial litigation and can't imagine lasting a firm if stuck in such a group, regardless of prestige or level of work. I totally get where you're coming from, though. I know TLS is so prestige focused and, I frankly don't really care, but know that in reality, law is a prestige driven occupation and that will affect my job prospects moving forward. I guess it's an overarching question of whether its ever worth it to take a lower ranked firm that's less prestigious and pays slightly under market for what is subjectively more interesting work. Also, judging by my own experience, I don't really know what exit options there are for most commercial litigators since they just seem to keep bouncing around firms.

[nixy]

It's also not self-evident to me that you'll have better exit options doing L&E at inferior firm vs commercial lit at V20. Could be true, but I don't know.

I actually think this is likely true - lit isn’t that saleable to in-house positions but everyone hires and fires. I think the increased pool of opportunities outweighs whatever advantage the V20 name gives you (law is prestige-focused, but I think there are a lot of companies who won’t care about the difference between V20 and fringe V100, especially outside of NYC).

[Raiden]

when you refer to an L&E shop, are you referring to a true L&E boutique (Littler/JL/Ogletree)? If so I think your exit options, at least as it relates to L&E groups in big law and in-house opportunities, would be solid.