Max no. of biglaw firms Forum

[Anonymous User]

Currently a mid level at 2nd biglaw firm and wondering how many more biglaw firms I can bounce around before no biglaw will take me. Has anyone/know anyone who has worked at 4 or more biglaw firms before moving in house? Has anyone tried to lateral to a fourth biglaw firm but had trouble making the move because of no. firms on resume? I know a few people who is currently at their 3rd biglaw firm but have not really come across anyone who is at their 4th or more.

[Anonymous User]

You start getting serious questions about it when you make the move to 3rd firm - I imagine by 4th firm it'd be pretty intense scrutiny and it'd have to be a very compelling case to make the move, or have spent 3+ years at most recent firm.

[Anonymous User]

I’m currently trying for a move to my third firm. As the above states, there’s a lot more scrutiny with that move. It’s hard to articulate why you want to leave your current firm without either bashing your firm or looking noncommittal to the work. At the fourth move, I think it’d be nearly impossible. This is assuming 4 firms as an associate. I’ve seen counsel and partners who have 5-6 firms on their LinkedIn profiles.

[tyrant_flycatcher]

I have run into one senior associate on his fourth biglaw firm. No clue what the backstory was or if it got difficult to make moves. Not all lateral moves are equal, however. If you’re moving to a new city for a legitimate reason or following a partner to a new firm, I have to think those aren’t viewed the same way. So if those made up two of your moves, you might have more leeway.

[nixy]

Yeah, I was going to say, if you leave with a partner to their new firm I don't think that will count the same way.

[Sackboy]

I know a guy on his 6th firm as a non-equity partner. As an associate, you can probably pull it off 3-4 times but on that 4th time you better make non-equity if you're going to continue to bounce around. Of course, I'm excluding situations where people went to firm clerked went to new firm clerked went to another firm. I think those folks could probably stretch it to 5.

[Anonymous User]

In my experience, lateraling a second time was much harder than the first. Not impossible, and people do end up at 3 biglaw firms with some frequency, but your motives will be scrutinized much more. Some will reject you outright because of the amount of movement on your resume. This is at least if you want to stick around at the same level of firm, if you're taking a noticeable step down in quality then it will likely be easier.

I have only seen a very small number of associates go to 4 biglaw firms - like one or two. Unless you have a very convincing story about why you keep moving around, I imagine it would be next to impossible to lateral a 3rd time (to a 4th firm). But you should really plan on that 3rd firm being your last, and to be safe you shouldn't even count on being able to lateral to the 3rd firm at all.

[SamuelDanforth]

How do firms you summered at factor into this? If you summered at 2 firms in law school and then end up somewhere else after clerking, I assume it isn't quite the same as a 3rd lateral, but also likely isn't the same as being on your first firm?

[Sackboy]

How do firms you summered at factor into this? If you summered at 2 firms in law school and then end up somewhere else after clerking, I assume it isn't quite the same as a 3rd lateral, but also likely isn't the same as being on your first firm?

It's the same as being on your first firm, unless you're at a super bro-y place. If anything, it's the fact that you clerked that is going to change your experience, because clerking actually gives you a bump in class year standing.

[TigerIsBack]

I’m currently trying for a move to my third firm. As the above states, there’s a lot more scrutiny with that move. It’s hard to articulate why you want to leave your current firm without either bashing your firm or looking noncommittal to the work. At the fourth move, I think it’d be nearly impossible. This is assuming 4 firms as an associate. I’ve seen counsel and partners who have 5-6 firms on their LinkedIn profiles.

That still seems high even for partners, but I don't really know how often partners move around. Is it possible some of the moves were due to their smaller firm getting acquired by a bigger firm?

[Anonymous User]

I have run into one senior associate on his fourth biglaw firm. No clue what the backstory was or if it got difficult to make moves. Not all lateral moves are equal, however. If you’re moving to a new city for a legitimate reason or following a partner to a new firm, I have to think those aren’t viewed the same way. So if those made up two of your moves, you might have more leeway.

I worked pretty closely with a senior who was at four firms in six years and talked with him about it. They were all in the same city, but each move was meaningfully "up" in firm and practice quality, so he actually ended up at a much more prestigious place than he started at, and I think that went part of the way to normalizing the moves. That said, he told me that it was signalled to him coming in that he wasn't going to make partner or be around for the very long-term, but the practice was booming, so they needed people senior enough to run deals. Sure enough, he left to go in-house within two years when things slowed and homegrown associates were coming up, and I think the general understanding around the office is he was told to leave, and he knew coming in that that was only a matter of time. Anyway, this is all just one data point on how multiple moves might position you a certain way.

[Anonymous User]

How do firms you summered at factor into this? If you summered at 2 firms in law school and then end up somewhere else after clerking, I assume it isn't quite the same as a 3rd lateral, but also likely isn't the same as being on your first firm?

I don't think switching firms after summering somewhere is seen as a true move, but it could play into looking like you aren't happy anywhere if you then hop firms quickly as an associate, especially if the firms are all similar firms in the same market.

If I saw a resume like: 1L summer firm --> 2L summer firm --> clerk --> different firm in same market as summers for 1 year --> another firm in same market for 1.5 years --> looking to leave, then I might think the person just isn't happy anywhere, and the summer firms would play a small role in that (but the quick moves at the associate level would play a much larger role). It definitely wouldn't be the same as having been at four firms as an associate.