Should I be trying to lateral? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I hate being the person looking for advice that seemingly only applies in my situation, but I could use some help considering my options.

I'm a third-ish year associate (I clerked for a bankruptcy judge for two years and have been with my firm for about a year and a half, but am being paid as a third-year) at a V100 satellite office in a large, non-NYC market. I primarily do straight commercial litigation, though about 40% of my work is with our (small) restructuring/insolvency group. That work is largely creditor-side and includes litigation stuff and counseling clients unfamiliar with bankruptcy about their options. I've also done a little bit of smaller debtor-side work, including drafting plan provisions/getting into a bit of the actual business-side of things.

I can tolerate my job. I don't feel particularly overwhelmed by the amount of work, and despite the fact that I will soon have spent more time working-from-home than from the office, I like my co-workers.

Long story short, it's a hot market for restructuring associates in my market and I may have the opportunity to trade up. I have not been actively looking and wasn't planning to until the two year mark, but I'm wondering if there's any benefit to going to a firm that's more highly ranked (by whatever measure you want to use) that also has its home office in my market.

With the understanding that it's very difficult to end up in-house as either a litigation or bankruptcy associate, would there be any benefit to switching to a straight up restructuring practice at a firm that is more well-respected in my market? Or is the benefit so marginal that I may as well stay where I'm at?