M&A Lawyers: When did you find out? Forum

[2020throwaway]

M&A lawyers: When did you figure out that m&a /biglaw/ corp law was or wasn’t for you?

What’s a legitimate trial period for m&a law? How did your experience differ in each of the first 4 or so years?

How long would you advise a Junior corporate associate stick on for before deciding that m&a isn’t the career for them?

Your advice regarding these questions would be very appreciated!

Source: lost feeling v25 junior corp

[target_corp]

I found out law wasn't for me about 6 months in.

Weirdly enough, I actually like M&A now (or at least don't mind the work itself). That realization came roughly 3-4 years in.

[Anonymous User]

If you really want to know whether M&A is for you then you probably won't know until you're listening in on or participating in all of the phone calls negotiating the main purchase agreement and you're the one turning comments/preparing issues lists/helping the client understand what the open points are, what the risks are, etc. You'll probably start getting that experience consistently as a midlevel (3rd or 4th year).

Just doing diligence and turning corporate org docs and signature pages as a junior isn't really going to teach you anything about M&A other than how tedious diligence can be.

[notinbiglaw]

I found out during 1L summer... was sure by end of 2L summer.

Still grinded a little after graduation, because you know, hard to switch gears.

Hustled like crazy to get the fuck out.

[LittleRedCorvette]

M&A lawyers: When did you figure out that m&a /biglaw/ corp law was or wasn’t for you?

What’s a legitimate trial period for m&a law? How did your experience differ in each of the first 4 or so years?

How long would you advise a Junior corporate associate stick on for before deciding that m&a isn’t the career for them?

Your advice regarding these questions would be very appreciated!

Source: lost feeling v25 junior corp

Like a poster above, until you start turning the operative documents, being involved (even if just listening) to client calls and negotiations, you won't get a good idea of what M&A is like. Being a diligence & scrub monkey sucks, and is not representative of the work.

[Anonymous User]

M&A lawyers: When did you figure out that m&a /biglaw/ corp law was or wasn’t for you?

What’s a legitimate trial period for m&a law? How did your experience differ in each of the first 4 or so years?

How long would you advise a Junior corporate associate stick on for before deciding that m&a isn’t the career for them?

Your advice regarding these questions would be very appreciated!

Source: lost feeling v25 junior corp

Like a poster above, until you start turning the operative documents, being involved (even if just listening) to client calls and negotiations, you won't get a good idea of what M&A is like. Being a diligence & scrub monkey sucks, and is not representative of the work.

Is life as a senior associate (5th year+) going to be much better? No drafting all day and just reviewing?