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I’m a 5th year funds associate looking to go in house to a PE fund and I was wondering if people had any thoughts on the differences between targeting mega shops like blackstone and kkr compared to middle market shops with smaller legal teams.

Which is better for hours? Any idea of comp for each?

I’ve worked in house for funds and have many friends in the industry so think I can provide some perspective. I think some of it comes down to preference ultimately, but I’ll try to put some pros and cons below:

Small shops: Everything really varies based on the shop. You can have great comp and tons of autonomy, or less great comp and end up somewhere that is a total cult of personality with an insane principal. Generally, I think you can expect comp in the biglaw range from shops managing 2 billion plus, so there shouldn’t be much variation at that point. Larger places with the small shop feel (the real sweet spot) may pay more. Your role at a smaller place will be much broader (which I would prefer) but your exit options may be fewer (less name recognition). Hours definitely vary here. If you have a crazed deal team you might be on at all times. You can usually expect to be the number two (or number one if you stick it out until 6/7 year) so you’ll find yourself dealing with non fund formation stuff that may take extra time.

Large funds: Anecdotally have heard Blackstone sucks to work for in legal and comp is not good. I also think some of the more corporate places like Blackstone pay less and are worse/more bureaucratic vs KKR/Cerberus type shops that just manage a lot of assets but may have less hierarchy. I personally would avoid the corporate type funds like the plague. It’s very hard to get raises once you are in the door, your role is much more limited, and you have less exposure to other areas of the firm. You have a ton of name recognition if you need to GTFO. Generally, I have heard hours are worse at the large funds.

not OP but also interested. based on the post above, it looks like hours will be bad regardless of where you exit into.

Bump