Midlevel Lit Associate to Inhouse - How hard is it? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I've been looking since December and only had a few interviews that went nowhere. It seems like more and more companies are posting jobs but coming from a lit background, it's such a daunting task to even have employers take a serious look at my resume.

Anyone go through this recently and have any insight into how to maximize chances for this career pivot? I'm also willing to do JD-preferred jobs to get out of biglaw but I am all out of ideas.

[PDLunc]

I recently moved in-house at a large pharma company as a sixth year L&E/lit associate. I was seriously looking for an in-house position for over two years, so I understand your frustration. My one piece of advice is to check LinkedIn and job boards (my favorite was attorneyjobsinusa.com) religiously, and to not be shy about applying for positions that you may feel under qualified for. I was seriously considered for jobs where 12+ years of experience were "required"--I think there is frequently some disconnect between the person drafting the job post and what the company actually views as a hard prerequisite.

Good luck!

[Anonymous User]

I'm having the same issue and I've been applying daily for months now. It's rough out there and in house litigation jobs are far and few in between. Does anyone know what product counsels do exactly? Their job descriptions are kinda vague.

[Anonymous User]

I recently moved in-house at a large pharma company as a sixth year L&E/lit associate. I was seriously looking for an in-house position for over two years, so I understand your frustration. My one piece of advice is to check LinkedIn and job boards (my favorite was attorneyjobsinusa.com) religiously, and to not be shy about applying for positions that you may feel under qualified for. I was seriously considered for jobs where 12+ years of experience were "required"--I think there is frequently some disconnect between the person drafting the job post and what the company actually views as a hard prerequisite.

Good luck!

OP here. I am also biglaw L&E associate and honestly my time is running out. I think the silverlining is that L&E is supposed to be better for inhouse, but for every 1 L&E job posting there's like 1000 ppl applying. It's not a realistic bet.

Also do you have recommendations for resume tips? Litigator resume tweaked for inhouse gigs is the hardest thing to achieve. My resume is 1 page but to list all the accomplishments (dismissal of a big case, nuisance value settlements in a highly contested single plaintiff cases etc) might not make sense because inhouse people might not value those achievements?

[Elston Gunn]

I'm having the same issue and I've been applying daily for months now. It's rough out there and in house litigation jobs are far and few in between. Does anyone know what product counsels do exactly? Their job descriptions are kinda vague.

Probably varies a bit by company, but they’re essentially mini-GCs that handle in the first instance all the legal issues that a particular product team faces. Unless you’ve been a p counsel elsewhere, no one is likely to have expertise in all the relevant areas, so I’d say being a good personality “fit” and being excited about the company/team probably carries more weight than with other roles.

I’ve seen some litigators get hired as p counsel, though they’re not the most natural fit. I think it makes the most sense for customer support and fraud/risk teams, since they deal with a lot litigation adjacent issues, like complaint response, investigations etc.

[PDLunc]

I recently moved in-house at a large pharma company as a sixth year L&E/lit associate. I was seriously looking for an in-house position for over two years, so I understand your frustration. My one piece of advice is to check LinkedIn and job boards (my favorite was attorneyjobsinusa.com) religiously, and to not be shy about applying for positions that you may feel under qualified for. I was seriously considered for jobs where 12+ years of experience were "required"--I think there is frequently some disconnect between the person drafting the job post and what the company actually views as a hard prerequisite.

Good luck!

OP here. I am also biglaw L&E associate and honestly my time is running out. I think the silverlining is that L&E is supposed to be better for inhouse, but for every 1 L&E job posting there's like 1000 ppl applying. It's not a realistic bet.

Also do you have recommendations for resume tips? Litigator resume tweaked for inhouse gigs is the hardest thing to achieve. My resume is 1 page but to list all the accomplishments (dismissal of a big case, nuisance value settlements in a highly contested single plaintiff cases etc) might not make sense because inhouse people might not value those achievements?

For what it's worth, I didn't include any litigation "accomplishments" (dismissals, nuisance value settlements, trial experience) on my resume. I highlighted the (1) substantive areas of employment law that I had extensive experience in and (2) my practical, non-litigation skills that would translate to an in-house L&E position (such as conducting management training, reviewing non-competes, etc.).

In my role, the "L&E" part is much more important than the "litigation" part. My litigation duties are now focused on managing outside counsel, reviewing pleadings, sitting in on depositions, etc. The heavy lifting is done by outside counsel. My real value comes in the day-to-day L&E counseling ("Can we fire this guy?" "What's the risk in denying this accommodation request?" "Does this PTO policy comply with XYZ state laws?", etc.).

So, I would suggest tailoring your resume to show that you have a breadth and depth of employment law knowledge (which you probably gained from litigation) that can be used to practically solve everyday problems.