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Anonymous User
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Lateraling to London

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Sep 24, 2021 6:30 pm

I am a sixth year corporate/(mostly private) M&A associate at a V50. I have an opportunity to join a V5 in one of their satellite offices. I would like to eventually move/lateral to London to be closer to family. Both my current V50 and the V5 have huge offices in London.

(1) I assume I should very strongly consider lateraling to the V5 given my goal?
(2) How realistic is it to move to London (to a firm or in-house)? Is there a lot of demand for US-qualified corporate lawyers like me? I do mostly private M&A, VC, some 34 Act work, but negligible capital markets experience. No real interest in becoming UK licensed.

Thanks in advance.

Anonymous User
Posts: 428114
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Re: Lateraling to London

Post by Anonymous User » Sun Sep 26, 2021 1:45 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Sep 24, 2021 6:30 pm
I am a sixth year corporate/(mostly private) M&A associate at a V50. I have an opportunity to join a V5 in one of their satellite offices. I would like to eventually move/lateral to London to be closer to family. Both my current V50 and the V5 have huge offices in London.

(1) I assume I should very strongly consider lateraling to the V5 given my goal?
(2) How realistic is it to move to London (to a firm or in-house)? Is there a lot of demand for US-qualified corporate lawyers like me? I do mostly private M&A, VC, some 34 Act work, but negligible capital markets experience. No real interest in becoming UK licensed.

Thanks in advance.
This move should be doable, but your two biggest hurdles are going to be timing/seniority and M&A vs. capital markets experience.

On the practice area point, the majority of US associates in London are capital markets associates, so to the degree you are willing to take on more of that work, are able to do it, and are able to talk about it intelligently, you'd be a more attractive hire. I suspect you'd get more accommodation and good will at your existing firm to make that move. Skadden does do M&A out of London, but that's definitely not a big office, and has a bad workplace culture even by biglaw/London standards. The expectation in London will also be that you become UK qualified eventually.

On the timing point, a sixth-year corporate associate is a good lateral profile in the States, but in London they typically want someone junior to mid-level, because most of the work is volume-based churning of bonds. There's less very sophisticated work for US qualified associates. Especially if you're going to lateral in a couple years, I'd expect your seniority to be a bigger consideration.

Anonymous User
Posts: 428114
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Re: Lateraling to London

Post by Anonymous User » Sun Sep 26, 2021 6:07 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Sun Sep 26, 2021 1:45 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Sep 24, 2021 6:30 pm
I am a sixth year corporate/(mostly private) M&A associate at a V50. I have an opportunity to join a V5 in one of their satellite offices. I would like to eventually move/lateral to London to be closer to family. Both my current V50 and the V5 have huge offices in London.

(1) I assume I should very strongly consider lateraling to the V5 given my goal?
(2) How realistic is it to move to London (to a firm or in-house)? Is there a lot of demand for US-qualified corporate lawyers like me? I do mostly private M&A, VC, some 34 Act work, but negligible capital markets experience. No real interest in becoming UK licensed.

Thanks in advance.
This move should be doable, but your two biggest hurdles are going to be timing/seniority and M&A vs. capital markets experience.

On the practice area point, the majority of US associates in London are capital markets associates, so to the degree you are willing to take on more of that work, are able to do it, and are able to talk about it intelligently, you'd be a more attractive hire. I suspect you'd get more accommodation and good will at your existing firm to make that move. Skadden does do M&A out of London, but that's definitely not a big office, and has a bad workplace culture even by biglaw/London standards. The expectation in London will also be that you become UK qualified eventually.

On the timing point, a sixth-year corporate associate is a good lateral profile in the States, but in London they typically want someone junior to mid-level, because most of the work is volume-based churning of bonds. There's less very sophisticated work for US qualified associates. Especially if you're going to lateral in a couple years, I'd expect your seniority to be a bigger consideration.
To add to each of these points (with which I agree):

1. Very few firms now are doing US M&A out of London. Paul Weiss is another outlier, and I think has been busy with US-centric Apollo M&A deals over the last few years (along with lots of capital markets). DPW US associates do a lot of capital markets, but there's some M&A there.

2. Does lateraling have to be in the next couple of years or would you consider doing it now? I know there's a V5 offer in hand (presumably Skadden or Latham?), but sixth year is probably about as late as I'd look to get across to London - especially if you have to change practice groups/take a class year drop. This might not be an issue financially if you're getting COLA and/or have a tax advantage, but less painful the sooner you do it.

It's also a good time to be applying if you can take the pain. Everyone I speak to says they're slammed, and there are stories around the City of *partners* resigning without anything else in hand in their 40s (across US and UK firms) because they're exhausted, leave alone mid-level associates. They need bodies and may be more receptive to people who'd otherwise find it a reach. (Not saying that's OP, but just something to consider.)

Anonymous User
Posts: 428114
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Re: Lateraling to London

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Sep 27, 2021 8:27 am

Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Sep 24, 2021 6:30 pm
I am a sixth year corporate/(mostly private) M&A associate at a V50. I have an opportunity to join a V5 in one of their satellite offices. I would like to eventually move/lateral to London to be closer to family. Both my current V50 and the V5 have huge offices in London.

(1) I assume I should very strongly consider lateraling to the V5 given my goal?
(2) How realistic is it to move to London (to a firm or in-house)? Is there a lot of demand for US-qualified corporate lawyers like me? I do mostly private M&A, VC, some 34 Act work, but negligible capital markets experience. No real interest in becoming UK licensed.

Thanks in advance.
You'd come to do M&A I'm asking as I know some M&A associates who went to London, but they mainly ended up doing Capital Markets. At my London office, there is very little work on the M&A side for the US attorneys, so my initial guess would be you'd do mostly CM stuff. There is also no need to become UK-qualified, although I've seen this become an increasingly more popular choice, the longer you stay.

Anyways, as to your questions:
1) US firms in London are generally sweatshops compared to the UK firms in London. I don't know how they stack up against the US offices, but I've heard of many US associates at these firms quitting in recent years. I don't think there is a difference between V5 and V50 unless you care about prestige/are seeking to lateral again within a couple years.
2) Most US associates I know in London either go back to a US-based office after a few years or go in-house, so I think it's very doable, especially with your background which is not solely CM (again, assuming you will mostly be doing CM in London).

Anonymous User
Posts: 428114
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Re: Lateraling to London

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Sep 27, 2021 10:10 am

OP here. Appreciate the responses -- they all align with my impressions. I have very little interest in capital markets (and actively try to avoid that line of work), so it looks like it's not worth trying to engineer a move to a US firm's London office. I guess that leaves London in-house gigs (e.g. UK/EU-based company doing lots of state-side M&A) as a more realistic possibility after grinding out another year or two state-side.

My thinking is that the V5 will unlock more elite in-house opportunities vs my current V50, which is why I'm probably going to pull the trigger on the move.

Anonymous User
Posts: 428114
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Re: Lateraling to London

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Sep 27, 2021 11:56 am

Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Sep 27, 2021 10:10 am
OP here. Appreciate the responses -- they all align with my impressions. I have very little interest in capital markets (and actively try to avoid that line of work), so it looks like it's not worth trying to engineer a move to a US firm's London office. I guess that leaves London in-house gigs (e.g. UK/EU-based company doing lots of state-side M&A) as a more realistic possibility after grinding out another year or two state-side.

My thinking is that the V5 will unlock more elite in-house opportunities vs my current V50, which is why I'm probably going to pull the trigger on the move.
Maybe some other TLSers can comment on your particular trajectory of US biglaw to UK in-house. I was a US corp associate in London for several years and am back stateside. I received recruitment outreach for in-house positions in London while I was still there, and I continue to receive them (albeit fewer) now that I'm back in the States. London legal recruitment is much more international than US recruitment (i.e. companies and firms are comfortable hiring non-Brits, especially at large, internal institutions), but almost all of the opportunities were for large, sophisticated financial institutions, so you might have to accept that as part of your plan. I did have an in-house interview at a US tech firm, in the US, ask if I'd be willing to spend time in London again, since they rotate people quite often if they're willing, so that's another hail mary way back to London in the future.

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