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5th year M&A / VC Associate at a v30 with a roughly 80/20 split of that work with a solid background in finance.

In an ideal world, I'm in-house at a job that has:
(1) better hours (I'm young without kids so I'm fine with not having a true 9-5), but would like an improvement from law firm life.
(2) a mix of M&A and VC work with operating companies that you can advise and give both legal and strategic advice to.
(3) uses outside counsel for most deals.
(4) is near NYC (or is open to remote work).
(5) allows for meaningful upward mobility for those that work hard and excel.
(6) provides not too much of a paycut.

How likely is it that I can find this role? It's probably a bit optimistic, but I'm hopeful that I can find a role that ticks most (if not all) of these wish list items.

In my experience, generally you get to select 2-3 items on your list. The jobs that meet all of those qualifications are ultra unicorn jobs; chances of seeing an open position is probably 0.00001% (this does not include off-market opportunities, unless you have contacts/relationships that can inherently increase your odds). Chances of actually being offered the position, probably 0.00000001%.

Even the most coveted legal positions don't hit all of these marks. What you're probably looking for is a multi-multi-million or billion dollar family office type role; some have VC/tech arms.

(1) and (3)-(6) don't seem that unachievable, even together. Combining them with (2) seems to be where the problems would start.

lawstudent212 wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 15, 2022 4:15 pm

(5) allows for meaningful upward mobility for those that work hard and excel.
(6) provides not too much of a paycut.

In addition to what has been said, this is kind of a massive variable. I'd try and pin down your target numbers for starting/max salary

Sackboy wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 15, 2022 6:37 pm

(1) and (3)-(6) don't seem that unachievable, even together. Combining them with (2) seems to be where the problems would start.

this. if you want to do VC work, you'd either need to work at a VC, or at a startup that I doing a lot of fundraising, I guess? and if you're at a startup doing a lot of fundraising -- or a VC for that matter -- I'd think that M&A would be somewhat unlikely (unless you're the one being acquired).

Exit to a VC fund? There will be M&A work on companies as they exit; going to be a lot smaller portion of your work than the incoming deals but you'll need to review the Merger Agreement, indemnification provisions, stockholder joiners and releases, etc. Upward mobility can be constrained in those opportunities though (small legal teams).

If you want to keep "advising" companies on both financings and M&A, then you need to stay at a law firm.

How much do VC funds tend to pay their legal teams?

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 18, 2022 5:09 pm

How much do VC funds tend to pay their legal teams?

I think there is fair amount of range but would expect $2-300K. I know some offer profit sharing/carry and I have no idea how generous that could be but some VC funds have been killing it so I had the sense from one guy that (who got carry) he felt he hadn't left any money on the table by leaving the law firm as a mid-level. Caveat that all of this is pretty anecdotal.

What you dream about: $300k, 9-5, no weekends
What you think you'll get: $225k, 9-6, one weekend day a month
What you'll actually get: $175k, 9-7:30, calls during every dinner and child's birthday party you have

Monochromatic Oeuvre wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 18, 2022 7:51 pm

What you dream about: $300k, 9-5, no weekends
What you think you'll get: $225k, 9-6, one weekend day a month
What you'll actually get: $175k, 9-7:30, calls during every dinner and child's birthday party you have

Easy solution is to not have kids and to only eat lunch and breakfast. You're welcome.