Biglaw in primary market vs. biglaw in a satellite office Forum

[Anonymous User]

3L. I have the opportunity to choose between two offices of the same V100. One office is a primary market, the other is a satellite office in Florida.

I don’t have any geographic ties. Pay is the same in both offices, and I’d be in the same practice group. I didn’t summer with this firm, so I can’t base my decision off of how much I like the people.

What are the pros/cons of being in a satellite office versus being in a primary market?

[trebekismyhero]

I think you're almost always better off being in the primary office. More facetime with people making decisions at the firm, usually more work generated and have more opportunities. Only thing that would make it more equal is if the satellite office is a large office with a lot of business generated from it in its own right.

[lilboat]

It may be worth considering that you can stand to save a lot of money by living in Florida due to lower taxes (especially if you are comparing to NYC).

[Anonymous User]

Where is the primary market? What practice groups are you looking at? Firm? Not sure if vague answers will be helpful here.

[mwells_56]

If you're otherwise indifferent then IMO I'd say it's a no brainer for Florida considering the tax and COL savings, assuming that the primary office is in a HCOL area.

[Anonymous User]

OP here. Primary market is NYC. Don’t want to name the firm for obvious reasons. Practice group is litigation.

Is the difference in networking significant enough to be worth the cost of living difference?

[Anonymous User]

Just pick based on where you want to live. You will lateral 3 times before you have to think about partnership prospects.

[Anonymous User]

I would view this as such an obvious choice for Florida (unless you really want to live in NYC) that it is barely a question.

[flyinglow]

Unless my math is off you will save like 50k/yr+ living in Florida over NYC. Can’t comment on better “networking abilities”.

[Anonymous User]

Generally speaking, the main pros to secondary markets are cost of living and hours, and the main con is partnership prospects. This also depends somewhat on practice area—there’s (justifiably or not) a mystique to NYC in corporate (big deals, proximity to finance), whereas it’s not seen as particularly desirable in litigation (“why would I work more for less pay on higher-leverage teams?”).

[Anonymous User]

Gonna piggyback here if that's OK. I'm a junior at a sat in a large market. I plan on staying in this market. Is my only long term move to lateral to one of the bigger shops in town?

[Anonymous User]

Generally speaking, the main pros to secondary markets are cost of living and hours, and the main con is partnership prospects. This also depends somewhat on practice area—there’s (justifiably or not) a mystique to NYC in corporate (big deals, proximity to finance), whereas it’s not seen as particularly desirable in litigation (“why would I work more for less pay on higher-leverage teams?”).

The one exception to low partnership prospects in a sat office is when the firm just opened it, and has big plans for expansion. To grow an office, you need more partners and business that comes with them. While most will grow with laterals, some also hire internally as well (if there's enough business). However, you'd still be taking on the risk that those plans come to fruition.