Moving to a smaller legal market?: a post-clerkship question Forum

[Anonymous User]

Friends --

I am a recent graduate who is clerking in a district court this year, and CoA next year, in place that I do not want to stay in.

I am from an area with a small legal market with only two firms that pay at or around the Cravath scale. I do not know if I want to move back home, and recognize that going home might mean getting stuck in that small market forever.

So, I'm looking elsewhere. I don't think I am long for the private sector world, and, quite frankly, will only be going big law for the money. I have a standing offer from a top NYC/DC firm. I am leaning towards joining that firm -- as far as the private sector goes, I think it is among the best options -- but, given the fact that my joining a firm will be financially motivated, I am wondering if I ought to maximize my $ by getting paid market in a lower cost of living area.

Is this stupid? As far as I can tell, top DC/NYC firms open up government doors in a way joining a market paying firm in a smaller city would not. What else would I be giving up? More interesting work? I don't care about big law-prestige because I'm not likely to leave my big law job for something else in the private sector. I also don't really care about NYC/DC being a cooler city than wherever else I'm considering -- I don't care about that. I just don't want to shoot myself in the foot by ostensibly saving an extra ~10K per year while not realizing some enormous hidden cost.

Thanks!

[Anonymous User]

Where do you want to live? NYC and DC will be better for e.g. federal government work, but your home market will probably be better for e.g. being an AUSA there.

Depending on the firm, work may or may not be less interesting in the smaller market. One major firm in my small market is basically a satellite to do geographic arbitrage on products liability and employment work, which seems like it would suck, but some may have small sophisticated practices comparable to boutiques (thinking e.g. JD Minneapolis). There may also be smaller firms in your home market that pay biglaw—the highest-paying firm in mine is a <10-lawyer trial boutique that exclusively hires federal clerks. With small markets you ideally need a connection or two who can explain the lay of the land to you.

You also might consider Chi or TX, and get both good COL and the big-market experience.

[Anonymous User]

Where do you want to live? NYC and DC will be better for e.g. federal government work, but your home market will probably be better for e.g. being an AUSA there.

Depending on the firm, work may or may not be less interesting in the smaller market. One major firm in my small market is basically a satellite to do geographic arbitrage on products liability and employment work, which seems like it would suck, but some may have small sophisticated practices comparable to boutiques (thinking e.g. JD Minneapolis). There may also be smaller firms in your home market that pay biglaw—the highest-paying firm in mine is a <10-lawyer trial boutique that exclusively hires federal clerks. With small markets you ideally need a connection or two who can explain the lay of the land to you.

You also might consider Chi or TX, and get both good COL and the big-market experience.

OP here -- was thinking something like Philadelphia, Nashville, New Orleans, or Detroit. Chicago is an interesting option, though I am not the biggest fan of the city. Don't know too much about Texas.

[kariyava]

What do you want to do after the firm? Where do you want to live long-term? I would do what would position myself best for my long-term goals.

[Anonymous User]

What do you want to do after the firm? Where do you want to live long-term? I would do what would position myself best for my long-term goals.

Impact litigation in the public interest or government work. Where doesn't really matter, but the sooner the better, so CoL is a factor. Just not sure how, if at all, turning down top-tier NYC/DC big law will hurt me in the future.

[Anonymous User]

Just not sure how, if at all, turning down top-tier NYC/DC big law will hurt me in the future.

FWIW the perception of DC firms feeding people into the federal government is absolutely true in my experience, especially Cov and WH. I would imagine that DC is also a pretty good place for building a network of people who deal with high-profile PI stuff, which would include impact litigation.

As someone else noted "government work" is insufficiently specific. Wanting to be a public defender in Arkansas is a completely different goal than doing regulatory policy work on a Senate Committee or within the FDA or whatever.

[12YrsAnAssociate]

I spent a few years in DC after my clerkships and I think that's a great place to be a young lawyer. Lots of top level legal work in a huge variety of fields. Great place to build a network because there's lots of other eager young lawyers looking to change the world. Not very expensive (at least not compared to NY). And it was really easy to lateral anywhere out of DC because the firms there are all national brands. I think some of that is also true for NY, bit my biased take is that NY will be a little more deal focused and less varied.

[Anonymous User]

What do you want to do after the firm? Where do you want to live long-term? I would do what would position myself best for my long-term goals.

Impact litigation in the public interest or government work. Where doesn't really matter, but the sooner the better, so CoL is a factor. Just not sure how, if at all, turning down top-tier NYC/DC big law will hurt me in the future.

I don't know if it will hurt you, but I'm not sure saving an extra $10k/yr on a biglaw salary is worth it. (Obv if your base salary was $50k, another $10k is a lot, and also not sure how serious you were about the $10k number.) It still depends on what kind of public interest/government work you're talking about, what kind of work you'd do in the smaller market compared to in NYC/DC, and how that work would play into what you ultimately want to do. Like every state has an ACLU, but the ACLU in NYC is going to hire a lot more people than the ACLU in Ohio. There are local government jobs everywhere, but more fedgov jobs in DC than elsewhere. If you want to work for local legal aid, that's one thing, but if you want to do serious impact litigation, that's another.

I don't know, I guess it just seems to me that NYC/DC seem like natural locations for your post-biglaw goals, in which case, you're probably better off working in that location rather than trying to move back later. I suppose the flip side is that NYC/DC are less ties-focused and people get moving there for a job. That said, if you don't have ties to Philadelphia, Nashville, New Orleans, or Detroit, getting a job there is probably much tougher than getting your NYC/DC job. (Caveat that the hiring market is currently hot and maybe your qualifications are stellar enough that this isn't really an issue; the problem is just that there aren't a ton of biglaw jobs in those cities [maybe barring Philly], especially not jobs that pay market - and if they don't pay market, that moots your reason for working there.)

It just seems a little penny-wise, dollar-foolish, but again, there are just a lot of details missing.

[Anonymous User]

What do you want to do after the firm? Where do you want to live long-term? I would do what would position myself best for my long-term goals.

Impact litigation in the public interest or government work. Where doesn't really matter, but the sooner the better, so CoL is a factor. Just not sure how, if at all, turning down top-tier NYC/DC big law will hurt me in the future.

I don't know if it will hurt you, but I'm not sure saving an extra $10k/yr on a biglaw salary is worth it. (Obv if your base salary was $50k, another $10k is a lot, and also not sure how serious you were about the $10k number.) It still depends on what kind of public interest/government work you're talking about, what kind of work you'd do in the smaller market compared to in NYC/DC, and how that work would play into what you ultimately want to do. Like every state has an ACLU, but the ACLU in NYC is going to hire a lot more people than the ACLU in Ohio. There are local government jobs everywhere, but more fedgov jobs in DC than elsewhere. If you want to work for local legal aid, that's one thing, but if you want to do serious impact litigation, that's another.

I don't know, I guess it just seems to me that NYC/DC seem like natural locations for your post-biglaw goals, in which case, you're probably better off working in that location rather than trying to move back later. I suppose the flip side is that NYC/DC are less ties-focused and people get moving there for a job. That said, if you don't have ties to Philadelphia, Nashville, New Orleans, or Detroit, getting a job there is probably much tougher than getting your NYC/DC job. (Caveat that the hiring market is currently hot and maybe your qualifications are stellar enough that this isn't really an issue; the problem is just that there aren't a ton of biglaw jobs in those cities [maybe barring Philly], especially not jobs that pay market - and if they don't pay market, that moots your reason for working there.)

It just seems a little penny-wise, dollar-foolish, but again, there are just a lot of details missing.

I want to thank you, and all others, for your helpful replies. I mean that sincerely!