Skipped OCI from HYSCCN - considering options Forum

[Anonymous User]

I am not particularly interested in big law- I am an older student who went back to law school after having a pretty fulfilling career. Currently at a top 6 school and skipped OCI, because I did not want to work at a giant company, grinding my life away. I will not have any debt when I graduate. I went to an Ivy for undergrad which has a good network in the legal world as well.

I mostly interested in JD advantage positions but if I do pursue traditional practice, I am most interested in Trust and Estate planning, maybe litigation.

I'm sort of feeling lost- where do I go from here? How do I find more boutique firms/practices in trust and estates? I am happy to net work, cold email etc.

I have had these conversations with our career office, but they pressured me heavily into participating in OCI and I feel like I left things in an awkward place when I said I was not going to do it.

Open to all thoughts, comments, brainstorming etc..
Thanks in advance.

[Anonymous User]

Decide what city you want to live in, look up Chambers High Net Worth for that city, send your resume into the top firms explaining that you want to be a 2L summer. That’s where I’d start. You can also ask for informational interviews with associates who practice T&E in the market who you have some connection to (e.g. same undergrad, law school, home state if small).

[Anonymous User]

Why did you do law school in the first place?

[Anonymous User]

I mostly interested in JD advantage positions but if I do pursue traditional practice, I am most interested in Trust and Estate planning, maybe litigation.

I'm sort of feeling lost- where do I go from here? How do I find more boutique firms/practices in trust and estates? I am happy to net work, cold email etc.

I have had these conversations with our career office, but they pressured me heavily into participating in OCI and I feel like I left things in an awkward place when I said I was not going to do it.

Open to all thoughts, comments, brainstorming etc..
Thanks in advance.

you need to figure out what you want to do after you graduate, beyond "I don't want to work in BigLaw." "T&E/JD advantage/litigation" tells me you haven't thought much about this, because there isn't much commonality between the 3 (and 'JD advantage' isn't a job -- that really runs the gamut)

[Anonymous User]

If you want to work in biglaw and do trusts and estates work, you should consider firms like McDermott and Katten (among others).

If you don't want to work in biglaw, you could consider business careers, like management consulting (at McKinsey, Bain, and BCG) or investment banking (at Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Lazard, ect.).

I'm happy to discuss consulting with you if you'd like. I'm a 3L at HYS, and I decided to accept a job offer from a top 3 consulting firm after summering at a V20 law firm. I'm also not a JD/MBA and did not study business as an undergrad.

Aside from that, you could use your past work experience and legal skills obtained at law school to join a startup. After working in the startup world for a little bit, you might be able to transition into venture capital.

There are lots of potential avenues to pursue out of law school, and I would encourage you to consider alternative careers if biglaw doesn't feel like the right fit for you. You may need to do a little more legwork to pursue one of these careers, but with the right attitude and mindset, you will be fine.

[wh23glntz]

If you want to work in biglaw and do trusts and estates work, you should consider firms like McDermott and Katten (among others).

If you don't want to work in biglaw, you could consider business careers, like management consulting (at McKinsey, Bain, and BCG) or investment banking (at Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Lazard, ect.).

I'm happy to discuss consulting with you if you'd like. I'm a 3L at HYS, and I decided to accept a job offer from a top 3 consulting firm after summering at a V20 law firm. I'm also not a JD/MBA and did not study business as an undergrad.

Aside from that, you could use your past work experience and legal skills obtained at law school to join a startup. After working in the startup world for a little bit, you might be able to transition into venture capital.

There are lots of potential avenues to pursue out of law school, and I would encourage you to consider alternative careers if biglaw doesn't feel like the right fit for you. You may need to do a little more legwork to pursue one of these careers, but with the right attitude and mindset, you will be fine.

Not OP. but 2L going to summer at a v20 I would love to discuss that with you if you are still down.

[Anonymous User]

trusts and estates and litigation are extremely different practices. The fact that you name those as the ones you are considering makes me think you really just don't know what you want to do. (Which is fair, but like, think on that). Do you want the adversarial nature of litigation? Does winning arguments and battling plaintiffs' lawyers under deadline pressure and in crazy cases excite you? If not, don't go into lit. Sitting around planning trusts and estates strikes me as much more chill but possibly more boring.