Salary Question- Transition to Private Sector Forum

[Anonymous User]

I am a 7th year attorney practicing Labor and Employment Law for the federal government.

I have recently started looking at transitioning to the private sector for financial reasons (my federal job pays just over $100k, which I feel is significant lower than I could get in the private sector), and have been able to secure two interviews in the next two weeks. One is with a national L&E boutique firm (Ogletree, Littler, Jackson Lewis) and one is with a Big Law firm's L&E practice. Both jobs are in mid-sized markets in the South (think Raleigh/Birmingham/Memphis/Louisville).

I have been researching potential salaries and can find quite a bit of information for new and relatively new associates, but cannot find much information for 7+ year lateral transfers.

Any ideas as to what those firms pay in those type markers for someone with my experience?

[Kikero]

If you’re coming in as an associate, you are looking at the standard lock-step salary at the Biglaw firm, based on whatever class year you come in at. For example, if you’re class of 2015 and they give you full credit for your years in government, you’re going to get paid what the other class of 2015 associates are getting at the firm. Of course, they may knock a couple of years off your seniority and treat you as a class of 2016 or 2017 associate. I don’t know how common that is coming from government, but it happens for folks moving from in house to Biglaw. That class year hit can be permanent or temporary (e.g., you start at class of 2017, but if things work out well at the end of the year you don’t just get a class of 2017 raise but actually get bumped up to class of 2016, and essentially get two raises at once). This is all circumstance-specific and to some extent negotiable.

The boutique might be more of a black box if their associates are not in class year lockstep. And of course if you are coming in as of counsel or a staff attorney those positions are more bespoke too.