Hierarchy of In-House Opportunities Forum

[Anonymous User]

Hey all - am a mid-level associate making the switch to in-house and have a grab-bag of opportunities. They're in different industries and areas of the market so I'm having trouble "ranking" them as far as where they would put me as far as resume/prestige dilution, future career prospects, etc.

Of course I fully understand that in house positions just can't be ranked like law firms can and that the particulars of the position and compensation are the most significant factors but on the margins, I think it could be helpful to have a general approximation of where the companies themselves stand amongst each other as, here, the roles are all within a rough band of similarity (general corporate counsel) and within margin on compensation.

-Fortune 100 Corporation (technology-oriented)
- Major consumer credit reporting agency
- Asset Management firm with 3-500B AUM
- Fintech Company (Privately held, 2-3B+ in total funding)
- Major Stock Exchange (NYSE, LSE, HKSE, TSE, etc.)

I am also happy to hear of any general advice as to the pitfalls or advantages of working in each space.

[jhett]

This certainly is a grab-bag. It's hard to make any sort of comparison without knowing what your practice area is and what your career goals are (e.g., where do you want to end up, what kind of work do you want to do, what industries are you interested in).

[Anonymous User]

Well here's my rank, using solely the following criteria: (a) does the position give you freedom to go back into the pure practice of law should you change your mind one day, whether that be a private law firm or a cool government job like SEC or the DOJ?; (b) in general, does the position potentially pigeonhole you into that specific sector and industry so strongly that your future is basically stuck remaining within it forever?

1 - Major Stock Exchange (NYSE, LSE, HKSE, TSE, etc.)
2 - Major consumer credit reporting agency
3 -Fortune 100 Corporation (technology-oriented)
4 - Asset Management firm with 3-500B AUM
5 - Fintech Company (Privately held, 2-3B+ in total funding)

[Moneytrees]

Hey all - am a mid-level associate making the switch to in-house and have a grab-bag of opportunities. They're in different industries and areas of the market so I'm having trouble "ranking" them as far as where they would put me as far as resume/prestige dilution, future career prospects, etc.

Of course I fully understand that in house positions just can't be ranked like law firms can and that the particulars of the position and compensation are the most significant factors but on the margins, I think it could be helpful to have a general approximation of where the companies themselves stand amongst each other as, here, the roles are all within a rough band of similarity (general corporate counsel) and within margin on compensation.

-Fortune 100 Corporation (technology-oriented)
- Major consumer credit reporting agency
- Asset Management firm with 3-500B AUM
- Fintech Company (Privately held, 2-3B+ in total funding)
- Major Stock Exchange (NYSE, LSE, HKSE, TSE, etc.)

I am also happy to hear of any general advice as to the pitfalls or advantages of working in each space.

I'm also a midlevel, so take the following with a grain of salt. But I think that if your focus is on future career development, your in-house job needs to be the type of job that doesn't just view legal work purely as a cost center and where you will have opportunities to be challenged and grow your skill-set. It might seem prestigious to work for any given Fortune 100 company or the NYSE, but if your role within the company is to be a faceless compliance officer or to mostly only rubber stamp vendor contracts or something, you are not going to be building any sort of long-term skills needed for better jobs down the line.

[Anonymous User]

Hey all - am a mid-level associate making the switch to in-house and have a grab-bag of opportunities. They're in different industries and areas of the market so I'm having trouble "ranking" them as far as where they would put me as far as resume/prestige dilution, future career prospects, etc.

Of course I fully understand that in house positions just can't be ranked like law firms can and that the particulars of the position and compensation are the most significant factors but on the margins, I think it could be helpful to have a general approximation of where the companies themselves stand amongst each other as, here, the roles are all within a rough band of similarity (general corporate counsel) and within margin on compensation.

-Fortune 100 Corporation (technology-oriented)
- Major consumer credit reporting agency
- Asset Management firm with 3-500B AUM
- Fintech Company (Privately held, 2-3B+ in total funding)
- Major Stock Exchange (NYSE, LSE, HKSE, TSE, etc.)

I am also happy to hear of any general advice as to the pitfalls or advantages of working in each space.

I'm in a similar situation - switching to in-house and trying to rank opportunities. It's definitely a challenge since the roles are all so similar. I think it would be helpful to look at each position in terms of how much autonomy you will have, what kind of impact you can make on the job, any potential for upward mobility, and of course, the compensation.

[Anonymous User]

Having left in-house to come back to private practice: Assuming you "like" all of these opportunities, I think one of the most critical things to scope out in-house is advancement, autonomy, leadership structure, etc.

In my experience, promotions and advancement in-house depends heavily on the managers above you either leaving (quitting or retiring) or legit dying. You may get raises, etc. every year, but in order to get the advancement up the chain it can be a lot harder.

Try and see how long your direct manager has been in their role for. Then see how long their direct manager has been in their role for.

I went in-house too junior, so I was 3 levels below the GC level (i.e., I had a manager who had a manager who reported to the GC). Both my manager and their own manager had been at the job for 10+ years in their respective roles. There was no moving up for me unless I switched internal legal departments or one of them left (which neither expressed any desire to).

It can be very, very easy to be stuck doing the same thing in-house for 10+ years, so scope out your opportunities carefully and how your management structure is going to work.

[Anonymous User]

I'm in-house but don't think ranking by type of company is particularly helpful. More important is the day-to-day responsibilities, title, reporting structure and opportunities for promotion. There is a lot of variability across and within legal departments so you have to really do your diligence.

[Anonymous User]

I'm in-house but don't think ranking by type of company is particularly helpful. More important is the day-to-day responsibilities, title, reporting structure and opportunities for promotion. There is a lot of variability across and within legal departments so you have to really do your diligence.

OP here - to the extent helpful, and because it’s been discussed above here are the general practice areas:

- Fortune 100 Corporation (technology-oriented): Commercial/Procurement

- Major consumer credit reporting agency: Privacy/Regulatory

- Asset Management firm with 3-500B AUM: General corporate (no focus, just do everything needed)

- Fintech Company (Privately held, 2-3B+ in total funding) (Privacy/Regulatory/Product)

- Major Stock Exchange (NYSE, LSE, HKSE, TSE, etc.) (Privacy/Regulatory)

Appreciate the input in here, so think worth some additional info if it helps the advice.

[12481632]

I'm in-house but don't think ranking by type of company is particularly helpful. More important is the day-to-day responsibilities, title, reporting structure and opportunities for promotion. There is a lot of variability across and within legal departments so you have to really do your diligence.

OP here - to the extent helpful, and because it’s been discussed above here are the general practice areas:

- Fortune 100 Corporation (technology-oriented): Commercial/Procurement

- Major consumer credit reporting agency: Privacy/Regulatory

- Asset Management firm with 3-500B AUM: General corporate (no focus, just do everything needed)

- Fintech Company (Privately held, 2-3B+ in total funding) (Privacy/Regulatory/Product)

- Major Stock Exchange (NYSE, LSE, HKSE, TSE, etc.) (Privacy/Regulatory)

Appreciate the input in here, so think worth some additional info if it helps the advice.

If you don’t take the Fortune 100 or Asset Management Firm job, PM me if you’d like as I’m also a mid-level (corp/m&a) looking to move in-house and would be interested if they’re remote roles…

[Anonymous User]

I'm in-house but don't think ranking by type of company is particularly helpful. More important is the day-to-day responsibilities, title, reporting structure and opportunities for promotion. There is a lot of variability across and within legal departments so you have to really do your diligence.

OP here - to the extent helpful, and because it’s been discussed above here are the general practice areas:

- Fortune 100 Corporation (technology-oriented): Commercial/Procurement

- Major consumer credit reporting agency: Privacy/Regulatory

- Asset Management firm with 3-500B AUM: General corporate (no focus, just do everything needed)

- Fintech Company (Privately held, 2-3B+ in total funding) (Privacy/Regulatory/Product)

- Major Stock Exchange (NYSE, LSE, HKSE, TSE, etc.) (Privacy/Regulatory)

Appreciate the input in here, so think worth some additional info if it helps the advice.

I'm the in-house anon above. Generally would avoid commercial/procurement since that sounds like you'd be supporting a sales team. Typically makes it difficult to get the visibility needed for advancement. But may be good for WLB or a particulary good manager/team may make it work it.

General corporate role with asset management firm seems to have most potential if this is a small legal team.

Privacy/regulatory roles also sound interesting if that is your thing but as a specialist position also generally hard to further advance so you should make sure you are good with that role long term.

I'm not saying you have to be super ambitious but as the other poster pointed out, it can be very slow to advance in house so you have to do your diligence and position yourself as best you can up front.