Plaintiff Bar Practice Area Qs Forum

[Anonymous User]

Clerk here, wanting to go into plaintiffs bar work but still feel a bit like a kid in a candy store when it comes to practice areas and practical work/life/salary/prestige considerations.

Anyone have some idea about practice areas from the Plaintiffs bar perspective? What really is the difference between antitrust, securities, and whistleblowing day-to-day? Is there flexibility across practices or are you once an employment class action lawyer, only an employment class action lawyer?

Similarly, if at a (lets say semi-prestigous?) PI plaintiffs firm, what is the flexibility to move to government or other areas of law generally? Would love to know if I burn out on biglaw hours without biglaw money what the lateral landscape looks like for a Plaintiffs' bar lawyer.

[Anonymous User]

The worry is, of course, big law hours and stress without the money. And though your clients are less unsavory than big law clients, some claims are nitpicky and more money-oriented than justice oriented. At least, that was my read on the situation.

I think high end plaintiffs work can lead to decent exit options, depending on the sector. You will be highly thought of by the public interest bar. It might be a tougher slog to get into some government positions comprised of mostly big law refugees.

[Anonymous User]

I work at a plaintiffs' firm and my impression is that exit options to public interest are much easier than people coming from biglaw. Plaintiffs' work is sort of public interest adjacent and social justice adjacent anyhow. In terms of government, I think plaintiff firm folks have more to show for themselves when they apply for prosecutor positions. Plaintiffs' attorneys build cases, have to meet their burdens of proof, and we frequently get more and better litigation experience earlier in our careers relative to defense-side biglaw people.

[Anonymous User]

Lawyer at a “prestigious” p-side firm here. Ex-colleagues have exited to government jobs, as well as to other firms (both p-side and biglaw). I think having the experience at an objectively reputable firm goes a long way, regardless of what side you’re on.

Personally, I have no plans of exiting (and plenty of people stay p-side for a long time). Having also worked in biglaw, the quality of life is much better on this side, and I am nowhere near the burnout i experienced in biglaw.