Firm Prestige --> Exit Options Forum

[LawBron James]

I'm curious as to whether or not the prestige of your law firm affects the availability of exit options after BigLaw. I'm currently an 0L, but my eventual plan would be to try and get Biglaw at one of the 2 secondary markets I have strong ties to, rather than gun for a V10 or similar firm (I know, those jobs are hard to get regardless, but bare with me here.)

Anyways, will someone who worked at, say, Cravath, have demonstrably better exit options than someone coming from a good, but obviously not as traditionally well known firm in Atl/Hou/Dal? I know there are plenty of other factors at play in many of these situations, but would a plan such as mine ultimately damage my chances at finding a good in-house job after Biglaw? This may be a dumb question, but I genuinely have no idea so it would be interesting to get some opinions.

Thanks

[DportIA]

You could probably follow your intuition on this one.

[LawBron James]

....so its a stupid question?

[Sgtpeppernyc]

There's no 1 answer. On the one hand, yes coming out of Cravath will kick the balls out of most other things. But, it also depends on practice area, job responsibilities, connections, and some luck. All things equal, obviously a commercial litigator from Skadden will beat out the same from a lower V100 firm. But, if the Skadden associate hasn't gone beyond doc review and the lower ranked associate has motion practice under his/her belt, it gets closer. And, if you're at a firm that's well-known for a niche practice (say, advertising for example) then the firms overall prestige becomes less important.

[ph14]

There's no 1 answer. On the one hand, yes coming out of Cravath will kick the balls out of most other things. But, it also depends on practice area, job responsibilities, connections, and some luck. All things equal, obviously a commercial litigator from Skadden will beat out the same from a lower V100 firm. But, if the Skadden associate hasn't gone beyond doc review and the lower ranked associate has motion practice under his/her belt, it gets closer. And, if you're at a firm that's well-known for a niche practice (say, advertising for example) then the firms overall prestige becomes less important.

This. It's a qualitative, totality of the circumstances analysis, not a mechanical arithmetic exercise.