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Hi all,

Is anyone familiar with the career prospects for going into family law? Ie. do any big law firms hire associates to practice family law, trust/estates, etc. in reasonably large numbers? In particular, I am thinking about the NYC market.

Basically if someone goes to a T6 with the goal of going into family law, or generally a non-corporate practice area, is this feasible (while still being paid well)? Or is the hiring market too small/a crapshoot?

Any insight or experience is appreciated.

I don't think a lot of big firms do family law as most people think of it - divorce, child support/custody, other domestic relations stuff, maybe wills and taxes; big firms don't tend to represent individuals as much, and a lot of family law stuff is by definition the interests of individuals (as opposed to companies/businesses). If by family law you mean really rich people and their estates, that's different and others will have to chime in (my sense is that you do have trusts & estates practices at big firms, but they tend to be really small. But that's based on what I've read here so I may be wrong).

I guess my question is what exactly you mean by non-corporate practice area.

My brother works in BL, one non-corporate lucrative area is Title 9.

Thanks for the responses.

Does anyone have more insight on the career prospects of a T6 law grad who wanted to pursue family law (or trust/estates)? I am getting the sense that big law firms generally don't have those practice groups, or is they do they are de minimis. What options would be available to a law grad? Boutique firms? How would these positions pay?

Fetyukovich wrote:Thanks for the responses.

Does anyone have more insight on the career prospects of a T6 law grad who wanted to pursue family law (or trust/estates)? I am getting the sense that big law firms generally don't have those practice groups, or is they do they are de minimis. What options would be available to a law grad? Boutique firms? How would these positions pay?

+1, am interested in the answer to this question.

I worked for a summer in a medium-size family law firm. Pay isn't bad, but it isn't anywhere close to market. Family law is miserable.

Biglaw firms may have a small trusts and estates practice, but it's usually very small and limited to very high net worth clients. My old firm required at least $10MM in net worth (I believe that was the number) in order to utilize the T&E group.

kalvano wrote:I worked for a summer in a medium-size family law firm. Pay isn't bad, but it isn't anywhere close to market. Family law is miserable.

Biglaw firms may have a small trusts and estates practice, but it's usually very small and limited to very high net worth clients. My old firm required at least $10MM in net worth (I believe that was the number) in order to utilize the T&E group.

You say that "Family law is miserable," would you mind elaborating on that? Ie. some details on the market you were in, type of work, hours, how it compares to what you're doing now, etc.

Thanks!

When I clerked in family law dept of mid/big law firm all the partners suggested that I go into a different area of law first and then circle back to family law if that's what I really wanted to do. I think the logic behind what they meant is that family law is easier to learn than other areas of law.

Not incredibly helpful insight I know, but take it FWIW.

Fetyukovich wrote:Hi all,

Is anyone familiar with the career prospects for going into family law? Ie. do any big law firms hire associates to practice family law, trust/estates, etc. in reasonably large numbers? In particular, I am thinking about the NYC market.

Basically if someone goes to a T6 with the goal of going into family law, or generally a non-corporate practice area, is this feasible (while still being paid well)? Or is the hiring market too small/a crapshoot?

Any insight or experience is appreciated.

Most family law lawyers in the city are solo practitioners. I don't know of any biglaw firm in the city that does family law. Trusts and estates is tiny and you can't count on that as a practice group.

Fetyukovich wrote:

kalvano wrote:I worked for a summer in a medium-size family law firm. Pay isn't bad, but it isn't anywhere close to market. Family law is miserable.

Biglaw firms may have a small trusts and estates practice, but it's usually very small and limited to very high net worth clients. My old firm required at least $10MM in net worth (I believe that was the number) in order to utilize the T&E group.

You say that "Family law is miserable," would you mind elaborating on that? Ie. some details on the market you were in, type of work, hours, how it compares to what you're doing now, etc.

Thanks!

I worked in a medium size firm in Dallas (20-30 attorneys). They handle all type of family law for all different types of clients, though it tends to skew towards higher-income individuals due to the hourly rate of most of the attorneys at the firm.

Family law is miserable because, unlike most of general business litigation (which is pretty miserable itself), in family law you see the absolute worst in people on a regular basis. People fighting over petty, stupid shit and using their intimate knowledge of another person to absolutely do everything they can to hurt that person. As unpleasant as business litigation can be, it never has the intensely personal ramifications that affect everything in family law.

Maybe some people are better built for it, but I would rather bill 3,000 hours in Biglaw than 1500 in family law.

And family law ramps up around the holidays unlike other areas of law (at least the other areas I've been involved in) because that's when all the family drama tends to go down with separated families

You say that "Family law is miserable," would you mind elaborating on that?

Family law, like Bankruptcy and a few others, is really hard if you get motivation from the smile you put on your clients' faces. You can do a bang-up job, and it's still the worst day of your client's life. Bravo to those who have the fortitude to practice in those areas. I couldn't do it.

T&E or Private Client or Private Wealth Services does exist at big firms, it's often a service industry like Tax and ERISA for corporate clients and their execs. Kirkland and Ellis has a large T&E practice in Chicago and Silicon Valley. It's very tax heavy and code based, and extremely leanly staffed - often partner heavy. Hours are good and pay/bonuses are not always market but still in the range for big law.

kalvano wrote:I worked in a medium size firm in Dallas (20-30 attorneys). They handle all type of family law for all different types of clients, though it tends to skew towards higher-income individuals due to the hourly rate of most of the attorneys at the firm.

Family law is miserable because, unlike most of general business litigation (which is pretty miserable itself), in family law you see the absolute worst in people on a regular basis. People fighting over petty, stupid shit and using their intimate knowledge of another person to absolutely do everything they can to hurt that person. As unpleasant as business litigation can be, it never has the intensely personal ramifications that affect everything in family law.

Maybe some people are better built for it, but I would rather bill 3,000 hours in Biglaw than 1500 in family law.

I haven't worked in family law myself, but this is absolutely consistent with what I've seen via people who do. Solos or small/medium local firms are particularly common (keep in mind that family law is state-specific, too - no federal law, less incentive to have national practices).

And re: the holidays - exactly. Someone I knew got told to be in the office bright and early on the day after a major holiday because that was when marriages fell apart.