4th year M&A associate at a V20. AMA Forum

[ThrowJack777]

Thought you all might be curious what the practice of law is actually like. AMA. Hours, good bad, whatever you like.

[jackdanielsga]

Forgive me for being straightforward - m&a legal work seems incredibly boring from the outside, or am I mistaken?

Also, are you involved in any international transactions?

[Samark45]

During your first 1-2 years, what was a typical day in terms of the actual tasks you were responsible for, and what do you think you learned in terms of actual law (as opposed to the means to achieve what are essentially project management-type goals, like figuring out how to redline, use the firm software, make sure documents are signed when/where they're supposed to be.)? Basically, I'm wondering to what extent M&A juniors at big firms practice law, as oppose to filing paperwork and making sure deadlines are met.

[Wild Card]

How would M&A at a V20 differ from Fried Frank, Shearman, Willkie? I've heard that V5 is in a class of its own compared to the rest.

[objctnyrhnr]

Forgive me for being straightforward - m&a legal work seems incredibly boring from the outside, or am I mistaken?

Also, are you involved in any international transactions?

Building off of this, why did you decide to (1) go to law school and then (2) do m&a? I’m too bashful to ask my friends in the industry so I’m forced to ask anonymous strangers on forums. Intuitively, I cannot fathom why anybody would decide that law school is the right move then go into anything that isn’t lit, but I acknowledge that there’s probably a very good reasonable answer to this.

[Nagster5]

Forgive me for being straightforward - m&a legal work seems incredibly boring from the outside, or am I mistaken?

Also, are you involved in any international transactions?

Building off of this, why did you decide to (1) go to law school and then (2) do m&a? I’m too bashful to ask my friends in the industry so I’m forced to ask anonymous strangers on forums. Intuitively, I cannot fathom why anybody would decide that law school is the right move then go into anything that isn’t lit, but I acknowledge that there’s probably a very good reasonable answer to this.

Not OP, but I wet to law school with the intention to do lit, did a biglaw lit rotation during my 1L summer and hated it. I started looking into other options and found that transactional work was more interesting, had more attractive exit options (I have worked for the government and don't ever want to again), and fit my personal style better (I am a procrastinator, I do much better with fire drills than with far-off deadlines).

[jackdanielsga]

transactional work was more interesting

What is it like? As in a typical engagement

[Nagster5]

transactional work was more interesting

What is it like? As in a typical engagement

While I feel qualified to comment on why someone might choose transactional work, I don't feel I have enough experience to answer this objectively.

Personally, the work just grabbed me. Learning about how deals are done and why things are done the way they are is very interesting, while researching endlessly and trying to craft arguments that fit within narrow boundaries of existing law just seemed boring and inconsequential. I loved law school and excelled a it, but there's a big difference between crafting arguments on difficult points of law that can go either way and biglaw lit where you're just drilling holes until settlement time. I think appellate work or trial boutiques would have been a much more enjoyable than general lit work, but I didn't want to have to keep striving for grades and LR positions and clerkships and everything else that you have to do to play that game.