BigLaw Career Killers

by Andrew Gurman, Managing Director, Michael Lord & Company

Imagine serving as the hiring partner for a BigLaw firm that is looking to hire a third- or fourth-year litigation associate. You receive scores of impressive resumes and interview the ten most promising candidates. After several rounds of interviews, three candidates stand out above the rest: one in good standing with a more prestigious BigLaw firm, one in good standing with a less renowned BigLaw firm, and one who left BigLaw a year ago to work for the District Attorney's Office. In most cases, BigLaw firms will hire one of the current BigLaw associates to fill this role.

BigLaw firms and elite boutiques strongly prefer to hire currently employed BigLaw attorneys or attorneys from elite boutiques. In a soft market like the current one (and often even in a strong one), BigLaw firms typically can hire a new associate from among a bevy of elite firm associate candidates.

Generally, once an associate steps off the BigLaw train, s/he can never get back on it. Few attorneys stay in BigLaw for long: by the time associates have practiced for five years, almost 80% have left large firm practice. Furthermore, only about 14% of attorneys work for firms with more than 100 attorneys.

Attorneys wishing to stay in BigLaw for the long haul (or to enter BigLaw) should note that BigLaw career killers come in various forms. With rare exceptions, the greater the amount of time that an associate is not working for BigLaw or another elite firm, the harder it is to return to such a firm.

Unemployment: Getting laid off from a major firm for any reason—even purely based on a firm’s poor financial condition—makes it hard to return to BigLaw. Leaving BigLaw to take time off to travel, find oneself, focus on a law firm job search, or even because of a firm's dissolution or to take care of family members similarly make a return to a major firm difficult. Elite firms have concerns about an unemployed attorney's abilities regardless of whether they are warranted, and particularly where an attorney has been out of work for more than six months.

Government Position: Moving after a few years in BigLaw to a government position, such as with the District Attorney's office, the Attorney General's office, a federal agency, or even a federal clerkship, tends to foreclose future opportunities to return. An associate can round out her/his skill set by joining the government, but elite firms most value major firm experience. Note that timing is critical. A BigLaw associate who leaves for the government and seeks to return to a major firm more than about five years out of law school will have difficulty. A notable exception is joining the criminal division of the U.S. Attorney's Office (especially the S.D.N.Y.), which produces a great number of partners and counsel at elite law firms.

Non-legal or In-house Position: A return to BigLaw is unlikely for an associate who leaves the law for a business-side position, any other non-legal position, or for an in-house legal position. Attorneys leaving for such positions and wishing to return have to overcome objections based on an out-of-practice legal skill set (except for in-house attorneys still practicing like BigLaw attorneys) and have to explain why they will not simply return to the business world when the market returns or when another interesting corporate opportunity arises. An associate seeking to return to an elite law firm from a non-legal position has the greatest chance of success if (1) only six months to a year have passed since leaving the law and (2) s/he graduated from law school fewer than five years ago.

Exceptions: Under limited conditions, attorneys who have left elite firms find greater success in returning: (1) exceptionally well credentialed attorneys (premier law school, top-10% of the class, law review, elite federal clerkship-type associates who are fewer than five years out of law school); (2) practice area expertise that is in high demand at a given time (e.g., tax or patent associates, investment management associates, etc.); (3) during a hot market (i.e., markets seen in 1999 and parts of 2006/2007); and (4) attorneys with portable originations in the ~$1.5 Million+ range or in-house attorneys with the ability to generate such revenues.

Andrew Gurman is a Managing Director with Michael Lord & Company. Andrew graduated from Harvard Law School and Yale University and is a former associate with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker in New York. His direct dial is 646.258.2476, and his email address is andrew@mlordco.com.

© 2011 by Michael Lord & Company, New York, NY and Wilton, CT. All rights reserved.