Notice And Comment: How Do I Pick A Law Firm?

Here's one piece of advice. Readers, what do you think?

It’s nice to keep doors open—but at a certain point, you need to walk through one (via Getty Images).

Welcome to Original Jurisdiction, the latest legal publication by me, David Lat. You can learn more about Original Jurisdiction by reading its About page, you can reach me by email at davidlat@substack.com, and you can subscribe by clicking on the button below.

Fall is just around the corner, and we all know what that means: the start of fall interviewing season at law schools. But considering that the process at many schools now starts well before Labor Day—and is back to starting in July, after the disruption of the pandemic year—perhaps it’s more accurate to refer to it as “on-campus” interviewing season rather than “fall” interviewing season.

Actually, scratch that. Let’s just call it “interviewing season,” since most of the interviewing this cycle is being done virtually rather than on campus, as Karen Sloan recently reported for Reuters.

Having completed the interviewing process, students at some schools are already weighing offers for their 2L summers in Biglaw. In my informal role as career consultant and coach (for folks who have signed up as founding members of Original Jurisdiction), I’ve been hopping on lots of calls lately to advise law students and young lawyers about their summer and lateral job searches, doling out everything from resume advice to interview tips to guidance on which offer to accept.

The purpose of this Notice and Comment feature at Original Jurisdiction is to give readers a chance to discuss a topic amongst yourselves. So, in the spirit of the season, today’s subject is picking a law firm.

I’ll kick off the conversation with one piece of advice, then turn the floor over to you. Here’s my advice, which applies to both law students choosing between summer associate gigs and associates (and even partners) thinking about lateral moves:

Prestige and money are important things—but they’re not the only things.

When I was a law student, my decision-making process for choosing between my summer associate offers involved looking at the Vault prestige rankings and picking the highest-ranked firm I had an offer from. And I think that’s still how many law students and lawyers choose between offers: they pick the most prestigious and highest-paying firm that has made them an offer.

Depending on your particular situation, this approach might make sense. If you’re unsure about what you want to do within the law, picking the most prestigious firm generally keeps the most doors open for you. If you think you’ll stay in Biglaw for just a few years before leaving to do something else, selecting the most well-known and well-regarded firm will typically give you the best exit options, since its name will carry more weight on a resume than that of a less storied firm.

But if you have a clearer idea of what you’d like to do within the law—perhaps because of prior employment that exposed you to a certain industry you want to focus on, or perhaps because you’ve been practicing for a few years and have discovered a specialty you like—then picking based mainly on prestige makes less sense. The most prestigious firm isn’t necessarily the firm that’s strongest in the type of work that you want to do.

Indeed, a desire to focus on a different specialty or industry is a common reason for a lateral move. Maybe you started off at a Biglaw firm and did a mix of commercial litigation and white-collar work; you discovered that you prefer the latter, so lateraling to a white-collar boutique could be a good move. Perhaps you started off doing general capital markets work, but now you want to focus on SPAC deals; some firms are better than others for that type of work, and it’s not correlated with prestige. Or say you went to a Biglaw firm and made partner there, but now your efforts at building a practice are being hampered by client conflicts and your firm’s inflexibility on billing rates; it might be time to move to a better “platform” for your practice (as recruiters like to say), even if that platform might be less prestigious or profitable.

Put another way, prestige and pay aren’t the only factors that will affect your time at a firm. When I was a law student, firms looked very similar to me—and to be sure, they all boasted about the same things, such as collegiality, diversity, and their pro bono work. But as I’ve learned over the years, firms are actually very different, with different cultures, business models, and power structures. Based on your particular personality, work style, or career interests, you could be making a mistake by picking the most prestigious firm over the firm whose culture will allow you to flourish over the long term.

Readers, do you agree or disagree with this advice? And what other tips would you offer on picking a firm, for either law students or lateral lawyers?

In the comments to this post, please offer your advice on choosing a firm (just as you so helpfully shared insights on navigating law school). Many of you are partners, and so you’re experts on carving out successful career paths in Biglaw firms and elite boutiques. Thanks in advance, from me and from everyone who will read these comments and benefit from your insights.

Thanks for reading Original Jurisdiction, the latest legal publication by me, David Lat. You can learn more about Original Jurisdiction by reading its About page, you can reach me by email at davidlat@substack.com, and you can share this post or subscribe to Original Jurisdiction using the buttons below.