At my law firm, only senior associates and partners go to court and take depositions. Is this normal for a big/vault law firm?

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Depends on the market and firm. In NY and DC, yes. In our secondary market office of a V25 firm we are actively training trial lawyers, so people take depos as first years and examine witnesses in court by their second year.

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I’m at a big firm in DC and I’ll be appearing by myself in court alone next week (2nd year associate). But I also think I’ve gotten really lucky with partners who actively look for opportunities for me to develop my skills

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Agree that it’s far less common in NY/DC Biglaw to get good court appearance/depo experience than other markets. That said, I’m a fourth year who has worked at two V25 firms (lateraled because of partner’s job and different markets). The first firm I had no hope of taking a depo until 5th year absent pro bono matters. While my current firm I was asked to take 3 depos and handle direct examinations for a PI hearing for a good client my first month as an almost-third year. Firm culture, consistency of work, variety of work, type of client, and partner philosophy make all the difference.

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As a NYC BigLaw associate at a V50 firm, I took my first depos as a fourth-fifth year, but second chaired a whole lot of them prior to that. If you get on a team with nine-figure lawsuits, it's not likely you're going to get to stand up for dispositive arguments or at trial - that's a partner job. I do go to court a decent amount, even solo on some appearances. That said, be proactive in seeking opportunities on leaner staffed matters to run the show, or jump on pro bono cases where you take the lead.

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No, it’s not normal. At my firm, I’m the only associate with trial experience and that’s because I took two pro bono cases to trial. Usually it’s three partners who take all examinations and associates make them outlines. You might get lucky and get an examination on a smaller matter where you are staffed with one partner. That’s doubtful at my firmz

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