Has anyone gone from law firm to govt to in house? I’m an attorney practicing at a law firm for 6+ years. Looking to transition out of litigation and billable hour reqs. Is there a viable path from govt to in house? Will I be able to rebound salary-wise from the firm to govt hit? Located in NYC for context.

like
Posting as :
works at
You are currently posting as works at

I went from staff counsel for my local transit authority to in-house with a retail company, so it can be done for sure! A lot of the work I was doing in gov't transitioned to what I'm currently doing in-house: procurement and sales, contract negotiation, board support (i.e., drafting board meeting minutes, etc.), policy development, etc.

I know the jump from law firm to gov't usually means a salary cut, but since I started in gov't first, any private job was a salary bump haha so I was very happy! 😅

My recommendation is if you're looking to eventually go in-house, seek gov't opportunities where you're working for entities like a hospital district, school district, water authority, transit authority, etc. They essentially operate the same as a big company and will give you the transferable skillset you can brag about when you're ready to make the transition to a private company. 😊

likehelpful

When you interviewed for in-house role with retail company, did they drill in on reasons for wanting to leave government work etc.?

Yes, and I know many others who have done same. At some large companies, such as Google, having government experience is listed as a requirement.
Large companies (especially, those dealing with infrastructure projects, or real estate, must deal with governments, so they will see that experience as an asset. I also worked for a transit agency and I think working as a lawyer in government is very rewarding and hard work too. (Lawyers generally don’t get the “comfy gov job” memo, to the extent that it exists at all.) I have friends that have similarly transitioned to in-house at utility companies, universities or even back to firms. I actually went to work as in-house counsel in big-tech. Even technology companies deal with federal, state and local governments. I actually think government experience is helpful, for many of the same reasons as CC1..

likehelpful

Not at all. Never came up.

I moved to gov for job security. But it’s 2025…

Related Posts

It's my starting year year at KPMG Global with 10.5 months till this September . I was eligible for this year's hike . Got a 2 rating. Will my hike percentage / bonus be comparatively less than the folks who have more than years of experience with 2 rating ?

like

How much salary can we expect for the role Support Engineer III (L4) with an experience of 3yrs?

like

Any insights on the London Big 4 bonus range for SM (tax)?

like

What would be best salary for senior 2 in Boston
Business consulting, 5 yoe?, I got intra company transfer will be joining in December

like

How’s Salesforce market for a senior technical architect with 12 years of experience? Which city is best and what salary to expect in US?

like

Anyone know the salary range for a SAP implementation consultant at Deloitte?

like

Hi everyone, thinking of places to hop to from Citi. Under consideration for a position w JP Morgan. The position is Vice President, Sr. Program Manager. Position is in Tampa. Anybody have an idea on what the salary range is like for this position? Thanks in advance.

Anybody know the starting salary for a second year associate at Gray Robinson in Florida (not Miami if that makes a difference)? Thinking of a lateral in and want to know what I’d be working with. Bonus structure? Minimum billable req.? Bueller?

like

All loyalty I felt to RSM is gone. Who wants a referral bonus?

like

About to join BNY Mellon this month pune location as a Technical Lead. I am eligible for bonus in Jan 2023 or not ?

International tax senior associate- Deloitte

I have an interview with Deloitte next week for senior associate Internacional tax in California. How much salary I should expect? I am sure this question will come up and I don't want to underbelly myself. Currently I am a senior at other Big4.

like

I have a return offer from a big 4! Thoroughly enjoyed the experience as an intern and have no complaints. Would love to go back.

However, a bit confused if I should try and recruit with MBB’s or if I should accept the big 4 offer already and take the sign on bonus?

Would it be a blunder to NOT try recruiting with MBB’s ? Besides the monetary aspect, what are the other things I’d have to think about?

like
like

Joining IBM in December. under 30% tax-slab.
How is my tax calculated, will IBM ask for my prev. comp Form16? (or my ctc is prorated for Dec,Jan,Feb,Mar)
at least for the 4 months of this FY I need full sal. in hand.
How to proceed. I wish my JB comes without tax deduction.

Currently working as a consultant in the US for a software company. Moving to UK next year for personal reasons and my company is sponsoring my visa and has offered me a Product Manager position (per my request to make a career change). Currently at 155 TC in the US and not sure how negotiate UK salary for a new position.

Morning everyone! Does anyone have insight into what a nontechnical senior manager base salary should be at Apple with 10 YOE (based in either Austin or Cali). I’ve tried looking at the salary sites many suggested on this site but am not finding much for non technical roles. Thanks!

like

Any hot leads on Workers Compensation roles?

like

Folks, one doubt..... I was hired as a senior consultant in dec 2021. I did not nominated for grade change till now. Will they automatically consider me for grade change or do I have to expicitely talk about it with PC ? Also if grade is changed, how is the impact on salary considering the parity check ? Right now I am at 25 lakhs with 8.3 years of experience.

like

How does your firm measure utilization? I work for a small boutique that defines it as utilization = number of billable hours/2,080 and full bonus payout occurs at 80% plus.

like

What would be a reasonable salary for a 3rd year lawyer in house at a real estate development company with a total of 3 lawyers (they are co-gcs for different parts of the company)? I’d be the 4th lawyer in the department as a whole. HCOL area.

like

More Posts

Hi Guys,

Let me know if anyone is looking for a referral in Accenture. Multiple job postings are available.

like

Can someone please explain connections strategy? At my (creative ad) agency we only have strategy and digital/ social strategy. Trying to grasp what exactly a connections or comms strategist works on.

like

Hi,
What is the fixed pay range for Grade 27 in Optum?

like

11 likes to enable DM ! Please help

like

Has anyone here applied and went through with one of the various deferred enrollment programs at T10/M7 Schools? Can you explain how the process went?

like

Can anyone refer me for SDE1 Atlassian. Thanks in advance!!

Hello All,
Since companies are moving into a Hybrid/back to office mode, many of us are required to move to the respective office locations. I'm not sure if this has been discussed here before,
But for a new comer to either of these locations (me) can I get a comparative Cost of living among the three cities
Pune Vs Bangalore Vs Hyderabad.
Thanks 😊

like

Hi Fishes, i joined CTS with 3.5 lpa it's been 9 years with CTS now but my package is 8.1 Lpa.. now in notice period and got offer from Wipro and Infosys for 15Lpa... How much willl be my F&F in hand including gradituty... how much i can expect.. TIA.

like

I accept follow requests left & right without following back and without shame. What does this say about me besides that I and, let’s say Beyoncé, are generally very similar?

likeuplifting

I'm working towards my capm, trying to pivot from banking sales/Customer service to Project management. I have added all the transferable skills and special project as well on my 2 page resume yet haven't been getting any success yet. With 4 years of experience in the finance sector in India and Canada, any suggestions? Shall I post the resume here for review as well?

Des infos sur eight advisory ? :)

More layoffs last week at Leo B. Seems they went after more Seniors & $alaries. Thank you France.

like

I thought E1 set a solid foundation for the first season. What are your overall thoughts?

like

Hi fellow teachers!
Another great resource for trauma informed teaching is Dr. Nadine Burk- Harris’ documentary Resilience. She also has a shorter Ted talk summarizing her main points. She is amazing

likehelpful

What is comms planning

like

I have a parent that I questioning the accommodations we are providing to her daughter. Accommodations can be amended but the student does not do any work at home. Help!

I am tagged to resources pool in Coforge from last 2 months i.e. I am in bench.
Any idea what's the notice period on bench?

People that have small children - how do you deal with your child’s stress and separation anxiety when you go to work? My 4-year old goes berserk almost every day at some point relating to me having to work. The worst part is that I’ve been working from home bc of Covid and I’m literally just walking upstairs after giving hugs and kisses and saying see you soon 800 times. My spouse is a stay at home parent, but that doesn’t seem to matter to my son. A piece of me dies everyday because of this.

likehelpful

Hello Fish,
I have cleared all round for MTS1 in PayPal.
I have only two days left in my current organization.
My current salary is 47.5 LPA 32 fixed +7.5 variable+7.5 stock.

Offered from SAP 47.8 fixed+ 5.2 variable + 15 RSU vested in 3 three years.

Offer from Paytm 60 LPA as fixed + 10 joining bonus+ 20 RSU vested in 5 years.

How much I can expect from PayPal

like

Additional Posts in In-House Counsel

Looking from the in house side, what year (eg, fourth year associate) is a sweet spot to go in house? Especially as private equity associate.

like

What would be a reasonable salary for a 3rd year lawyer in house at a real estate development company with a total of 3 lawyers (they are co-gcs for different parts of the company)? I’d be the 4th lawyer in the department as a whole. HCOL area.

like

Can anyone refer me to the Starz/Lionsgate Legal Affairs, Counsel role? I’d be happy to send you my resume first. Thanks!

likesmart

How exposed are in house counsel to the corporate layoffs that have begun and seem likely to continue? Any specific legal roles more exposed? Or entirely company dependant?

like

Would taking a director of legal operations position (jd preferred or a plus) make it hard to get back to practicing in a firm or another company?

like

Salary check. I am currently an in house attorney. 12 YOE. Large company with great coworkers doing regulatory work for the insurance industry. Good work life balance. I live in a high COL city. Out of curiosity and to test the market, I interviewed at a FAANG. Did not get the job, but found out TC was 350k, significantly higher than my TC 230k. I thought I was compensated fairly, but would love to see your thoughts.

likehelpful

Would any of your companies be willing to hire as a legal counsel an attorney with 9+ YOE but in the process of being licensed in the US? Should I not even bother to apply until I am barred?

like

Up for an in house position at Big 4 consulting. What is the salary range? Anyone have insight? Anyone have insight on the work life balance?

NFW- I just had a good laugh. Earlier today I was on a video conference call reviewing a Private Label Agreement template with a larger company who wishes to brand label products we develop and manufacture. We came to a very one-sided provision and my sales VP stated “for this one, how can we just say ‘hell no’ ...nicely?” The other person on the call said we can replace the wording with just NFW (no f@$* way) and I said “I will have to add that to the defined terms section so it’s clear”

likefunny

When my job is to handle all the corporations issues does it ever get hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel? Like that this business will survive? It will get its next round of funding? This litigation won’t wipe us out… something’s I just become very pessimistic about the future of the company.

like

Anyone going to the security/privacy conference in DC this week?

When negotiating salary, what is a reasonable ask in terms of increase? I am really hoping to be about 14% higher.

like

What law firm is your favorite for run of the mill employment issues in the US and internationally (India, Australia, UK, Germany, etc.). I primarily use Littler because they have a broad reach and decent rates but I’m wondering whether Bird & Bird, Ogletree, or some other firm has similar pricing and as good or better quality work. So, who are you using and are you happy?

like

I’m in-house at a small company (60 people), started right out of law school about 5 years ago. We had a legal team of 5 then. Everyone has left and we just hired a new GC. I went from $70k to $100k a little over a year ago. I am expecting an offer from a firm doing business law work but think this might be an opportunity to go to my current employer and ask for a significant raise, with new offer in hand. Any thoughts or advice going into this?

like

If I got a manager for employment claims’ position is it hard to pivot to an associate counsel role etc? What do you think the main difference between the two are? Is it a good position for a stepping stone to in house counsel?

like

After you moved in-house, how did you get more comfortable reviewing contracts or counseling on issues you weren’t super familiar with? I was very specialized at my law firm and took a similarly specialized role in-house….but I still get requests to mark-up types of agreements that I never touched at my firm. I’ve been trying to find CLEs to get up to speed, but I’m wondering if this is generally something that gets more comfortable with time…

like

Any intel on compensation package and base salary for the Associate Corporate Counsel positions at Amazon? I’ve seen the posts on other roles but none for ACC.

like

Question on compensation for a small co with a huge independent contractor workforce that is looking at big expansion into Europe. Reports to the general counsel. 1 other lawyer. Bonus 10-18%. Last year was 15%. No 401k for highly comped employees. I asked if they would be open to having me set up a safe harbor 401 k and they said yes in the future but it won’t be part of this offer. 16 pto days. They moved from 205 to 210 but that 230 is not possible even tho posted salary range was up to 233k

like

I am about to transition from being a junior partner at a large law firm (my practice has focused on private equity M&A) to Deputy General Counsel at a large-ish Pubco. I am already giving myself a crash course in public securities and corporate governance from my firm’s training materials and my cap markets partners, but I also wanted to poll the audience for other suggestions on how to become as prepared as possible for my new role please. Thanks in advance!

like

In house interview- I am going to hopefully the final round of interview to meet the whole legal team. I was asked about my availability, and it will take 5 hours if in one day. Should I split to multiple days? Will it cause any issues? Anyone on both sides can speak from their experience? Thanks!

like

New to Fishbowl?

Download the Fishbowl app to
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
That was just a preview…
Sign Up to see all discussions
  • Discover what it’s like to work at companies from real professionals
  • Get candid advice from people in your field in a safe space
  • Chat and network with other professionals in your field
Sign up in seconds to unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.

Already a user?
Login here

Share

Embed this post

Copy and paste embed code on your site

Preview

Download the
Fishbowl app

See what’s happening in your industry
from the palm of your hand.

A phone with Fishbowl app

Scan your QR code to download
Fishbowl app on your mobile

Download app

Sign up for free to view this conversation on Fishbowl

By continuing you agree to Terms of Use and Privacy Policy

Already have an account? Log in

Sign up for free to continue using Fishbowl

By continuing you agree to Terms of Use(New) and Privacy Policy(New)
Messaging rates may apply

Already have an account? Log in

For account settings, visit Fishbowl on Desktop Browser or

General

Legal