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I don’t think there is anything out there without a paycut… and the the discrepancy only gets larger the more senior you get save for the big tech companies. So unlikely unless you’re a partner moving into a very, very well-paid GC role, but even then most of those roles want some in-house experience.
That’s a different question. There are plenty of in-house jobs with minimum $200K comp. You’d likely have a shot at those with 4-5 years of experience.
I moved to FAANG from biglaw as a 6th year and got a pay bump. After almost 4 years in house, my pay is now substantially higher than it would have been had I stayed at the firm (due to stock appreciation). FYI I entered my in house job as an associate counsel and am currently counsel.
Probably 3 years, but 5+ is more common. I think there are some other non-FAANG tech companies that might have similar comp (Airbnb? Stripe?), and of course if your company goes on a crazy stock run like Tesla you could make much more than you would at a firm.
From my experience, you will simply never make as much in-house. At a firm, you're a revenue generator. At a company, you're a cost center. Every force in the in-house budget is trying to minimize your impact. Unless you're landing an executive or board member position, there is little chance you won't take a pay cut. And if you're trying for those kinds of positions, legal experience won't serve you that well, and you'll probably need 20 years to really be competitive.
Rising Star
Au contraire.
I was a millionaire by my fourth year out of law school due to stock options and a SPAC. Unusual.
But, TBH, my salary is less than biglaw for my class year.
No experience. I went in-house out of law school (mid-size tech firm) and make $190k in year 3.
My bigger concern would be job security for the no name tech companies. The valuation bubble may pop one day.
YMMV, but 5-7 years is the sweet spot. Banking/finance seems to take people earlier and still pay them well. 0-4 years experience is a junior role, so you will usually trade at a discount.
One thing to keep in mind, and this is a generalization with exceptions for sure, is it is my sense that the less you do deal work when in house, the more you may be functioning as a cost center rather than driving any value.
I am in house at a debt fund and it’s very transactional. I had to take only a very modest maybe 15 percent total comp cut from being at a law firm, and now I can rely on law firm associates to do all kinds of crap I used to be burdened with like sig pages, checklists etc and focus more on the deal.
If you want a true 9-5 and not doing transactions, you may be paid lower and treated like a cost center.
Following this.
13 years ago, when I graduated from my Chinese Law school, I decided that I hated the legal industry, so I grabbed an extremely low pay in-house attorney position with amazing WLB.
Later I regretted it. I found that I couldn’t get much training and growth from there.
I struggled for another 9 years as in-house.
Now I graduated from US law school and got the opportunity to live a second life. (Early career is always painful, but I need to go through it twice)
I found that I do enjoy being in the law firm, but I miss WLB a million.
Forever. You will not get an in-house job that matches firm pay, at least in dollars and cents. The work-life balance you will get has value, though, so don't discount it.