Related Posts
Hello friends
We are hiring.....
Conversation Starter
Could anyone kindly tell me about the Investment Management and Private Equity Audit Group at Deloitte? 1. Work Life Balance (Is it worst than the ordinary Big 4 WLB?) 2. Is it an entirely different audit from commercial/retail audits (think account balances etc.) 3. Difficult to learn how to audit clients in this industry without prior experience in the industry?(been doing commercial audits for 3 years) 4. Are there relatively good exit opportunities for this audit group? Deloitte PwC EY
More Posts
We are so close. Final stretch. Let’s go 🔥
Here we go
Additional Posts in Big Law
Coach
Coach
Subject Expert
Kleinberg Kaplan thoughts anyone?
New to Fishbowl?
Download the Fishbowl app to
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
Subject Expert
What you have going for you is it sounds like you’re about a midlevel and not super senior, so as long as you’re willing to take a class year cut and basically reset as a junior, you can work your way back to biglaw. In house experience at a fund can definitely be pitched as a value add for the firm with the right framing. Is your current employer a client of any of the firms you’d target? That’s a natural in.
Subject Expert
I would think you could find some firms interested. Are you getting any feedback from interviews?
You’re going to be harder to place than a traditional BL candidate and many recruiters are bad and lazy. Market is flooded with bad recruiters from the 2021 recruiting crazy. Keep looking, you’ll find someone who can help, or just get referrals from peers to their firms. Latter is prob best.
Subject Expert
Maybe approach firms offering to return as a 2nd year?
100% you need to take a class cut and if you are willing to do so and make that clear I’m sure there are firms out there that would be interested and that would value your experience. I suspect a general issue with applying for a 1st or 2nd year position is classes are usually filled from summer classes so there are less spots for laterals unless there is attrition
What kind of work do you do at the investment fund? Are there transferable skills you can highlight to big law?
In my opinion, absolutely. I’m solely a transactional attorney, usually with external counsel but often on my own. I think that’s what makes it particularly frustrating that I can’t get bites - in a lot of ways, I feel like I have more experience than your average big law junior, as I’m often the only lawyer on my matters.
Coach
Have you tried outside counsel to your current employer? They might like having the connect with a client come over
Do NOT use a recruiter in this specific scenario. You are no longer a typical associate and you are competing with those. Firms are seeking reasons to hire you, dont add a recruiter fee on top of your application. Use your network.
By the way it's not the end of the world. I've seen others in worst positions that did better: i) a fund staff attorney becoming a fund associate, ii) an attorney that flunked OCI, started at a two person local firm in some god forsaken suburbs then lateralled her way to an AM100 firm and iii) another OCI flunkee that also ended up at an AM50 funds practice
Did you have any good relationships with your old firm? If you had a good reputation, they might be willing to take you back as a boomerang
Coach
I wouldn’t go by what the recruiters say. They tend to be very rigid, which probably reflects the limited options they are able to offer you and not what is actually possible in the market.
I know several associates who made the pivot you want to make, so I know it is possible.
Reach out to your target firms yourself.
Also, consider other in-house roles. Again, don’t rely on third-party recruiters’ representations of your options. Talk to in-house folk directly.