I’m a first year big law associate in a major market. Leaving for two federal clerkships later this year. Plan was originally to go back to the firm but I honestly hate the work. Fine with the workload just can’t stand the cases and realize there’s no way I’ll ever get to be in trial. Is going plaintiffs side fresh off a stint in big law and a federal clerkship an option? Best way to find elite plaintiffs shops? Am I basically guaranteed a massive pay cut?

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Answers to your questions are:
1) yes totally an option
2) depends heavily on what sort of p firm you want. I can’t tell if you’re specifically asking about PI or if you’re interested in plaintiffs work more generally.
3) you will almost certainly make less than a biglaw associate of the same year, but again depends a lot on the firm/practice area.

There is no publically available salary information for plaintiff's firms. You're going to have to just send resumes and see what happens. Also, the money in PI work is not in the salary. It's in bringing in business. If you bring in business they split the fee with you. The percentage varies by firm.

After having a federal clerkship on your resume you can likely leverage a position in a trial group at a biglaw firm; and receive a substantial bonus (my firm’s is $100k) - don’t waste that

I’m not saying you are going to be going to trial on the big antitrust or ip cases, but there are lots of fairly petty matters we handle for large clients that are staffed in the most cost conscious matter possible. It’s prob not the “trial” you are hoping for but and won’t be within the first 5 years or so, but there are opportunities out there

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