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From my experience if you come in at a counsel role (i.e. less than 8 YOE), you could be stuck in that level for 2-3 years or more depending on company budget/your performance. But you are usually likely to get promoted. If you come in at senior counsel (8 YOE+) you make more initially but then difficult to advance unless your manager retires or leaves.
Agree with this. It’s also easier to find a business with lots of room for promotion/growth if you’re willing to come in at the Counsel level. Tons of late stage startups are out there with a single Head of Legal barely surviving and eager to hire their first attorney direct report. That naturally creates an environment where (assuming continued growth/good fit) you elevate into AGC, DGC, etc over time. Great experience and seniority. But yes you’re rolling the dice on startup equity (even late-stage) and giving up a few years of making probably 10-30% more elsewhere. Worth it IMO but I like that space. You also have a small chance of making BIG money if your pick hits.
Totally comes down to the opportunity and where you are currently. If you’re at a good firm, that 7+ years will be helpful in getting you access to higher tier IHC roles. But, some companies (especially larger ones) will prefer to promote internally to more senior roles, and/or strongly preference IHC experience for those roles. I’d generally recommend against making the jump from a firm too early for a low paying, not very prestigious IHC role with limited growth opportunities