Is there a “sweet spot” (based on years of biglaw experience) for going in house if you want to make the move? Also, is there a point at which companies will see you as too senior or experienced for them to hire you as in house counsel?

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I’ve done a lot of research and talked with a number of mentors about this. From what I’ve heard, if you want to get out of big law for lifestyle reasons and don’t mind a cut in pay, then sweet spot is 3-6/7 years of experience will get you a decent staff attorney position in-house.

However, if you want to go in at the GC level, unless you find a really unique opportunity, your best opportunities come around after you make partner. The partner “gold star” on your resume carries a lot of weight, based on what I’ve heard from a number of sources (including in-house, private equity, law firm partners, and former lawyers who went into business)

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Lawyers that go in as partners do tend to have really interesting roles, but there’s selection bias going on there - there are far fewer partner-level roles. Many more people take the path of going in house then working their way up to management. it’s also common for senior associates to be GC/clo at startups.

Depends on what your end goal is

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You can go in-house at any year (some attorneys go straight in-house from law school), the average junior commercial counsel is going to have 2-5 years of experience, senior counsel or AGC could be 5-8 years, and someone stepping right into a GC role has likely been that company’s outside counsel or could be coming from a partner level firm position.

The biggest thing is that some firms are known for their associates moving in-house at their institutional clients and other firms you don’t see that stream of movement. Use LinkedIn to see attorneys in the types of positions at companies you admire and you can see their work history and path to that job.

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I went in at 3 years and felt pretty good about it — the first in house job was SO much harder than the second, and esp if you’re in a niche industry (entertainment) you are more competitive with a few years of in house against someone with your same grad year who has been general corporate at a big firm. My current job I applied at 4 yrs and they wanted 6-8 but my experience was more relevant than a generic 6th year firm associate.

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6-10 years gets you in at senior levels. The more senior, the less the pay cut will be as I was able to max out base within the band at 10 YOE.

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Tech.

It really varies but as a rule of thumb I think 3-6 years is sweet spot for your average corporate counsel or associate general counsel role. But it really depends on the particular opportunity and set of circumstances and most importantly- what is the skill set you want to develop to make you competitive for what you want to do in house and how long will that take to develop.

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3-5 years is a good entry point

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