Related Posts
Any advice on getting started in UX?
More Posts
Any homeschool parents in the group?
Additional Posts in Big Law
What are the top litigation practices in LA?
How are hours at Simpson Thacher LA?
New to Fishbowl?
Download the Fishbowl app to
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.




Mentor
We had a couple of ex-SEC folks join my old firm. I think the key is to lean into your expertise - be the go-to for the regulatory (or what would be applicable for you) questions, that’s your value - you might not even know how to do signature pages, but that’s not what you’re being hired to do, so don’t let that get in the way of your confidence at being truly excellent at what you ARE excellent at.
Community Builder
This is great advice
I did this. Left a career in government for ID then moved to a big law firm. Depends on what your background is and what you're doing. Learning curve will be how to bill. You can learn the substantive law as you go.
Law firms are weird. It's not the same as working in a division of government where everyone is working towards the same goal. Harder to make friendships but your experience is so much more diverse coming from government. Don't be shy. Ask a lot of questions about the substantive law. Write a blog or two to help you. And if you were managing a caseload independently in government, show the partners you can do the same for them. They will love you.
Did the gov to biglaw move at a more junior level. Agree with the comment above about ownership and independence - you are probably used to much more ownership of your matters with much less supervision than your classmates, so stay confident and keep that up, and you’ll be staffed up with a great reputation in no time.
A lot of the learning curve will be just figuring out how things are done at a firm, and at your firm in particular. Like back office/logistical stuff that is second nature to associates who summered there or have been there for a while. Luckily none of its rocket science. For this, I think the best thing I did was be really really nice to and appreciative of and open with support staff, e.g. paralegals, discovery team, word processing, etc. This is also the normal/human thing to do, but I have since found that surprisingly few people at my firm do it, and it paid off in spades with some amazing support from some really talented people on my early cases where I couldn’t have been more clueless.
Good luck!