Thoughts on a late 1st year going in-house? I'm getting close to an offer with a decent corp, in a dream location (Miami) with equal or slightly increased salary (cravath scale). My story is unique because I had significant experience prior to law school that makes me somewhat marketable to the company. While I'm well aware of my limited practice knowledge, I don't feel like I'm actually learning in my current role anyway. I also have zero interest in making partner. Is this too soon to jump?

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People might suggest waiting to get more firm experience, so you can negotiate a higher salary or advance more quickly. I don't imagine first years anywhere get too much substantive experience. Given more time in a firm setting, you're sure to get more responsibilities/learning opportunities.

However, when I read "dream location," comparable pay, and that you have zero interest in making partner, I think why wait to make the move? It sounds like you have a unique opportunity, which will enable you to get in-house experience much earlier on in your career. There are entire bowls dedicated to people trying to make a jump like this.

Worst case scenario: you get some in-house experience (which can be very hard to come by). You can always switch companies or go back to a firm if you find the grass isn't always greener.

Life's too short for missed opportunities!

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I say do it. I Have a very similar story; had industry experience gained whilst in law school and before, went in house almost immediately on the basis of that industry experience. I then went to government for a bit and transitioned to a new industry fairly quickly thereafter (government was not a fit for me!)
After 16 years of practice was named the CLO of a mid cap Fortune 500 and my total comp last year was about $2.5m. I’ve been in that role nearly two years.
It’s a leap for sure, but you know your own desires and worth. It doesn’t have to hurt you unless you let yourself buy into the idea that you’re “less than” because you don’t have many years of big law scars - my take has always been that I learned and continue to learn from the big law partners that I briefed as a second year and then onwards throughout my career. Acknowledge that you can learn from everyone, and know going into it that there are some fundamentals that might be harder for you, because unlike big law in house isn’t paying you to learn in early years, you have to do it for yourself.

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Do it. I had a similar situation come up. Also older. I do not regret going in house early.

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Do it. I had a similar story. Worked at a firm got basic knowledge in the field and transitioned into an in-house position where I continued to get the experience I wanted

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I started out at a firm for about a year, and then transitioned in-house at a small company for a few years, where I was fortunate to be given more opportunities than I might have had elsewhere. It ended up as a change of practice area as well, which was what led me to my current company (large privately owned); where I was named GC after a few years. YMMV though, and part of my story is the companies and positions I’ve moved in to, and a bit of luck — some in-house positions don’t have a ton of turnover so advancement up the corporate ranks may be slow in house, especially if you start at the bottom rung in a large department.

Don’t expect to ever go back to a law firm, though. Some in-house positions list law firm experience as a requirement (seems silly, but often recruiters will get enough candidates with 3-8 years firm experience that they will use that to screen folks out). Also, don’t think that the lifestyle is better in-house. My spouse and I are both in-house and we work as hard or harder than we did when we were at firms.

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Do it. I just left my first-year associate job after 5 months for a non-firm job that I legitimately went to law school for that I didn’t expect to be qualified or considered for like another 5-7 years. I wasn’t really happy at the firm and doing something I didn’t want to do (just checking off the box for those “first-year skills”). It was really concerning when I thought about all of the advice of what a law career looks like or how you shouldn’t jump ship so quickly, but also dream > generic career advice. Good luck!

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