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Coach
Visual Storyteller
I need a new job, someone help me 😂🥲
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Pro
What do you do at your firm? I found it relatively easy to go in house as a healthcare/life sciences regulatory and transactional attorney. But a litigator will struggle often, as will stuff like family law or real estate.
Chief
OP - A2 is actually unemployed and per other m/a attorneys and other attorneys that are more senior to him, does not actually understand what in house counsels do. But in his mind, he sets Corporate Strategy
You need to be a chameleon. Figure out creative ways to show that your previous experience will translate into a technology role, or whatever it is. In house lawyers have a very different role from outside lawyers, so you need to work some magic in how you write your resume and how you present yourself in interviews such that they think you’re more specialized (or at least adaptive) than you may be. Thats how you’ll stand out against the competition. This also means tailoring your resume and interview “pitch” differently based on the specific role. This isn’t OCI where all positions are basically the same, you need to do a lot more work and preparation for each independent role.
Also, it’s not about specialty but skills. Identify what skills they are looking for, and focus the conversation on that instead of the industry to make sure you don’t highlight deficiencies in that particular industry.
If the job really demands specialization, no way around it. But what I mean is a situation where they are looking for a transactional lawyer for commercial contracts, but you spent your career doing general corporate/M&A work, you can still be strategic with how you answer things. Like “no, I haven’t done [x], but let me tell you about how my experience doing [y] can translate to success at your company”
I’d argue every question in an interview is a behavioral question. I would also recommend talking to as many in house people in similar roles ahead of time to get a good understanding of what day to day looks like so you can think through how to frame your skills and experience as a good fit for that type of environment.
You just gotta keep applying. It took me nearly two years but got a really good role. Fairly chill 9-5 remote and pays about 3rd year TC. Left as a 4th year
Yeah at a hedge fund. Didn’t do too much hedge fund work at law firm. Did mostly PE. Relatively transferable. I’ve heard PE in house wlb is not great even though they pay a lot
You're competing with everyone who already has in-house experience. They automatically have an advantage.
Rising Star
Fierce competition
Honestly, it just takes time and this is a bad market to boot. I made the move a few years ago and it took me some time (over a year). Think of your interviewing skills and resume as an ever evolving piece of art that you have to keep at. It took me so long but I eventually had a resume that fit so many different roles and landed me interviews. Then it became about refining interview skills. Application wise was a numbers game for me. I didn’t have big law or a good law school to help. But like everything else I’ve done, I hustled and worked at finding a job. The process was like a 2nd job for so long. You got this. In-house lawyers aren’t special, and many aren’t great attorneys. I work with some I would never hire. Don’t even need to be the smartest…many times Personality helps with interviews.
I’ve also been looking for over 6 months as a corporate associate from a V10 it’s tough out there for us first time in house folks
A lot of people (MA/CAPM attorneys) I know, myself included, landed their first in-house roles with client companies. In some cases, they worked directly on matters for those clients at the firm; in others, they benefited from introductions or advocacy from relationship partners
This is definitely the easiest path and probably historically the most common. If the clients you work for tend to me one-time-need clients, see if you firm has any repeat M&A clients and find a way to get on their matters so you can build relationships.
Otherwise, figure out where lawyers at the companies you'd like to work for are (conferences, trade groups, bar associations, etc.) and start going. Network, network, network.
You might look into the Association of Corporate Counsel (though I believe they actually restrict membership to current in-house folks). Find a way in -- go as a friend's guest, etc. and don't be shy about making your interest known.
It took me 11 months! I started by looking exclusively in my speciality, then transitioned to applying for more generalist roles that I could apply my skillset to. Ended up getting hired in a generalist role bc they liked that I had expertise in something the other counsel didn’t. Cast a wide net and don’t give up. I got cut in the final round from several jobs.
Agree with this. Also made it to many final rounds and didn’t get it. But somehow got the job that paid the most and was remote. Idk how any of this works and how someone gets hired. It really is the luck of the draw.
Obviously you need the relevant background and prepare for interviews, really about whether you just click with someone at an interview and whether a company is looking for your background
Pro
Apply frequently to large companies with more junior roles
Chief
according to m/a in house who sets corporate strategy, its easy
Chief
yeah
Chief
Set corporate strategy
Chief
This is the way - where is that unemployed law student i mean M/A attorney to chime in
I have been in private practice and in-house, as a General Counsel. I was happy to hire litigators from private practice. Commercial lawyers were another matter. Without in-house experience, unless they held a relevant business degree, science or engineering it was difficult to convince my internal clients to rely upon them,