3rd year associate - Ask me anything

[themanwithnoname]

Small white collar firm, formerly V10 firm, before that NYU.

[margiecardin]

Is law school fun? Tell me the truth, don't remind me that academics are challenging. I know that. I want to know if law school is as much fun as it seems like it would be.

[lawschoolFyeah]

Since you went to NYU I'm going to assume you are in the NY market.

Too make a long story short I am at Touro paying half tuition, I finished in the top 10% and they will offer me more money.  I am already on the transfer bandwagon and have been accepted by Brooklyn.  The difference between Brooklyn and Touro over two years would be near 70k, I am wondering if it is worth it.

So I suppose the essence of the question is, do people in the NY firms see a difference between a school like Brooklyn and Touro, or do they view it as Columbia, NYU, Cornell, Fordham, and...the rest. 
And if they do see a difference, is it better to be top 10% at Touro, or top lets say 40% at Brooklyn.

[like_lasagna]

Salary? Billable hour requirement? Enjoy what you're doing? Prefer smaller firm or V10? How hard/easy was the switch?

[recentgrad10]

I'm a 2010 grad (UCLA, 3.5 GPA, passed CA bar on 1st try, want to practice in the Bay Area) who chose not to do biglaw to follow a passion for sports law. I'm enjoying what I do but a regretting missing the big law experience - both for the money and for the opportunities it will present even in my specific field - for example, most professional organizations want their GCs and assistant GCs to have biglaw experience.

My question is, how do I get into biglaw without going the traditional OCI route when I have no experience in any relevant practice areas? Some of my skills are obviously transferrable but to do, for example, corporate transactional work I would have to be trained like I am a new grad. It seems strange to enter as a first year associate when I have been out of law school for a year but I'm not sure what other route to take to get into biglaw.

And assuming the answer is "just apply", do I just start sending out to firms in the area? It's not like they are posting openings for 1st year associates.

[jack24]

Small white collar firm, formerly V10 firm, before that NYU.

Have you come across a wide variety of new associates?  Is it clear that students from the ivy schools are far more prepared (or just intelligent) than other students?
Is your firm starting to grow again?  (I'm not gunning for biglaw, but I'd like it if Columbia and NYU students would stop applying to the mid-size firms in my city)
Do you have friends with law degrees who took a different career path, and if so, do you envy any of them?

[nealric]

My question is, how do I get into biglaw without going the traditional OCI route when I have no experience in any relevant practice areas? 

Short answer: you don't.

Long answer: The way to do it is to either get extremely lucky with a connection or find a way to get experience in the practice areas (and/or a combination of both). For example, there is an associate at my firm who got an in-house job at a growing company through a prof. The company grew to the point that they started hiring my firm for several matters and she started working closely with partners at the firm. Eventually, they asked if she would like to come on board.

Too make a long story short I am at Touro paying half tuition, I finished in the top 10% and they will offer me more money.  I am already on the transfer bandwagon and have been accepted by Brooklyn.  The difference between Brooklyn and Touro over two years would be near 70k, I am wondering if it is worth it.

I think there is certainly a difference. My firm hires 1-2 Brooklyn/Cardozo grads a year but generally won't touch someone from Touro. However, I don't think you would be successful at Brooklyn OCI as a Touro transfer. If you were top 1-2% and could swing a transfer to NYU/Columbia, I think it would be unequivocally worth it. But as is I would stay put and avoid the debt. See if you can leverage your acceptances elsewhere for more scholarship money from Touro.   

[themanwithnoname]

Is law school fun? Tell me the truth, don't remind me that academics are challenging. I know that. I want to know if law school is as much fun as it seems like it would be.

I enjoyed it. I found many of the classes interesting (but not all) and I liked the people. A lot of work but I had time to socialize.

[themanwithnoname]

Since you went to NYU I'm going to assume you are in the NY market.

Too make a long story short I am at Touro paying half tuition, I finished in the top 10% and they will offer me more money.  I am already on the transfer bandwagon and have been accepted by Brooklyn.  The difference between Brooklyn and Touro over two years would be near 70k, I am wondering if it is worth it.

So I suppose the essence of the question is, do people in the NY firms see a difference between a school like Brooklyn and Touro, or do they view it as Columbia, NYU, Cornell, Fordham, and...the rest. 
And if they do see a difference, is it better to be top 10% at Touro, or top lets say 40% at Brooklyn.

Brooklyn has a reasonably good reputation in New York, it definitely does make a difference in the new york market. If you are looking for big law, Brooklyn is the option with a realistic chance of getting you there. The alumni network will be much better. Not sure about what kinds of grade difference would matter.

[themanwithnoname]

Salary? Billable hour requirement? Enjoy what you're doing? Prefer smaller firm or V10? How hard/easy was the switch?

low six figures, no req, much more interesting. It took a long ass time to make the switch, I started interviewing almost a year before I found something I liked.