Tag Archives: Law Firm Lawyer

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Lateral Interviews: Advice from Seasoned Interviewers

With the end-of-year bonus season upon us and a lateral hiring market that remains exceptionally strong, it’s a safe bet that many law firm associates will soon be preparing for lateral interviews. What can you do to maximize your chance of a successful interview?

To get some pointers, I spoke with Mike Blankenship, managing partner of Winston & Strawn’s Houston office, and Randall Clark, corporate and securities partner in Gunderson Dettmer’s New York office. Both have extensive experience with lateral hiring and were happy to offer their advice.

  1. Be prepared to talk about your representative matters.

The biggest difference between on-campus and lateral interviews is that, as a lateral candidate, you’ll be expected to actually know some law! But before your imposter syndrome intensifies, rest assured that technical questions are almost never asked. The way partners assess your skillset is by probing your resume and, most importantly, your representative matters. “The deal sheet gets more attention from us than the resume,” says Randall, so you must be prepared to discuss any of your listed matters. Take time to reacquaint yourself with the basics of each matter and prepare some talking points about your specific contributions.

  • Assemble an effective deal sheet or representative matters list.

There are three dimensions to bear in mind when preparing a deal sheet: format, substance, and length.

  • Format: Most partners prefer deal sheets organized by type of transaction, not chronologically. Use this to your advantage by placing your most impressive deals at the top of each category.
  • Substance: Include enough detail to convey the essence of the deal. For example, instead of writing “client,” write “a national supplier of widgets.” Emphasize aspects that align with the interviewing firm’s practice strengths. Additionally, indicate your scope of responsibility. This can be as simple as describing your overall role (e.g., “lead associate”) or as detailed as listing your primary contributions.
  • Length: Don’t let the term “representative matters” fool you—it’s important to go beyond a small sampling of matters and submit a deal sheet that reflects a high volume of work. The ideal number of matters will vary by firm, practice, and class year, but it’s generally a good idea to consider including all of your matters, even those in which you played a smaller role.
  • Look professional.

Yes, the world is changing, Goldman Sachs no longer requires a suit and tie, but despite this trend, it’s better to play it safe for law firm interviews. “Most law firm hirers still expect professional attire because their clients still expect professional attire,” says Mike.

  • Do sufficient background research and prepare informed questions.  

“While we’re all large law firms, there are distinguishing factors, areas where a firm is great at something,” Mike observes. Look into both overall firm platform as well as the strengths of the specific office or group.

Even if a firm’s top strengths don’t align directly with your practice area, it’s important to demonstrate that you are interested enough to have learned about the firm on your own time. Partners want to be able to quickly identify that you’ve done your homework and start convincing you that you should choose their firm. When conducting screener interviews, Randall “know[s] within a few minutes whether or not [he] like[s] a candidate.”

It’s also advisable to briefly review your interviewers’ biographies. Referring to an interviewer’s background is a great way to avoid awkward silences. And simple questions like “What made you decide to retool into x practice?” or “How is it working for x industry clients?” can surface valuable insights.

  • Speak clearly and concisely.

This is important in any interview, but it is essential at firms like Gunderson where associates are expected to interface early with price-sensitive clients. “I want to see whether we can put you in front of founders,” says Randall, and that means being clear and getting to the point.

  • Prepare a tight answer for why you think the firm is the right fit.

Never tell a firm that you want to lateral in order to work less. Mike explains that, although he understands “a lot of law firms out there ask a lot more of their attorneys than they probably should,” the risk of an interviewer misinterpreting comments about workload is too high. 

Good reasons include wanting to specialize in something not available at your current firm, wanting a change in the type of clients you represent, or simply that you’ve heard great things about the firm and believe you would be a strong match for the culture.

  • Assess whether your interviewers would make good mentors.

Finally, remember that you are also interviewing the firm and its partners and associates. Especially for more junior attorneys, mentorship is an important factor to explore. As Mike observes, “that doesn’t mean a formal mentorship program, because every law firm has that.” Instead, try to determine whether your interviewers are the kind of lawyers who would be gracious in helping junior colleagues expand their toolkits.

Why Winston & Strawn? Why Gunderson?

Of course, I also wanted to give Mike and Randall the opportunity to explain why an associate on the market should consider their firms!

“We’re young, entrepreneurial, and we’re growing,” Mike says in relation to Winston & Strawn’s Texas operations. The firm also prides itself on providing excellent guidance to young attorneys. “You are never left on an island,” Mike promises.

Randall sees Gunderson’s culture and the opportunities it affords associates as major selling points. The culture is shaped by Gunderson’s young tech clients, making it an exciting place to work. Conscious of the importance of preserving that culture, the firm is strongly committed to promoting partners from Gunderson’s associate ranks. And given the tech sector’s growth, Randall projects: “we are going to have to make a tremendous number of partners.”

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Beginning the Biglaw Lateral Process: A Guide for Associates

The current Biglaw lateral market is overwhelming.  There are more variables influencing associates’ career planning and strategic decision-making than ever before.  A byproduct is that getting started on a lateral search can be intimidating.  My goal here is to advise you on how to take the first few steps, because the way in which you target and contact firms can hugely influence your ability to make a change.  Below is a list of factors I encourage you to consider, and a quality recruiter will view each as an opportunity to maximize the likelihood of attractive offers.

1. Timing
Take advantage of active markets like this one to at least do your diligence.  It’s frustrating when you’d like to talk to a firm and they’re simply not hiring or unable to give you the kind of attractive offer you’d need to make the jump.  Also realize that offers have expiration dates and if you receive an offer from firm X, but wish you were able to talk to firm Y, it may be too late.  Do what you can up front to minimize the risk that timing negatively influences your options.

2. Who reaches out on your behalf
The best way to maximize options and ensure a successful process is by choosing a recruiter you trust and then leveraging contacts at other firms after your recruiter connects directly with each firm.  Yes, this will take away a friend’s referral bonus, but a good recruiter can effectively manage a comprehensive and targeted search, bump your resume to the top of a pile, and negotiate terms in a way that friends simply can’t.  When evaluating recruiters, pick someone who is an expert with respect to the space in which you operate so that they appreciate your practice and what could make it better in both a micro and macro sense.

3. Which firms you target
This alone depends on a ton of factors and personal preference, but it’s worth taking the time up front to think about what elements of your current practice you want to maintain and where there is room for improvement.  Your recruiter should discuss this with you and in turn provide insight into which platforms will check certain boxes on paper (e.g., bonuses, remote flex, substantive pivot, change in location, elevation of title, etc.).  Cultural fit is crucial, but it’s impossible to get a true sense for the people and environment before starting the dialogue.

4. Whom your recruiter contacts
Most firms have generic submission emails and/or online portals.  A quality recruiter should have personal contacts at the firms you’re interested in and the ability to sidestep the normal process to make sure your materials get in front of the right people as opposed to lost in the ether. 

5. Marketing
Success in the recruiting process largely depends on your ability to package and relay a clear and authentic narrative that aligns with what other firms are looking for.  If your materials and initial outreach don’t reflect that approach, you risk squandering opportunities.  Be thoughtful about what differentiates you from other candidates even if it’s not directly related to your practice.  Things like entrepreneurship, interesting work experience, and excelling at a sport or other activity can help endear you to partners.

6. Mental state

Take the process one step at a time.  Making a move is a big deal and you can’t understate the importance of doing so thoughtfully, but it’s important to think of interviews as casual conversations that allow you to explore fit and value.  A Zoom call costs nothing and having an open mind is the only way to truly evaluate the opportunity in front of you.  At the outset of the process, be open to introductions and save the real decisionmaking for when an offer is sitting in front of you.

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Don’t Let Rumors Guide Your Lateral Job Search

As you surely know by now, the lateral market has been exceptionally hot in 2021. From record signing bonuses to flexible work arrangements, law firms are offering unprecedented carrots in the battle for associate talent. It’s undoubtedly a great year to make a lateral move.

But one side effect of the rapidly shifting market has been a cascade of misleading rumors. Many candidates are entering the process with unrealistic expectations, failing to appreciate that the factors shaping the terms of a lateral offer are multifaceted and individualized. In addition, the focus on flashy inducements like signing bonuses is leading some candidates to pursue opportunities at firms that may be a poor long-term fit.

Rumor mill: signing bonuses, practice group retooling, remote work

In our experience at Lateral Link, rumors about signing bonuses, practice group retooling, and remote work opportunities are especially widespread. Let’s address those topics in turn.

When it comes to signing bonuses, everyone has a story about an eye-popping figure that some lateral associate achieved. But even assuming the number being bandied about is accurate, it’s essential to place it in a broader context. The bonus offered to a particular candidate depends on several factors, including practice area, location, and personal compatibility with interviewers. Candidates sometimes interpret a signing bonus as a judgment on their intrinsic worth, but that’s not how firms determine the number. Signing bonuses are driven primarily by the firm’s idiosyncratic needs, not the candidate’s credentials. For example, where a firm is seeking to fill slots in a particular office and needs lateral candidates willing to move from outside the region, there is greater leeway for an outsized signing bonus. The bonus that a firm offers a fourth-year M&A associate to join its Boston office is not necessarily transferable to a fourth-year lateral joining the same practice in New York.

Similarly, you should not presume that a firm’s past decision to hire a particular lateral associate to retool into a new practice area is predictive of future offers. Firms’ willingness to facilitate retooling is driven by specific practice area and location needs. The more liquid the local market in the relevant practice area, the easier it is to hire an associate who already has the skills, and the less likely the firm is to consider a candidate who needs to retool. For that reason, you are more likely to find retooling opportunities in Boston or Austin than in New York or Los Angeles.

Unfounded rumors about remote work opportunities are especially common, driven by the fact that permission to work remotely is often partner-dependent. The fact that one associate succeeded or failed in negotiating a flexible arrangement when joining a firm tells you little about the prospects for a different candidate who would be working with different partners. It’s also worth noting that a candidate’s leverage to negotiate more flexible terms may improve based on strong interview performance.

Don’t lose focus on the long term

The excitement around bonuses and other carrots can cause candidates to lose sight of what should be the primary goal of the lateral process: finding an opportunity that sets you up for long-term professional success. As great as it feels to negotiate a lucrative signing bonus, don’t let a one-time payment dictate your decision. If the firm offering the largest bonus is a poor fit for your culture preferences or career goals, you should turn it down.

At the outset of the lateral process, think carefully about why you are seeking to switch firms and how the next step fits into your broader career plans. Having that clarity of vision upfront will help you make a smarter choice when the numbers are in front of you. As you go through the process, keep an open mind. Don’t talk yourself out of opportunities before you’ve explored them properly — especially if your initial assessment has been shaped by rumors. And assuming you’re working with a good recruiter, trust the information they give you. The market changes from week to week and month to month: you can be assured that a plugged-in recruiter will have more reliable, more current information than the rumor mill.

Associate Tips, Featured, In-House Tips, Partner Tips, Tips

From In-House to Law Firm: Returning to Private Practice is a Growing Trend

A common career path is to graduate from law school, spend a few years practicing at a firm, and then take a job as an in-house counsel. Biglaw associates are drawn to in-house opportunities to escape the billable hour and to benefit from a less demanding and more predictable schedule. The lawyers who make this transition traditionally have not looked back. That’s partly because they haven’t wanted to return to law firm life and partly because firms have preferred to hire lateral candidates currently working in private practice.

But in 2021 — an exceptional year for the legal industry in many respects — a novel trend is emerging. We at Lateral Link are hearing from a striking number of in-house lawyers who are interested in making a lateral move to a law firm. And firms are displaying an unprecedented openness to hiring such candidates.

The in-house grass is not looking so green

Any lawyer who accepts an in-house role understands that the transition presents certain tradeoffs. A paycut is generally required, and even for those fortunate enough to land an in-house position with similar current compensation, it’s unlikely that the rate of growth in future years will match the financial upside of private practice. Relatedly, upward mobility in the in-house context is constrained: a law firm practice group can support multiple highly compensated partners, but only one member of an in-house legal department can be General Counsel.

In the current environment, some in-house counsel are finding those tradeoffs starker than they bargained for. Most notably, sharply escalating base salaries and special bonuses for law firm associates have widened the pay disparity between firms and in-house legal departments. That disparity is especially painful for in-house counsel who find themselves working long hours. (It turns out the absence of billables doesn’t necessarily guarantee a better lifestyle!)

Another important factor is work-from-home flexibility. In many industries, employees have already been called back to the office full-time, barring a medical exemption or other special circumstance. The same is true of some law firms, but as a general matter, hybrid arrangements in Biglaw are easy to find. Firms historically have not been known as bastions of flexibility, but the pandemic has forced real change on that front. For in-house lawyers whose companies are insisting on full-time office attendance, the relative flexibility of law firms has become a selling point.

Firms are prepared to hire in-house counsel

In the past, most law firms would have been hesitant to hire lateral candidates from in-house roles — lawyers currently in private practice are considered a safer bet. But in the current war for lateral talent, firms have been forced to cast a wide net. Just as they have become more open to candidates with less prestigious educational and prior firm backgrounds, firms are increasingly willing to extend offers to in-house counsel.

Candidates returning to private practice tend to return to the same type of work that they were doing prior to their in-house transition. We are seeing candidates join practice groups such as M&A, finance, and IP. Litigation is tougher, both because firms are less desperate for lateral litigators and because firms tend to view in-house roles supervising litigation as less directly relevant to their practices.

We advise in-house counsel who may be interested in exploring a return to private practice to start the process soon. The current demand for lateral hires is exceptional, and it won’t last forever. Now is the time to test the market, before the window closes.