Aunty:
Beta, your ambition is admirable but actually quite common. Many perceive that corporate transactional work is more desirable. But before you make the jump, consider it is not always all it is made out to be.
Corporate commercial law gives you a wider understanding of the law and procedure and can give you solid foundation for most kinds of corporate legal and in-house work.
Corporate transactional work on the other hand can be fairly commoditised with long hours, demanding clients and may not involve a real understanding of the law.
And one or two years of your experience level might get discounted if you move into a new practice area or up a tier. If you are purely moving for money, you might be disappointed.
If you are sure you want to join a corporate transactional firm one tier up, you’ll have to do some work.
Figure out what most of your experience has been in recently. Unless you specialise, it will be difficult to move up to a tier 1 or 2 firm from where you are.
Analyse the deals and the work you’ve been doing recently. If it is all over the place work on specialising into one area – most top tier firms only hire specialists who can prove it.
If your current firm has a specialised practice group and you are inside, that will help.
If you have a few months before you quit, try to do more transactions that fit your niche. Pick the partners you are working with from now on –there may be some in your current firm that have brand equity in the market. Or some may handle most of the transactions. Get close to them so you can mention them in your cover letter.
Also make sure you attend many conferences and interact with partners from other firms there, or interact across the table from deals – most partners will always keep an eye open to poach good opposing counsel.
Good luck and believe in yourself!
Uncle:
Listen. If they have any sense, they’ll never hire you. You said “revert back”.
If you’re my niece or nephew call me.
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Is it possible to move from tier 3 to 1 or from generalist to specialist?
What do you think? Please leave a comment below.
In the meantime, Careers Counsel’s Aunty and Uncle are here to answer your legal career questions. Please email your queries anonymously to or or click here.
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One thing they forgot to say is that "reputed" law school is usually code for a crap law school, so in other words, first tier firms won't take you.
Thank you for this.
I also wanted to ask you:
1) is it necessary that those who do transaction work in a 3rd tier law firm are not specialist and are therefore not of good quality?
2) is it necessary that those who are in 1st tier law firm are specialist and therefore are of the best quality?
3) is it necessary that to work in a 1st tier law firm one needs to belong to an elite family or atleast the pin code of their residential address should of a particular locality?
4) is it necessary to be trained abroad, to work in a 1st tier law firm? or atleast one will have a good chance of getting into a 1st tier law firm.
5) is it necessary that, if you are a first generation lawyer, you should not even dream of getting into this profession, unless you satisfy (3) or (4)?
6) just because a lawyer is a graduate from one of the "National Law Schools", does it mean that, he/she is good/better/best than those who cannot make it to those schools?
7)will a persons progress not depend also on "being amongst the right people" apart from being in a "right place at right time"?
If a person is good at and confident of his work, will any of the above still matter, even if he/she is in a 3rd / 2nd tier law firm. Can that 3rd / 2nd tier law firm not become a 1st tier law firm, instead of joining a 1st tier law firm?
Seeking your blessings, uncle and aunty.
the biglaw india community is a small old boys' club. deal with it.
Associate uses Charm.
It's not very effective.
Associate uses Focus Energy.
Partner uses Mean Look.
Associate uses "Revert back"
Partner Fled.
Forget about moving from tier 3 to 1, I am finding it difficult to even enter the legal market even after being one of the top CGPA holders and having good internships... You see so many of my batchmates have so many of theirs fathers, mothers, aunties and uncles in the Firms, Judiciary, Bureaucracy and so forth...The family climbers are driving me insane... Is lawyering so brainless that anyone with the genetics can make do???
It is quite common to see such moves and there is no formula. Big firm associates quit and they need to fill the gap. HOWEVER, if you lack decent experience and your so called tier 3 is actually something else, a move would be difficult (impossible?). For tier rankings, Chambers can be a guide.
Regards,
Another Uncle.
PS - If you think that transactional work “may not involve a real understanding of the law”, you need to talk to some lawyer uncle (tier 3 would also be okay) – I am too lazy to elaborate but all transactional work involves corporate-commercial laws and corporate-commercial lawyers are transactional lawyers!
Answers to other questions:
1) No, and even a tier 3 firm can be a specialist doing any one/ two areas of law. Pick the right firm which does one type of work and is known for that. Be careful of what you mean by tier 3. Google Chambers.
2) Yes, they are of best quality, but someone doing same work at smaller (but not very small) firm can also be of similar quality. Small only refers to reputation and client base, not size.
3) BOLLOCKS. That does helps law students in some law schools though, but contacts are not really required at the top ones (exceptions are indeed there). Typically, the law school is what matters.
4) Most 1st tier firms hire by the dozen at top law schools – and hardly have foreign trained freshers.
5) Not at all – hundreds of national university grads who have done well are first generation.
6) Unfortunately, they are better trained – that is why they are highly recruited. But doesn’t mean at all that one who went to a so called lesser law school cannot be as good/ BETTER, but the number of good lawyers are typically less in a lesser law school.
7) Progress depends on 100 things.
Yes, firms can move up the tiers but you don’t own a law firm – so why bother? Just focus on doing well at a smaller boutique and move to a top practice.
Bottomline: Contacts can help. Top 4-5 lawschool grads find jobs more easily. Other lawschools can also produce great lawyers. If going to small firm, pick a boutique – and then move to a bigger law firm in two years. Don’t lose heart – law firms are not the end all. Consider litigation – you’ll soon earn well if you are a good lawyer.
"Listen. If they have any sense, they’ll never hire you. You said “revert back”."
Young lawyers like me often forget on how to be very precise in our communication.
Regards
Rajeev
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