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Job: PI nonprofit. 75% litigation/25% policy
Experience: entry-level
Where: Chicago
Salary: 60k
Hours: 9 to 5

Anonymous User wrote:
How are your hours so good? Is that typical for others in your industry or at your firm?

Was the learning curve difficult? Despite the finance undergrad, it's obviously been 7-10 years since you've graduated. I have biz econ undergrad degree from top public undergrad but I would have no idea how to do the work at this point. Just curious - and thanks.

Hard to say on hours because I don't have exposure/experience with other entities in the business. Hours are probably good because we're smaller in size and I imagine we have fewer layers of management to deal with. Learning curve was difficult.

Although I knew a lot about the industry I work with, most of my experience was from a legal context. Learning the industry from a true financial perspective was very humbling and I leaned on my direct reports heavily at the beginning.

Financial modeling took a while to pick up. I'm still not great with Excel, but I'm at least to the point where I can spot problems pretty quickly. A lot of it was and continues to be learning by trial and error and intentionally trying to bust models by moving different variables.

I was worried about both issues. As part of agreeing to take the job, I got my employer to commit to a financial modeling class at the local b-school as well as a [technical industry class for non-experts in the relevant industry] that is hosted by third-parties.

I would encourage others to explore making similar transitions if they are interested.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:
How are your hours so good? Is that typical for others in your industry or at your firm?

Was the learning curve difficult? Despite the finance undergrad, it's obviously been 7-10 years since you've graduated. I have biz econ undergrad degree from top public undergrad but I would have no idea how to do the work at this point. Just curious - and thanks.

Hard to say on hours because I don't have exposure/experience with other entities in the business. Hours are probably good because we're smaller in size and I imagine we have fewer layers of management to deal with. Learning curve was difficult.

Although I knew a lot about the industry I work with, most of my experience was from a legal context. Learning the industry from a true financial perspective was very humbling and I leaned on my direct reports heavily at the beginning.

Financial modeling took a while to pick up. I'm still not great with Excel, but I'm at least to the point where I can spot problems pretty quickly. A lot of it was and continues to be learning by trial and error and intentionally trying to bust models by moving different variables.

I was worried about both issues. As part of agreeing to take the job, I got my employer to commit to a financial modeling class at the local b-school as well as a [technical industry class for non-experts in the relevant industry] that is hosted by third-parties.

I would encourage others to explore making similar transitions if they are interested.

How long into your legal career did you realize you were interested in making this transition? What steps did you take to do so? Thanks for talking about this...fascinating stuff.

a. Small firm, ton of PI, but also good amount of crim, commercial lit, real estate lit. Three attorneys, hiring two more in the next few months.
b. Less than one year
c. Suburb of NYC (NJ)
d. 55k with incentives for new clients (1/3) and for settlements/awards (10% I think), regardless of origination.

Firm is chill. Busy as shit, work about 50 hours but everyone here is nice and the partner, while somewhat of a maniac, is a nice guy and cares about his employees. The pay works fine for me. I don't think I would have done well at a big firm, not that anyone was throwing offers at me.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:
How are your hours so good? Is that typical for others in your industry or at your firm?

Was the learning curve difficult? Despite the finance undergrad, it's obviously been 7-10 years since you've graduated. I have biz econ undergrad degree from top public undergrad but I would have no idea how to do the work at this point. Just curious - and thanks.

Hard to say on hours because I don't have exposure/experience with other entities in the business. Hours are probably good because we're smaller in size and I imagine we have fewer layers of management to deal with. Learning curve was difficult.

Although I knew a lot about the industry I work with, most of my experience was from a legal context. Learning the industry from a true financial perspective was very humbling and I leaned on my direct reports heavily at the beginning.

Financial modeling took a while to pick up. I'm still not great with Excel, but I'm at least to the point where I can spot problems pretty quickly. A lot of it was and continues to be learning by trial and error and intentionally trying to bust models by moving different variables.

I was worried about both issues. As part of agreeing to take the job, I got my employer to commit to a financial modeling class at the local b-school as well as a [technical industry class for non-experts in the relevant industry] that is hosted by third-parties.

I would encourage others to explore making similar transitions if they are interested.

How long into your legal career did you realize you were interested in making this transition? What steps did you take to do so? Thanks for talking about this...fascinating stuff.

I don't know that I explicitly targeted moving outside of the firm. I knew when I went to law school that my real goal was to end up in a position of responsibility where decisions were made at my desk. After starting in big law, as far as I was concerned, partnership or an industry role could satisfy what I was looking for. I had seen senior associates leave as GCs with VC-backed start ups. My alternative plan to partnership was to emulate that move and then try to move to a business role. But that plan would have required at least three more years with my firm and this opportunity allowed me to jump early.

The transition fell into my lap. I was asked by my employer if I would be interested in interviewing for the job and it took off from there.

State Court
Entry level/1-2 years
SF Bay Area
76k
8-5

a) what kind of legal job/firm/office they work at, and
Big law in DC
b) how long they've been working there, and
4 years
c) geographic area, and
d) yearly salary
235K + 50K bonus

Bill about 2000 per year

delete

Anonymous User wrote:a) what kind of legal job/firm/office they work at, and
Big law in DC
b) how long they've been working there, and
4 years
c) geographic area, and
d) yearly salary
235K + 50K bonus

Bill about 2000 per year

2000 isn't bad at all. What practice group if you don't mind me asking?

First year regional biglaw in a southern market, 110K, 1900 billable

a) Associate at an AmLaw 200 firm;
b) 1st year (Post-clerkship);
c) Secondary market (Non-Boston), Northeast;
d) $110k + bonus (based on both merit and hours). 1800 billable target.

narfkarta wrote:Mod edit: stop spamming this blog.

Thank you, mods.

a) Mid-size law firm
b) 2nd year
c) suburbs right outside of a major market
d) $110k + bonus based on hours and merit; 1,800 hours soft target

Fed gov - second year - small city - range: 83k-87k.

Federal agency in DC, 2nd year here following a 1-year clerkship, so 2 years and a few months out of law school. 77k, going up to 92k in a few months. Flexible 40 hour work schedule with great benefits.

Anonymous User wrote:Federal agency in DC, 2nd year here following a 1-year clerkship, so 2 years and a few months out of law school. 77k, going up to 92k in a few months. Flexible 40 hour work schedule with great benefits.

What type of Clark ship translates in fed gov?

barkschool wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Federal agency in DC, 2nd year here following a 1-year clerkship, so 2 years and a few months out of law school. 77k, going up to 92k in a few months. Flexible 40 hour work schedule with great benefits.

What type of Clark ship translates in fed gov?

Autocorrect got you good. I'm going to take a wild guess that OP meant judicial clerkship.

barkschool wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Federal agency in DC, 2nd year here following a 1-year clerkship, so 2 years and a few months out of law school. 77k, going up to 92k in a few months. Flexible 40 hour work schedule with great benefits.

What type of Clark ship translates in fed gov?

Any clerkship. They treat you as entry level but you will have an edge.

Anonymous User wrote:Federal agency in DC, 2nd year here following a 1-year clerkship, so 2 years and a few months out of law school. 77k, going up to 92k in a few months. Flexible 40 hour work schedule with great benefits.

What's the big raise for?

What's the big raise for?

Not getting fired. That's how the feds roll. Just got my "not incompetent enough to get fired" raise last week, feels good.

Anonymous User wrote:

What's the big raise for?

Not getting fired. That's how the feds roll. Just got my "not incompetent enough to get fired" raise last week, feels good.

OP completed one year as a GS12 and was moved up a grade to GS13.

Fedgov OP from a few posts above. Responders are correct that the big raise will be an automatic one from GS-12 to 13. My job tops out at 14 (so I will be at 108k in a year and a few months) with opportunities to apply to GS-15 roles with supervisory duties a few years down the road. Also correct that I did a 1-year state trial court clerkship beforehand. While my agency didn't give me a year bump to start at GS-12, some agencies do.

Fortune 100, 3rd year 105k + 10% bonus

a) registered investment advisor
b) 3-4 years out of law school
c) secondary market
d) 120k + merit/performance based bonus (20k in 2016); firm covered health/dental/vision insurance; 401k matching; eventual equity and annual raises