Multiple lateral moves up to Cravath scale Forum

[Compadre]

For those who’ve lateralled more than once, from shit to mid law to am law to cravath scale biglaw (or something similar) what are your experiences a have you found the moves have hurt your career? Do you know anyone who has.

Not everyone gets biglaw top of market out of oci. Seems irrational to me to work biglaw hours without top of the market pay if you can just make a move every 1-2 Years.

Any stories? Interview difficulties? Problems at new firm? Reputational issues? Thoughts?

[cavalier1138]

Are there enough attorneys who have done this to make any feedback you get significant? Yeah, not everyone gets biglaw out of OCI, but most people who end up in biglaw did. And that seems to be true even among laterals.

[Anonymous User]

I sorta did this (non-cravath-scale v100 to cravath-scale v25). I had to lose a year in seniority that I suspect I wouldn’t have had to give up if I came from a similarly ranked firm. No real problems. Litigation associates go to court way less here (almost never versus weekly at my old firm), we get way more time to write briefs, but our legal analysis needs to be much much deeper than at my non-cravath-scale v100. There are other differences but those come down to partner personalities.

My other lateral moves were through clerking so a little different than what op is proposing.

[longtimelurker123]

Definitely possible. I've seen all sorts of weird lateral moves. E.g., I know someone who went small law (2 years) to small/medium consulting firm (1 year) to big law v100 -- but they had to come in as a 1st year associate.

[1styearlateral]

Plenty of biglaw firms hire attorneys from smaller firms or boutiques when they're looking for specialized/niche experience. Look at practices such as commercial L&T, construction litigation, etc.

[cavalier1138]

I should probably specify that I was talking about the OP's actual hypothetical (lateraling "up the ranks" from a shitlaw position to biglaw). I get that laterals exist and come from lots of different places, but it seems like the OP is targeting such a specific group that there's not going to be enough information to get a good sample.

[Anonymous User]

Will a top firm be reluctant to hire an associate with too many moves? If there’s a pattern to the moves my guess is explaining it might be an issue but people would understand and it wouldn’t be a deterrent to being hired.