Midlevel Corporate Associate Going In-House: AMA Forum

[Anonymous User]

It's been a while since I've been here, but I just accepted an offer to go in-house and I'm so relieved and pumped. I'm a 2016 grad, with a stint at a V5 and now am in a desirable tertiary market.

AMA

[Anonymous User]

It's been a while since I've been here, but I just accepted an offer to go in-house and I'm so relieved and pumped. I'm a 2016 grad, with a stint at a V5 and now am in a desirable tertiary market.

AMA

I have a lot of questions, but I'll try to keep it brief (similar situation).

T14?

To clarify, you practiced at a V5 and are moving to an in-house position in a desirable tertiary market--or did you actually practice at a firm in the tertiary market?

Did you leverage connections (client/otherwise)/recruiter/direct apply? What did your offers look like (comp, etc.)?

Thanks so much.

[LaLiLuLeLo]

O shit is class of 2016 midlevel?

Regarding comp - how much did they go up from their initial offer?

[JHP]

What practice group were you in at the firm? What kind of work will you be doing in-house?

Was going in-house always a goal for you?

How did you find out about the position?

[dabigchina]

I'm guessing he wasn't in a tertiary market, as I don't know nay v5s in tertiary markets (unless you count Houston).

Op: what is your comp looking like now? Was it hard to convince people you want to move to a teriary market?

Edit: what was your conversion rate from callbacks?

[Yugihoe]

How long was the search? How was the interview process like? Did you use recruiters?

[Anonymous User]

OP Here.

I started at a V5 in NYC. Didn't last long at the V5 and went to an AmLaw firm in the tertiary market where my family lives. I was in a corporate/transactional practice. Some M&A, a lot of finance and cap markets.

Not T14, but a school right outside it.

An exclusive recruiter found me and collected resumes and organized interviews. Everyone went through this search firm.

Comp (including target bonus) is going to be around 220-230.

[Anonymous User]

OP Here.

I started at a V5 in NYC. Didn't last long at the V5 and went to an AmLaw firm in the tertiary market where my family lives. I was in a corporate/transactional practice. Some M&A, a lot of finance and cap markets.

Not T14, but a school right outside it.

An exclusive recruiter found me and collected resumes and organized interviews. Everyone went through this search firm.

Comp (including target bonus) is going to be around 220-230.

How many rounds of interviews did you have? I'm also a 2016 grad going through the interviewing process in NorCal and have made it to multiple 2nd rounds and am waiting for word on if they will have additional rounds. Did they make you do any written assignments? One of the companies gave me a marked up contract and we had to discuss it in the interview (like, why is this change bad, why is this change good, and etc.) so I'm curious if that's normal.

[Anonymous User]

OP Here.

I started at a V5 in NYC. Didn't last long at the V5 and went to an AmLaw firm in the tertiary market where my family lives. I was in a corporate/transactional practice. Some M&A, a lot of finance and cap markets.

Not T14, but a school right outside it.

An exclusive recruiter found me and collected resumes and organized interviews. Everyone went through this search firm.

Comp (including target bonus) is going to be around 220-230.

How many rounds of interviews did you have? I'm also a 2016 grad going through the interviewing process in NorCal and have made it to multiple 2nd rounds and am waiting for word on if they will have additional rounds. Did they make you do any written assignments? One of the companies gave me a marked up contract and we had to discuss it in the interview (like, why is this change bad, why is this change good, and etc.) so I'm curious if that's normal.

No written assignments or anything wacky like that. All the interviews were normal law firm type interviews.

I had a few phone interviews and then a round of in-person interviews followed by another phone interview. Process took about a month from initial contact to offer. Moved pretty quick in my opinion.

[Anonymous User]

I'm guessing he wasn't in a tertiary market, as I don't know nay v5s in tertiary markets (unless you count Houston).

Op: what is your comp looking like now? Was it hard to convince people you want to move to a teriary market?

Edit: what was your conversion rate from callbacks?

1/1, baby. I wasn't looking to move, but found out about a really good opportunity and figured I wanted to know more about it.

[Anonymous User]

Thanks for doing this, OP.

1. How did you find this recruiter?

2. Did the interviewer give you a sense when/if you'd hear back before you were contacted again? Or was it just radio silence?

3. Did you accept their initial comp offer? If not, how far off were they/how much did you bargain for?

[dabigchina]

OP Here.

I started at a V5 in NYC. Didn't last long at the V5 and went to an AmLaw firm in the tertiary market where my family lives. I was in a corporate/transactional practice. Some M&A, a lot of finance and cap markets.

Not T14, but a school right outside it.

An exclusive recruiter found me and collected resumes and organized interviews. Everyone went through this search firm.

Comp (including target bonus) is going to be around 220-230.

How many rounds of interviews did you have? I'm also a 2016 grad going through the interviewing process in NorCal and have made it to multiple 2nd rounds and am waiting for word on if they will have additional rounds. Did they make you do any written assignments? One of the companies gave me a marked up contract and we had to discuss it in the interview (like, why is this change bad, why is this change good, and etc.) so I'm curious if that's normal.

No written assignments or anything wacky like that. All the interviews were normal law firm type interviews.

I had a few phone interviews and then a round of in-person interviews followed by another phone interview. Process took about a month from initial contact to offer. Moved pretty quick in my opinion.

Why did they have another round of phone interviews after the in person? Was someone not available?

[Anonymous User]

If OP doesn't mind, I'm in a similar boat and would be happy to answer questions as well. I'm a class of 2015 associate who recently accepted an offer to go in house from biglaw.

[Anonymous User]

OP Here.

I started at a V5 in NYC. Didn't last long at the V5 and went to an AmLaw firm in the tertiary market where my family lives. I was in a corporate/transactional practice. Some M&A, a lot of finance and cap markets.

Not T14, but a school right outside it.

An exclusive recruiter found me and collected resumes and organized interviews. Everyone went through this search firm.

Comp (including target bonus) is going to be around 220-230.

Does that comp include any kind of equity? Or is that just salary and bonus? I am guessing a smaller market (not Texas/Chicago)? That sounds like a great gig.

[Anonymous User]

For those answering Qs, how did you go about the job search? Law firm connects, indeed/go-in-house/LinkedIn, or something else? The biggest gating item for me is just figuring out what is out there. Thanks for your time!

[Anonymous User]

For those answering Qs, how did you go about the job search? Law firm connects, indeed/go-in-house/LinkedIn, or something else? The biggest gating item for me is just figuring out what is out there. Thanks for your time!

I'm the non-OP poster in here. I spent a while doing indeed, go-in-house, LinkedIn and venture loop. I got a ton of interviews but no offers. Eventually, I let it out to a partner that I worked with that I didn't see myself staying at the firm for long and that I wanted to go in house. That's when opportunities really started to open up and I received an offer. I don't know that that will work everywhere but it does some places.

[Anonymous User]

Thanks for doing this, OP.

1. How did you find this recruiter?

2. Did the interviewer give you a sense when/if you'd hear back before you were contacted again? Or was it just radio silence?

3. Did you accept their initial comp offer? If not, how far off were they/how much did you bargain for?

OP Here.

1. The recruiter found me and sent me messages on linkedin and an email.
2. I was contacted and had the first round interview was a week later. A couple days after that I was told I was moving to the second round interview. And so on and so forth.
3. I negotiated a bit and got a $10-15k higher base (and the bonus is a % of the base, so it helps there too).

[Anonymous User]

OP Here.

I started at a V5 in NYC. Didn't last long at the V5 and went to an AmLaw firm in the tertiary market where my family lives. I was in a corporate/transactional practice. Some M&A, a lot of finance and cap markets.

Not T14, but a school right outside it.

An exclusive recruiter found me and collected resumes and organized interviews. Everyone went through this search firm.

Comp (including target bonus) is going to be around 220-230.

Does that comp include any kind of equity? Or is that just salary and bonus? I am guessing a smaller market (not Texas/Chicago)? That sounds like a great gig.

No equity, unfortunately. Yes, a smaller market. (think SE cities like Richmond/Charleston/Asheville/Durham)

[Anonymous User]

OP Here.

I started at a V5 in NYC. Didn't last long at the V5 and went to an AmLaw firm in the tertiary market where my family lives. I was in a corporate/transactional practice. Some M&A, a lot of finance and cap markets.

Not T14, but a school right outside it.

An exclusive recruiter found me and collected resumes and organized interviews. Everyone went through this search firm.

Comp (including target bonus) is going to be around 220-230.

How many rounds of interviews did you have? I'm also a 2016 grad going through the interviewing process in NorCal and have made it to multiple 2nd rounds and am waiting for word on if they will have additional rounds. Did they make you do any written assignments? One of the companies gave me a marked up contract and we had to discuss it in the interview (like, why is this change bad, why is this change good, and etc.) so I'm curious if that's normal.

No written assignments or anything wacky like that. All the interviews were normal law firm type interviews.

I had a few phone interviews and then a round of in-person interviews followed by another phone interview. Process took about a month from initial contact to offer. Moved pretty quick in my opinion.

Why did they have another round of phone interviews after the in person? Was someone not available?

There were a few concerns that needed to be clarified. Mostly my commitment to staying at the company and not bouncing around after a couple years.