I am a second-year law student in New York City. My problem is that I am seriously considering moving back to California after I graduate. My question is, how will this move affect my career? Should I try to work for a couple of years at a "big NYC law firm" before moving out to the West Coast? Or should I move out there from the start? Or should I choose the firm that will provide me with the best training regardless of location? I ask this because it seems like there is a degree of respect granted to people with experience at a big NYC firm that doesn't go along with other kinds of experience.
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Very curious,
EK, NY
So, the prospect of easy access to the world's best bagels, and being able to find the Sunday New York Times as early as Thursday, aren't enough by themselves to keep you in New York? All right, EK, let's look at whether kicking off your career in New York will leave a permanent luster on your resume.
The answer depends greatly on what kind of career you see yourself having after you escape from New York. After all, as Joan King, Director of the Career Center at Brooklyn Law School, advises, "One of the biggest selling points of major law firms is that having them on your resume gives you some flexibility later on." Whether that flexibility encompasses your own dream job depends on what that dream is, EK. Joan King explains, for instance, that if you want to be a U.S. Attorney (which, as you may know, is one of the plum- miest legal jobs in existence), large firm experience is very valuable. Similarly, judges frequently hire judicial clerks out of huge firms.
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What if you want a private employer, presumably at a small to medium-sized firm? Joan King suggests that you look through Martindale-Hubbell for the place where you want to live, and see if the attorneys in the community tend to have big firm experience in their backgrounds. She explains, "In some communities, the attorneys really think it's great if you've got a megafirm in your background. And some kinds of employers love for their associates to have huge firm experience. They know that you'll have meticulous, in-depth research skills, and they also know that with the long hours a large firm demands in your recent past, you'll want the quality of life (and accept the pay cut) that a smaller employer offers. In other communities, mentioning that you're from a large firm will scare employers away." Another way of skinning the same cat is to check with your alumni relations office at school and find alumni who are working in the community. Call or write to them, and ask them the same question you've asked LawCrossing: "I intend to live and practice there, and I'm wondering about the value of getting New York experience first, at a large firm. Based on what you know about the legal community there, what do you think?"
You may have noticed, EK, that LawCrossing has been focusing primarily on the fact that you're thinking of starting your career at a large firm, not specifically a large firm in New York. Why is that? Because the benefits of large firm experience apply to any large, well- known law firm, anywhere in America. There isn't a particular magic to run-of-the-mill New York experience in and of itself-unless, of course, you want to stay in New York. Instead, Joan King advises that "It's much more important to be plugged into the community where you really want to be, and let them know that that's what you really want." In the time you'd spend getting your feet wet in New York, you'd be making contacts in your dream town-and those contacts translate into business, which is valuable to any private employer. So it may be a matter of pride for you that you can locate take-out Ethiopian food in Manhattan at three a.m., but that's unlikely to play well with a law firm in Peoria.
By the way, EK, LawCrossing is very proud of you. It's difficult to look past the glamour-and paychecks-of New York mega-firms, and consider those jobs as they relate to pursuing the life you love. LawCrossing applauds you for doing so.
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