r/biglaw

For those associates that spent 10+ years in BL and did not make partner or decided to pursue a different path, was the experience / money still worth it? Or did you regret not leaving sooner?

I’m a debt capital markets lawyer, and a big part of my day-to-day is drafting transaction documents. As a junior, I’m usually the one responsible for putting together the first drafts and doing most of the “dirty work” on the docs.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been using Claude heavily inside Word / coworking tools, and it’s been a pretty meaningful upgrade in how I work.

For the more operational side of documents (which takes a surprising amount of time), it’s extremely effective:

- cleaning defined terms

- fixing leftovers from precedents

- checking cross-references

- generating a solid first draft from prior deals (with enough context)

It genuinely changed my day-to-day. Less time on mechanical drafting, more time actually thinking about the structure of the deal.

On structuring, it’s helpful but not quite there yet — it organizes logic well and helps sanity-check things, but still lacks that “deal instinct” / creativity you build over time in negotiations. But always give me very good insights, great for second opinions.

Still, the productivity gain is very real. It feels like moving from fully manual drafting to something closer to a semi-automated workflow.

Vibe drafting is here.

I wonder how many lawyers / firms actually understand how much this is going to change a big part of the work.

Inspired by another post asking the opposite: https://www.reddit.com/r/biglaw/s/uN1gTjvFEm

I’ll start. Transferring out of M&A when I was a couple months into my first year.

Discuss.

Thinking about lateraling. Are they below market on pay? If so, by how much?

Is base comp on the Cravath scale, with the difference mainly in the bonus?

It’s been tough to find info on this. Any insight is appreciated, and feel free to DM me if you don't want to leave a comment.

Has anybody heard the vibe for SEC attorney roles right now? I've been told to lean away from areas like DOJ right now, both for career-outlook and current morale, but haven't heard anything on SEC and might have an opportunity for a move there.

For note, I already am a Gov worker in a relatively politically-insulated agency, so I'm pretty comfortable minus some of the flexibility benefits we lost with the return-to-work EOs. I'm an early career still (2 years). But I think securities law might be a more competitive field than my current one as far as career outlook, both for law firms and for eventually trying to go in-house. So I'm considering whether a move might be worth trying for!

Trying to see how much having hybrid/WFH flexibility may or may not improve someone’s lifestyle in big law.

Particularly looking for opinions from regulatory or corporate/transactional lawyers.

I can't find similar posts that give advice on this situation, so here goes:

I'm in my late 40s, non-American, and currently working in New York as a diplomat. I've been in diplomacy for almost 20 years, and between a long time in China and the Middle East I feel like I've taken all that I can out of diplomacy, not least because I feel like I'm over the intellectual challenge, having lived in and worked on a number of tough countries and tough issues (funnily enough, countries and problems you'll be reading in the news about today.

I've always had an interest in the law - the challenge of thinking, writing, crafting an argument, representing clients, and the intellectual precision that is required. I'm aware that the application process - particularly if I have any idea of attending one of the top schools - is likely to be both difficult and costly, and of the likely impact of AI on the legal field. But all this aside, I'd be just over 48 if I began studies in 2027 - and I'm guessing that's certainly too old for such a dramatic career change?

For those who chose BL simply for the prestige, does it ever wear off? Or does it drive you to wanting to make partner

First year here. Just got the call that I was taken off a matter and replaced with someone more senior. How bad of a sign is this? I was trying my best, but admittedly I don’t think my work was all that impressive.

Hello everyone! Graduated with honors and law review from a T50 and got barred last February. Curious what my career options look like in the DMV area after clerking at the Maryland Supreme Court in August 2026-27.

I know litigation is the path, and I’d like to go into Big Law, but I’m worried the market is too competitive right now without a federal clerkship. Especially in DC, it’s my understanding that a COA clerkship is required for any kind of appellate work, so that’s definitely off the table.

My law school’s career services office has been somewhat useless given that only 4 alums have clerked at the Maryland Supreme Court, and they all later went on to federal district clerkships. Do any of you in or around DC work with former State Supreme Court Clerks? My plan is to just network incredibly hard and try to get into a general lit practice at a bigger firm.

Firm rankings don't mean much. You could be at a v3 and work for a terrible partner and clients. You could be at a v100 and work with a great partner and clients. This is not only for QOL but also for hours/bonus, training and career advancement. That's why Vault should do a partner ranking.

This has nothing to do with my desire to see partners commented on and humiliated publicly.

Before you begin with “1st year sucks for everyone”, I believe that I’m particularly unhappy at my current firm for reasons beyond the general 1st year adjustment period.

Namely, I’m on too many cases with one particular partner, and they are supremely difficult to work with. I understand the need for late nights from time to time when we’re pushing up against a deadline, but with this partner, EVERYTHING is an emergency; I’ve tried to respond to things that seem less urgent the next morning, only to get chastised. What’s worse is that I’m being pigeonholed into this field of law that I want nothing to do with.

Beyond that, I joined this firm for its soft IP practice (copyright, trademark, etc), and I’ve come to learn that that entire team is leaving.

Of course, I’ll stick it out till the end of this year. Am I completely screwed if I want to lateral as a second year? Does anyone have any leads for firms that have strong soft IP practice groups (and maybe need a second year).

Thank you very much

Sorry if formatting is wrong but by sister is graduating in June and already has a job at one of the Seven sisters ( so proud of her!)

I wanted to get her something special for her graduation but not sure what would be meaningful

I was thinking of a fancy pen with her initials , any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

My budget is around $250

As a junior associate, I don’t have a significant network of lawyers outside of my firm and my law school friends.

A lot of the questions I have and advice and guidance i find myself needing as I think about shaping my career just aren’t things I feel I can ask even my very trusted mentors and advisors at my firm.

There are some lawyers who are alums of my school or whose work I’m just kind of aware of that I admire and of course I could ask for a coffee or something but I just want to be very thoughtful and intentional about approaching building this kind of relationship.

Any and all thoughts welcome! I’m sure I’m not the only one looking for this

Starting in NY biglaw after a district court clerkship, have a local bank credit card that does not have a lot of perks. Looking to get something new and wondering what most young associates prefer.

First year associate in a finance practice. While I never expected to be lateraling this early in my career, an excellent opportunity has kind of fallen in my lap. I returned the signed offer and other paperwork a little over 2 weeks ago. I can see in the portal that my background check cleared with no flags. However, I’ve heard nothing back yet about the conflict check, which is the only thing I’m waiting on before giving notice.

As a first year, my assumption was that it would be very unlikely for a real conflict issue to arise, but I admittedly don’t know much about the actual process. I was pretty diligent about including all adverse parties/principals on the form, in addition to the clients I’ve done any work for.

Is this amount of time normal for a firm to clear conflicts for a junior? I followed up last week with my internal recruiting contact and was told they’d check on it, but never got back to me.

Does anything here sound like there’s cause for concern, or am I letting anxiety get the better of me?

I know this will vary significantly, there’s a chance a firm might be deemed prestigious but is lower on the scale than another that isn’t, most folk won’t put any merit to a ranking like this etc etc

But I’m still curious to know, what do you think?

There are lots of firms on the V100 and some

people still put a lot of stock on it as a whole, but there’s also a lot of ‘less’ prestigious firms on there too.

Wondering if any lit associates/partners who made the successful exit from big law to an in house role would be willing to share their experience? Current mid level who doesn’t want to be in big law much longer and wants to start exploring such options. I know the jump is easier for transactional folks but wanted to hear from others out there.