Choosing the Right Employer for your Legal Career
I am often asked about how to choose the right employer for a legal career. Financial compensation and incentives may be a significant starting point; however, there are often little differences in compensation for the position you are eligible for, so it is difficult to determine the right path. This is not only the case when searching for a position at the start of a legal career but also midway through. The adage on the employer side is “hire slow, fire fast”; but as far as I’m aware, there does not seem to be a similar adage for employees. I have met too many lawyers who apply to (or switch to) firms with the promise of higher compensation but find out quite quickly it was not as they hoped. I am hoping this article can provide some other considerations to think about besides (or in support of) compensation offered.
Type of Experience
Many lawyers who chase compensation find themselves in a position down the road where they are stuck practicing in an area they are not passionate about – while compensation is helpful at first, without the passion or drive to grow, the compensation will stagnate. This will inevitably lead to a switch of firms. Different areas of law involve different daily experiences. For example, litigation and family law involve aggressively adversarial experiences and are usually measured in docketed billable hours with the day-to-day experience with judges, stressed clients and adversarial lawyers. Solicitor or in-house work has less involvement dealing with the legal community but rather directly with client service and measured on production of transactions and less on billable hours. These are general examples that portray a significant difference about the day-to-day of different areas of practice – it is also likely why the barrister and solicitor examinations are split as well. I encourage speaking to lawyers in the field you are targeting to better understand exactly what daily life you are expecting before jumping in regardless of the money offered to avoid this trap.
Long-Term Career Path
Consider whether the career path applying for is suited for your ideal goals. This was likely the original intent behind the cliche interview question “where do you see yourself in 10 years”. The question is meant for you to critically think about long-term career goals, and whether the employer is suited to provide it or, at a minimum, can provide the training or experience required to achieve it. For example, if the goal is to be wealthy financially, then taking a position in public service or government, even if the short-term compensation is greater than what you can command in the market, this will not lead down the path of wealth – this is the path of public service. If the goal is to start your own practice but you want experience first, consider smaller firms to get a sense of running such a practice as opposed to a much larger one where you may not gain insight into the operations part of running a practice. The career path depends on the people and experiences you obtain along the way so choosing the position that sets you on that path makes the most sense.
The Mirage of the Prestige Experience
Do not be fooled by the mirage of prestige. By prestige I mean – well-known brand, international or public company, one that is significant in size. Some employers offer much in the way of prestige beyond compensation – a nice office, title, business cards, options and branding. Prestige attractors are very powerful tools especially for new calls and may even be the correct career path for some individuals. But again, if the employer does not ultimately fit in with personal career goals or lifestyle, the day-to-day activity (sitting in an office, docketing hours, perhaps a long commute) will create inevitable burnout.
Some would argue that working at a prestigious employer is good “experience”. Experience is relative to personal goals and career path. One person’s experience will have no relative value to another. For example, experience working for the in-house litigation department of an international public company provides less valuable experience for the personal goal of starting a practice than working for a sole proprietor in a small office. Every role ultimately provides experience, and prior (or during) law school, most experiences (paid or volunteer) are valuable because it is unclear what career path to take. But when it is clear what your long-term personal goals are, then the experiences you choose should be tailored to achieving those goals in the long term to put you in the best position to succeed. Thus, instead of looking at branding, website, and title, consider the actions of the company itself – is it growing, is there flexibility for your goals, do you have access to training and supervision, are there opportunities for growth personally within the company and what is the long-term outlook.
With Loyalty, Achieve Mastery
What most employers don’t tell applicants is that a longer tenure with one firm (regardless of its size) is more enticing than a person who has many well-branded firms on their resume. It takes 5 years of experience in one role just to have the education required to be successful in a long-term goal (shorter depending on the speed and quality of the individual). With close to 10-years’ experience in one place (assuming a certain rate of growth) a person will achieve a certain level of mastery over a subject (this has been written extensively about) and is now in a better position not only to finally achieve the long-term career goal, but your employer is most likely to help because the leverage parameters of your relationship have likely switched; he or she is more reliant on you and will do what they can to keep you. This has nothing to do with the prestige of the employer or the title you hold, and everything to do with what you are physically doing, learning, and experiencing every day. Understandably, earlier in your career, you may choose one area of practice and realize it is not the correct fit and you should quickly make a change. But once you find a passion and a long-term goal, rigid and consistent application of energies to that goal will provide the success and mastery you desire. Again, this is not new information and may authors much smarter than I have written on the subject.
As a result, when choosing the right employer, consider this adage: “apply slow, switch slower, resign fast.”
This article was originally published by Law360 Canada, part of LexisNexis Canada Inc.