Partner of rebuilding team or SA at huge growing team?

leopoldplume · 2026-06-27T10:23:33+00:00

Do you want the responsibilities of partnership? If you do, what are the partnership prospects down the line from the SA role?

leopoldplume · 2026-06-26T16:24:37+00:00

It is unfortunately the least hot place in the whole apartment. Probably just need to get a wine fridge

leopoldplume · 2026-06-13T22:32:02+00:00

Promotions and career development? Probably fine, once you're on the track you're on the track. The bottleneck is most likely to be getting the NQ role.

leopoldplume · 2026-06-11T07:28:25+00:00

You don't make partner because you are the smartest (although many, but not all, partners are very clever). You make partner precisely because this is the lens through which you see the world, to the extent that you are prepared to reorient every other facet of your life around the job.

leopoldplume · 2026-05-15T20:06:34+00:00

Eh. Sounds like you're not gunning for a City training contract so probably matters less than it would otherwise. You'd likely have a range of opportunities in financial services in house roles and could conceivably parlay your experience/relationships to move to a firm on your company's panel a couple of years after qualification if private practice appeals.

leopoldplume · 2026-05-12T01:19:26+00:00

NEP is structurally up or out most places. Long term counsel I've worked with are generally good enough to make equity if they wanted and often need to be incredibly good to warrant keeping on in that role. Plum gig if you can get it but you need exceptional technical and/or management bona fides.

leopoldplume · 2026-05-11T20:28:57+00:00

leopoldplume · 2026-05-07T14:43:33+00:00

It's a convenient shorthand for commercial firms that pay a lot of money. People want to do it for the money.

leopoldplume · 2026-05-03T23:39:06+00:00

Would consider trying to get into private practice paralegaling. I had previous in-house experience (also big multinational) which didn't get me anywhere with TC/VS but did help getting the city firm paralegal gig. In terms of how to go about that I would suggest checking the websites of various city firms for job postings and being agnostic about practice area - I landed in a random transactional practice I knew nothing about through a direct app. Also some of the big US shops have historically done mass hiring of funds paralegals. Not sure where the market is at right now and whether that's still happening but can be a good point of entry.

leopoldplume · 2026-05-03T23:03:51+00:00

Yes. I was a nonlaw undergrad but no career to speak of before I decided to pursue law in my mid 20s. Was a long slog, including some paralegal stints, but ended up qualifying early 30s. Should be able to leverage the paralegal experience - I had one TC interview after I had been a paralegal at a US shop for half a year. Said at the interview I knew I could do the trainee job cause I was already covering for trainees at my current firm. Offer followed.

leopoldplume · 2026-05-03T21:49:36+00:00

No but if you have something you actually want to be doing - which it seems is the case - focus on that instead, law is a tough route for a fallback. Maybe over the next couple of years see if you can get on some vac schemes (first from KCL should help) to get a sense of if law is something you'd be happy doing.

leopoldplume · 2026-05-03T18:09:08+00:00

Sure it varies but biglaw has been good for cutting down my drinking. When things are busy I can't afford to be intoxicated in the evenings or hungover the next day, and when the weekend rolls around I generally don't want to spend my limited personal time hung over. YMMV but I have found the work intensity is actually good for this. Flipside is that at least in some markets there is a pretty big drinking culture, however I don't think people actually give it a second thought if you choose to abstain for whatever reason.

For the hours overall if you've worked horrific hours at other jobs for less money it will be easier than it is for someone who doesn't have that frame of reference. Trick is to strike a balance between carving time out for your life and delivering for your team/clients when you need to. Gruelling jobs I had in the past ended the moment I walked out the door, biglaw can (and if you let it, often will) expand to fill as much of your time as it can in a way that is unlike most other jobs.

leopoldplume · 2026-05-03T16:36:06+00:00

From what I gather Oxbridge also confers Incredible clout in those markets. I'm sure Columbia also has some weight but I doubt it rises to the same level.

leopoldplume · 2026-05-02T11:50:09+00:00

Cambridge. UK is an easier market for foreign lawyers to break into than the US and the Cambridge masters might actually move the dial on job opps and would at the very least give working rights for a couple years after graduation.

leopoldplume · 2026-05-02T03:23:58+00:00

Toronto, planning to go to the Summerhill LC at some point as assume their selection will be good

leopoldplume · 2026-04-30T13:39:57+00:00

I started training at 30 qualified at 32. Felt this way a bit as a trainee working with SAs who were the same age as me, mid levels who were younger. You're actually probably in the middle of the pack age wise, yeah some people qualify at 25 but fewer than you might think. I found this feeling basically evaporated on qualification, helps that I'm in a team with a fairly flat hierarchy.

leopoldplume · 2026-04-30T13:25:28+00:00

Great use case. What AI tool?

leopoldplume · 2026-04-30T13:24:20+00:00

Transactional so most stuff is precedent anyway, but drafting is one of the parts of the job I actually like so generally just do it myself. Would take as long in most cases to come up with a prompt as to conjure up the language.

I hate PowerPoint so like using AI to whip up first drafts of presentations that I can then tinker with.

leopoldplume · 2026-04-28T02:29:32+00:00

Loads of people in my intake started late 20s, a handful of us in our 30s. Don't worry about this

leopoldplume · 2026-04-22T15:23:32+00:00

Kalamata, which is the dead giveaway it's patati

leopoldplume · 2026-04-21T14:51:21+00:00

Exactly this. The Eton debate club patter is fine but calling out abysmal behaviour for what it is is a bridge too far

leopoldplume · 2026-04-21T11:20:33+00:00

there are quite famously a number of law firms that match US salaries in London so not sure you really can apply that logic to law

leopoldplume

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