The Associate Timeline
Straight A's at school, tick.
Oxbridge (possibly Russel Group) degree, tick.
Magic Circle training contract, tick
Okay, so what happens next?
After the congratulations and celebrations of an associates academic and fledgling professional achievements have concluded the real work begins.
Let’s take a look at the typical journey an associate with excellent academics and one of the hottest training contracts in town might take as their career progresses.
Oxbridge (possibly Russel Group) degree, tick.
Magic Circle training contract, tick
Okay, so what happens next?
After the congratulations and celebrations of an associates academic and fledgling professional achievements have concluded the real work begins.
Let’s take a look at the typical journey an associate with excellent academics and one of the hottest training contracts in town might take as their career progresses.
Associate Decision Tree
| associate_timeline.docx |
The above decision tree charts the main choices associates will face as they progress their legal career.
Following qualification the first real question that Magic Circle NQ's will face is do I stay with my firm or move to a top tier US firm. A minority of associates will go in house straight away at this point, there are a few reasons why this might be a bad idea, ultimately whether this makes sense will depend on the organisation you move to and whether it is possible to progress your career with good mentorship.
Those that move to US firms want that extra pay rise and aren’t concerned with the perception that they may have to work harder (potentially more billable hours). They may also not have been able to qualify into the area of practice they wanted for whatever reason so feel that it might be possible to kill two birds with one stone (pay rise and getting into the area of law they want) with the move.
Those associates that stayed with their firm after getting some experience under their belt now have the widest array of options open to them. The above decision tree for moving to a US firm on qualification closely mirrors the options available for those lawyers that stayed at their MC firm. At this point in the associates career they are starting to think more proactively about what the future holds and their primary choice is deciding whether to make a run at partnership with their firm or whether to move in house. Between 1-6 PQE law firm associates are at peak desirability for a move in house, particularly if they stayed at their Magic Circle firm (because they aren’t earning quite as much and are therefore slightly more appealing to most premier in house clients).
It is worth noting that some associates from magic circle firms will lateral to another (lesser) firm on qualification at this juncture (1-6PQE), usually because they want a better work life balance. A move to a US law firm is also possible here as the associate may feel those employed there aren’t working that much harder after all and are getting paid more. Some will move firms for other reasons that for brevity we won’t delve into in detail here (geographical moves, key partner move, disagreement internally, etc, etc).
It is harder to move in house the more senior you are as an associate (7PQE +). The main reasons being you are getting paid more money, because it has been increasing in a lockstep fashion and there are other lawyers of a similar PQE who moved in house and are therefore higher quality competition (in terms of the way that they work and experience they have being potentially more relevant). It is still possible and does happen but as time progresses the number of in house positions open to you as an associate will diminish rapidly towards 12 PQE and beyond, more so if you do not make partner.
The timeline can start to look bleak at this point if you haven’t made partner or moved in house yet. Very senior associates often find themselves in somewhat of an existential crisis, they cannot make partner at their firm and in house clients aren’t particularly interested in them. Occasionally senior associates (even those who have a true pedigree in terms of their credentials who have not sufficiently planned for the future) may need to consider taking interim roles, or look at a career change or they may find themselves in a worst case scenario unemployed as the firm has decided it is "up or out".
The solution is clear, plan ahead and think about what options are open to you as an associate throughout your career at each step so that you can best advance your goals for the future.
Following qualification the first real question that Magic Circle NQ's will face is do I stay with my firm or move to a top tier US firm. A minority of associates will go in house straight away at this point, there are a few reasons why this might be a bad idea, ultimately whether this makes sense will depend on the organisation you move to and whether it is possible to progress your career with good mentorship.
Those that move to US firms want that extra pay rise and aren’t concerned with the perception that they may have to work harder (potentially more billable hours). They may also not have been able to qualify into the area of practice they wanted for whatever reason so feel that it might be possible to kill two birds with one stone (pay rise and getting into the area of law they want) with the move.
Those associates that stayed with their firm after getting some experience under their belt now have the widest array of options open to them. The above decision tree for moving to a US firm on qualification closely mirrors the options available for those lawyers that stayed at their MC firm. At this point in the associates career they are starting to think more proactively about what the future holds and their primary choice is deciding whether to make a run at partnership with their firm or whether to move in house. Between 1-6 PQE law firm associates are at peak desirability for a move in house, particularly if they stayed at their Magic Circle firm (because they aren’t earning quite as much and are therefore slightly more appealing to most premier in house clients).
It is worth noting that some associates from magic circle firms will lateral to another (lesser) firm on qualification at this juncture (1-6PQE), usually because they want a better work life balance. A move to a US law firm is also possible here as the associate may feel those employed there aren’t working that much harder after all and are getting paid more. Some will move firms for other reasons that for brevity we won’t delve into in detail here (geographical moves, key partner move, disagreement internally, etc, etc).
It is harder to move in house the more senior you are as an associate (7PQE +). The main reasons being you are getting paid more money, because it has been increasing in a lockstep fashion and there are other lawyers of a similar PQE who moved in house and are therefore higher quality competition (in terms of the way that they work and experience they have being potentially more relevant). It is still possible and does happen but as time progresses the number of in house positions open to you as an associate will diminish rapidly towards 12 PQE and beyond, more so if you do not make partner.
The timeline can start to look bleak at this point if you haven’t made partner or moved in house yet. Very senior associates often find themselves in somewhat of an existential crisis, they cannot make partner at their firm and in house clients aren’t particularly interested in them. Occasionally senior associates (even those who have a true pedigree in terms of their credentials who have not sufficiently planned for the future) may need to consider taking interim roles, or look at a career change or they may find themselves in a worst case scenario unemployed as the firm has decided it is "up or out".
The solution is clear, plan ahead and think about what options are open to you as an associate throughout your career at each step so that you can best advance your goals for the future.
Are you getting paid enough?
Check out what firms are paying their NQ - 3PQE associates