"I am a 2PQE disputes associate at a City firm. I am looking to leave, but I am worried that prospective employers may be concerned by the fact that they would be my fourth different employer in my legal career so far.
"Would a track record of regularly moving firms in my junior years blunt my partnership prospects? I do not want to be pigeoned-holed as a career senior associate/of counsel.
"Is this a valid concern, or is it only billings and personal qualities that matter when firms consider promotions?"
Click 'Comment on this article' to post your advice in confidence - or click here to share your wisdom on the Legal Week Wiki, where no topic is off limits. Rate or slate your firm and its rivals with our ground-breaking insider's guide to City law.
And remember, Career Clinic is only as good as the questions we receive, so email your career conundrums to community@legalweek.com.
Assuming that you moved on qualification, and then on a yearly basis after that (and so have been in your current job for less than a year), you would be crazy to move again - especially in the current economic climate - unless your working life where you are is intolerable or you want to move out of law entirely. You will harm your job prospects in law and may lead future interviewers to think that you are a troublemaker or just don't know what you want from your career. Worse, you may end up unemployed altogether at the end of any probation period at a new firm if the slump continues. Think very long and hard before doing anything. If you are bored with your practice area, one possibility that wouldn't be harmful may be an internal transfer to another team who are busy... would this be an option?
Interesting. By no means do I mean to sound mean, nasty or anything of that sort, but I'm a bit surprised by a 2PQE being on their fourth legal employer. I'm not sure if you mean you've been at four firms since you began your training contract, or if you did some work in a legal environment prior to undertaking your training contract? If the former (i.e. fourth firm since training contract), I would be prepared for some pretty hard questions as to why you have moved around 'so much'. While you may have what you consider to be completely understandable and rational reasons for your various moves, these reasons may not seem to reasonable to prospective employer number four. They may very well regard you as the sort who is 'there for a good time, not a long time'. Admittedly, rather flippant, but I think you know what I mean. Conversely, if some of your legal employers have been prior to your training contract, I wouldn't be as concerned - might be that you were taking part in summer schemes, looking at and considering your options, etc. That said, if you did participate in a summer programme and didn't get offered a training contract (or decided not to accept an offer) - be prepared to explain why. Returning to the three firms since your training contract scenario, I'd be prepared to address what I would think are the obvious questions - why did you leave (lack of work at the firm, dissolution of the team you were in being a far better explanation than 'chasing more money', 'my colleagues were idiots', or 'nobody appreciated my brilliance'). Similarly, given that a few of your moves are likely to have been after a very short period of time (i.e. less than a year) be prepared to deal with suggestions that you don't deal well with change, are not adaptive and flexible and prepared to take the time it invariably takes to 'bed in' and become part of the team. No doubt most of this may seem a bit negative... I think you've got a difficult story to tell. That's not to say it's not a good story (which may very well have a happy ending and all that..) but I think you need to have a good hard think about how best to cast your moves in the best possible light. In the current economic climate, I think firms are willing to be more selective and 'discerning' in their recruitment - gone are the days of firms looking for anyone with a pulse to rack up the billable hours....
I have always thought this is a strange thing to be worried about. The only person who should be concerned about this will be your prospective employer. If they offer you a position with their firm, then they are clearly not too concerned. If they don't, then you won't be changing firms. Presumably your intention is always to stay a bit longer than 12 months at each firm. I think you have to ask yourself the question as to what the point of moving firms so often is though - if you haven't liked any of the four firms you have worked in the past, then maybe you are just in the wrong profession?
Moving firms is not in itself a bad thing. But a fourth move for a two years' PQE might raise an eyebrow. Why do you wish to leave? Are you fed up of the people you work with, or is it something else? Are you wanting to leave your firm, as opposed to having found the dream job that you had always been after? In the present climate, if you can convince a firm to take you on, that would be quite an achievement and a credit to you. Clearly you have some talent, at least power of persuasion. If I were you, I would think carefully about why it is that I want to move, and make sure you don't make the same mistake again. Not sure that helps but good luck to you.
If you move, and stay put, the very large number of early moves shouldn't hurt your promotion prospects. But if I was interviewing you I would really want to know a lot about why you have moved so often, and unless you had good reasons, would be less likely to offer you the job.
Yes and Yes
Any move in less than two years looks bad. You can get away with one, but otherwise become damaged goods. Stick it out for two years so it looks like you can hold a job down. A move now won't impact on your partnership prospects but may be bad if you try to move again in a few years time before you start on the partnership track.
Re: "is it only billings and personal qualities that matter "? No, it is your ability to make the incumbent partners richer; this generally means your ability to generate new business.
With what you've said about your career so far, I wouldn't trust you sufficiently to recruit you over other able candidates. You need to keep your head down, fit in and work hard for the next 3-4 years. At the end of that period, you may be able to judge whether you have what it takes to be a partner. Consistency of work product and the ability to build networks of friends and colleagues (which will give your employers an idea of how good you might be with clients) are what you should be aiming to achieve now. The odd flash of brillance and bringing in, and retaining, clients over the next few years will help your case to be put on to partner track. You'll find that if you continue to move every few years, prospective employers will think there's something very wrong with you. While you may view partnership as the ultimate goal, don't forget that your prospective partners will want someone who's in it for the long term.
As someone who has quite a few moves on my CV, I would advise staying put. Try to get at least two years with one employer on your CV before you even start to think about moving. And I agree with the person who mentioned being fired during probation periods with a new firm - and indeed you don't even need a probation period, you have no protection against unfair dismissal in your first year with a new firm. In this economic climate I would only move employer if pushed.
You are moving quite aggressively, even by banking standards. Legitimate moves can be justified by change in law or the ambition to climb up the prestige ladder of law firms, meaning you started out at a boutique outfit and now are at a US or MC firm. Otherwise you will be perceived by prospective employers as "damaged goods",
and thus, for want of a better word, f**ked. Stay put, lawyers do not carry a warranty.
Don't listen to the slaves of convention here. Staying put for the sake of staying put is unnecessarily limiting. Moving around a lot early in your career is healthy. You will pick things up from a multitude of people and work out what you want and what you don't want quicker than if you sit at the same desk for 10 years. And, if you're getting offered the jobs to allow you to be able to move around this much, clearly it isn't damaging your employability.
Skandiof is talking complete nonsense, his advice is tantamount to professional suicide. I would be surprised if you could move in this market anyway, you've gotta be damn good for any job opening that is out there. You're up against all the lawyers that have been laid off, in-house and private practice, and I have a feeling your CV is nowhere near strong enough to come out on top. Do yourself a favour and get back to bundling.
I think it is hard to generalise - however, if your ultimate plan is partnership in a law firm moving too frequently may prevent you from developing a solid client following which, depending on your practice area, is likely to affect promotion chances. I think it is less of an issue in-house as long as you can justify each move.
It wasn't career suicide for me. I trained at a magic circle firm, moved on qualification to a silver circle firm, moved after six months to another silver circle firm, spent about 18 months there, left to go back the magic circle, spent two years there then three years at a US firm before leaving for another US firm. 9 years qualified and I've just been made a partner. I can honestly say that I have only ever felt that moving around so much has given me a competitive advantage over peers who have stayed where they trained. I have worked with many more people, many more different clients, and have a much much better and broader array of contacts than your typical 9 year PQE. That is more important than knowing the blokes in accounts and the catering staff on a first name basis. I've tried to emulate the things that the firms I've worked at do well, and to avoid the things they do badly. It might not be for everyone, if you're a shrinking violet and you're only able to build up relationships by working for the same clients for 5 years then I suppose stay where you are and work for the same clients for 5 years. If you're willing to be direct, to network, are good at keeping in touch and keeping your ear to the ground when you've left a place though, it really is a no-brainer.
Related Articles
Related Jobs
Latest Jobs
