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Will I Be A Big Fish In A Small Pond, Or A Small Fish In A Big Pond
[00:00:00] Your story about the bucolic small law firm where everyone seemed happy really resonate with me. I ended up from like this over the summer in a smaller market. I also came from a top law school, I ultimately accepted the offer from this smaller firm, the small firm after striking out at OCI. I received an offer and had a great experience, and I can tell this is the type of firm where I could have a future. However, I still Harbor the goal of getting into a major firm in a big market. And, it's something I can't shake. The idea of moving up to a bigger firm is still something I want to pursue. My question is, would it be a mistake for me to pursue a larger firm if I already found a smaller firm that's a good fit and will working in a small law firm, limit my options in the future.
Okay. That's a good question. So there's really a couple of different ways to look at that. The first thing is, I'm assuming you're a litigator, but I don't know. If it's a small law firm, it's probably going to be litigation cause most small law firms are litigation, but it doesn't really matter. One of the things to ask is when you're looking at law firms, ask, what happened to the people that came before me? The other one is, will I be a big fish in a small pond, or a small fish in a big pond?
I think there's a couple [00:01:00] of different ways to think about this question. And but the first thing I would say in terms of the people that came before me, that's a question that I really wish I would have answered before I went to work at one particular big law firm that I worked at, because those can be good stuff or they can be bad, and then you have to get a sense of what happens to the majority of the people now. And, the people that came before you at the smaller firm are now partners and they hire very few people and you feel like it's a good fit. That should tell you something that you have a future there. And, if bad things happen to them, like there are no questions or they laughed or you don't know, then that's not good. So, you have to ask that for every employer that you think about working at. Then the next thing is when you go to work in a large law firm, you should also think about the answers to those questions.
The problem with the large law firms are that a lot of people that go to work in large law firms, bad things happen to them. Especially, in some of the largest cities. Now, it doesn't happen to all of them, of course, but a lot of bad things happen because people get a very bad taste in their mouth.
You're practicing in an industrial law [00:02:00] firm and that's not for everyone. I don't have any criticisms of it because it actually is what companies require. There's nothing wrong with this. And, this law firms have adapted to that, but, do good things or bad things happen? Do the attorneys you're working with at the smaller law firm look happier, do they not?
There's a lot of talk like one of the purposes of all religions is, and again, I'm not doing a religious talk here, but, religion most, yoga, exercise, therapy, all this stuff. I wouldn't say exercise so much, but it does do it while you're doing it. Meditation, is the elimination of the ego, so everyone's trying to eliminate their ego and the ego is a big problem. I'm not trying to talk to you about psychology or religion or anything, but this is what all these things are doing. They're all trying to eliminate ego. I know self-improvement is actually many times blowing up ego and different types of religions may try to blow up your ego. For example, I'm not gonna talk about specific religions, but some religions, are all about you. Where you think about you and study you, but, most religions [00:03:00] are about connecting with, and eliminating your ego. Because, the ego, when you're focused on yourself, can hurt you. When you make career decisions based on ego, you wind up in bad places.
The point of the talk today was, the people that made decisions based on ego end up unhappy. And, when you make decisions based on how things appear to other people based on how they appear to yourself, that can actually harm you a lot, in the long run.
That's not necessarily the right thing for you. Now, if you work in a larger law firm, you are going to have opportunities that you won't have in a smaller law firm. Those opportunities will include things like, going in-house in a larger company. They'll include things like becoming a partner in a big law firm, they'll include access to larger clients and work on more sophisticated matters. They will include the ability to get deeper in different things and learn different legal skills than you might not learn in a smaller firm. They'll include the ability to learn from over a greater variety of people. They'll include the ability to work on matters that are in the national news. It'll include learning the ability [00:04:00] to move to other larger law firms. If you work in a smaller law firm, you can still do all that. You can still move to a larger law firm and you can still develop certain types of clients. But, the big thing to understand, the largest clients and the most sophisticated clients with the most sophisticated work always use the largest firms. Most sophisticated clients, unless it's something like patent prosecution or use the largest law firms. Like for example, I'm from Detroit and I don't live in Detroit now, but I'm from there.
And, if general motors or one of these big companies has a huge problem, they're going to hire a big law firm in New York or Los Angeles, even though the firm is in Detroit, there's some just really awesome ones. But, for their biggest problems, or their going public, they are going to hire the largest firms in the largest city.
Now, is that something you want to be part of? I don't know. It may not be. I personally believe that your goal should be to be happy. And, if you go with the largest firms, there are very few opportunities for advancement.
And, that may not be something good for you. They're partner heavy, there are all [00:05:00] sorts of things that can hold you back. If you go to a smaller firm you'll probably learn how to develop clients. You'll probably get a book of clients. You'll feel independent and secure much sooner, if you throw yourself into it. You will also be rewarded for throwing yourself into everything with a smaller firm.
I can't tell you what to do. I can tell you that if you go to a smaller firm, the odds are pretty good that you'll be practicing law several years from now. And, probably more happy and well adjusted. And if you don't, the odds are pretty good. If you want to be in a larger law firm, I think you can get into one fairly easily. You could probably do on campus interviewing this year, and then you could also work get a clerkship, federal district court clerkship or something and get a job in a big firm after that. There's all sorts of things you can do, but frankly, if you found a group of people that you really like, and you like them, and you feel like you're going to get really good training, then you're probably better off. And, this stuff you can't shake that you're talking about, it's really just your ego. That's your ego saying, I need to do this. I need to be the most competitive, and, really what [00:06:00] you'd need to think about. Is, can you be happy? That's what I would say.
If you do want to be in a large firm, you just need to be ready for it. Know what to expect. You need to read everything that I've written and study and that sort of thing.
That's what I would recommend and I hope that helps. I know that's a long-winded answer, but it's definitely not an easy decision.
