"Staff Attorney"?

[Anonymous]

BIG law attorneys -- what do staff attorneys do? Are they associates who aren't on a partner track?

TIA, I've only worked in the government and am looking at positions with private firms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:BIG law attorneys -- what do staff attorneys do? Are they associates who aren't on a partner track?

TIA, I've only worked in the government and am looking at positions with private firms.

The last thing you want to be is a staff attorney. They primarily do document review (e-discovery) work. They get zero respect in their firms and are the first to be let go when things get slow. They are glorified paralegals. They are definitely not associates who are not on partnership track – they are much lower than that on the totem pole. It’s a terrible job and you don’t want it.

[Anonymous]

“Totem pole”??? Still rooting for the Redskins, I presume

[Anonymous]

It differs by firm. I know that some firms still keep reams of staff attorneys on hand to do in-house doc review, but the last few firms I worked at had few staff attorneys and they were each tied to a practice group and trained to do work that was essential to the practice but impracticable to charge associate rates for either because it's tedious and lengthy or because performing it doesn't provide any kind of "training" for the associates. In those firms it's more like the equivalent of an associate who will not make partner being shifted to permanent senior associate or of counsel, not like an e-discovery grind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It differs by firm. I know that some firms still keep reams of staff attorneys on hand to do in-house doc review, but the last few firms I worked at had few staff attorneys and they were each tied to a practice group and trained to do work that was essential to the practice but impracticable to charge associate rates for either because it's tedious and lengthy or because performing it doesn't provide any kind of "training" for the associates. In those firms it's more like the equivalent of an associate who will not make partner being shifted to permanent senior associate or of counsel, not like an e-discovery grind.

This said, OP, if you want to shift to private practice you should be offering to join up as a junior associate (even if you have more years of experience) rather than a staff attorney. Partner-track gives you better pay, even at the lowest levels, and more options for your next move.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:BIG law attorneys -- what do staff attorneys do? Are they associates who aren't on a partner track?

TIA, I've only worked in the government and am looking at positions with private firms.

What's your background? If you have subject matter expertise, you should be looking at counsel positions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:“Totem pole”??? Still rooting for the Redskins, I presume

Oh spare me. Totem pole is not offensive, and you’re not Native American.

[Anonymous]

It depends on the firm, but usually they focus on e-discovery. Sometimes they just do document coding, but often they manage contract attorney reviews, prepare priv logs, do custodian interviews, and draft summaries of documents. It’s not a great job if the biglaw associate/partner track is open to you, but if it’s not, then being a staff attorney can be a decent outcome. A lot of them earn six figures, sometimes close to $200k depending on how useful they are, and the work is relatively easy.

[Anonymous]

My spouse is a staff attorney. It is definitely not like being an associate, but it does pay well (especially if you’re coming from government) and offers a great work/life balance. Spouse had been in private practice at a small firm when they moved to the staff attorney position and it was a nice pay increase with the ability to earn overtime. Their average yearly pay (including some OT) is about $170k.

[Anonymous]

Do not leave a government attorney position to be a staff attorney at a big law firm. That is a downward move.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do not leave a government attorney position to be a staff attorney at a big law firm. That is a downward move.

Not necessarily, if it pays more, and your goal is to make more money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do not leave a government attorney position to be a staff attorney at a big law firm. That is a downward move.

Not necessarily, if it pays more, and your goal is to make more money.

+1

[Anonymous]

Staff attorney is as the PPs describe (I'm a biglaw staff attorney). Non-partnership track associate positions are typically called alternative track associate or similar.

[Anonymous]

Some of the comments on here reflect either a younger associate viewpoint, or dated attitudes about staff attorneys.

Firms have been experimenting a little bit with attorney roles in the last 10-20 years, and staff attorneys, counsel, and non-equity partners are all part of that. There's actually a pretty broad range of set-ups at firms at this point.

There are firms where a staff attorney actually is basically a non-partnership-track associate. Hausfeld comes to mind. Their staff attorneys, especially senior staff attorneys, do substantive work (not just e-discovery) and can even manage teams, but they have better work-life balance and more predictable hours (and lower overall pay) than associates. I've encountered a handful of other firms like this as well, though as a PP noted, sometimes firms will use the counsel/of counsel position as the right place for mid-career attorneys who earn a regular salary, are not partnership track, but are substantive and high level contributors.

But some firms use counsel positions mostly as a stepping stone to partner, so they will test it up differently.

However, at most AmLaw 100 firms, the staff attorney role will be viewed as significantly lower status than even a first year associate. Many firms still maintain a culture where there is a strict divide between attorneys and staff (in terms of culture, status, benefits, and pay) and at these firms, it's morel likely for staff attorneys to be treated more akin to paralegals and to be viewed as less important or valuable.

So my answer to your question would be that it is highly dependent on the firm and I'd really want to investigate before I took this role. At firms where staff attorneys are low status, your position will also be significantly less secure in a volatile market, as laying off staff attorneys in a down market can be a way to conceal attorney layoffs (because industry media will focus on associate/counsel/partner layoffs).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some of the comments on here reflect either a younger associate viewpoint, or dated attitudes about staff attorneys.

Firms have been experimenting a little bit with attorney roles in the last 10-20 years, and staff attorneys, counsel, and non-equity partners are all part of that. There's actually a pretty broad range of set-ups at firms at this point.

There are firms where a staff attorney actually is basically a non-partnership-track associate. Hausfeld comes to mind. Their staff attorneys, especially senior staff attorneys, do substantive work (not just e-discovery) and can even manage teams, but they have better work-life balance and more predictable hours (and lower overall pay) than associates. I've encountered a handful of other firms like this as well, though as a PP noted, sometimes firms will use the counsel/of counsel position as the right place for mid-career attorneys who earn a regular salary, are not partnership track, but are substantive and high level contributors.

But some firms use counsel positions mostly as a stepping stone to partner, so they will test it up differently.

However, at most AmLaw 100 firms, the staff attorney role will be viewed as significantly lower status than even a first year associate. Many firms still maintain a culture where there is a strict divide between attorneys and staff (in terms of culture, status, benefits, and pay) and at these firms, it's morel likely for staff attorneys to be treated more akin to paralegals and to be viewed as less important or valuable.

So my answer to your question would be that it is highly dependent on the firm and I'd really want to investigate before I took this role. At firms where staff attorneys are low status, your position will also be significantly less secure in a volatile market, as laying off staff attorneys in a down market can be a way to conceal attorney layoffs (because industry media will focus on associate/counsel/partner layoffs).

Good job getting ChatGPT to write a response. Your first paragraph conflicts with your fifth paragraph. Your choice of Hausfeld is particularly odd.