Reply to Am I nuts to move to big law after government?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What's so wrong with doing this? Don't know where OP is salary wise, but say he's at 160k now. As counsel in biglaw, he'd make double that (likely more but conservative 2x). Even if it only lasts for 2 yrs, don't you walk away with a few hundred thousand in hand? Say the worse happens -- you're unemployed after 2 yrs at counsel and then it take you 18 months to find another gig -- you still walk away net positive from the money you made at counsel.

Gov't lawyers are a bit too conservative.[/quote]

Good points.  And yes, they are very risk averse.[/quote]

True, but that only matters if OP plans to retire after BigLaw stint; IT IS VERY HARD to get back into government legal position now, because of all the BigLaw refugees and oversupply of lawyers.   It's a nice bonus to end a career on, but if he's giving up 20 years of employment (and pension) for 3 years of double salary, it will end up a worse deal.  Also, I thought at BigLaw you have buy all your own health insurance, there's no retirement, etc -- equivalent "real" salary is much lower? Or maybe that only applies to partners?[/quote]

Clearly you're one of the aforementioned scared of their shadow gov't attys. OP wouldn't take the leap assuming he could get back to the gov't. He'd take the leap assuming that if all goes to hell in 2-3 yrs, he'll find SOMETHING to do. And while you write off a double salary for 3 yrs -- investing the equivalent of an entire gov't salary for 3 yrs is not insignificant. And no -- counsel don't pay for health insurance; yes they have 401ks.[/quote]

Well OP could also be unemployed for a year or two after getting axed and end up taking a job with less pay vs teh government job he/she has now. Also the ror suck in the current market. [/quote]

OMG -- the point is -- do the math. If counsel salary for 2 yrs + 2 yrs being unemployed > gov't salary for those 4 yrs plus long term benefits and accounting for taxes, then he/she has something to think about. If not, then don't even entertain the idea. It's straight finance -- not so complicated.[/quote]

There will be additional costs to working the BigLaw job: OP will not have a straight 40 hour work week, so will need to probably pay for more childcare, housekeeper, etc.  Though I guess OP will not be taking any vacations so that would definitely save money for a few years.[/quote]

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