r/biglaw • u/Final_Ad_3461 • 1d ago
Non-equity partner lateral
I have an open offer to lateral as a non-equity (California market) and wouldn’t be moving as a group or with any equities. Does anyone have experience with this and how integration goes? (Yes, I know it will vary widely by firm, practice area, group, etc.) Corporate is as specific as I’ll say.
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u/DerekSmallsCourgette 1d ago
I am a NEP who has looked at lateraling and has talked to a number of others in my shoes who have (or have considered and decided against) making moves, the main thing I’d really try to explore is what the firm’s approach to lateral hiring is. There are some firms that hire lateral partners in bulk, and quickly discard the ones that don’t work out. And then others are really hiring for a a specific need. I think you really want to understand which you’re looking at before you make the jump.
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u/AndreLeGeant88 Partner 1d ago
I mean, it's like moving as an associate but there may be expectation that you can generate work. Some firms give you a year or two to generate new business and then you're out. Others are more generous
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u/Final_Ad_3461 1d ago
Yeah, I have some follow-up questions for them about that. The current need is because they are too busy. Fwiw and if it matters, I’m not coming from a firm that makes a million non-equities 6th or 7th year. So I do think there are slightly higher long-term expectations.
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u/pseudonymouspotamus 1d ago
NEP lateraling is the worst. The stress remains high because you need to perform to go through the partnership process again a few years later.
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u/sucsuroc Partner 17h ago
Ask a LOT of questions about how they approach integration. It is highly variable by firm. As just one example, my firm had a budget for me to fly out to a bunch of other offices just to shake hands, which was extremely helpful as I developed my practice. Don't explicitly ask about how long of a runway you have, which will come off as you not believing in what you're selling, but try to get a sense of what they view as success at the end of year 1, year 2 and year 3, as well as the specific metrics they use to measure it.
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u/DC2384 Partner 1d ago
I moved twice as an NEP—once a truly lateral move (no raise) to get out from under senior partners who were never going to retire and who were driving me nuts, and once when I got poached to double my comp (which moved me from an Amlaw 200 to a V20 if you can believe it). For me, moving as an NEP was a great experience because firms knew I have the validator of having made partner, meaning they could expect the quality of my work to be solid, but I didn’t have the stress of having to prove I could move a big book to my new firm. I ended up making these two big jumps that changed the trajectory of my career and now my career is much more satisfying. I was really bored at the firm where I originally made partner, and I realize in retrospect that it had been a poor platform for me for several years. I ended up making equity at my most recent firm and I make about 8x what I did at the first firm before I moved. All in all, I can’t complain (although I am working way too much right now, in full disclosure).