The third #LawJobChat featured Richard Russeth, VP & General Counsel at Leprino Foods Company, answering questions about landing an in-house law job. I’ve noted some highlights of the discussion below, and you can read the full transcript here.
Qualifications You Need to Obtain In-house Law Job
- 5 years of experience
- Some larger corporations will hire recent law school graduates with no experience
- Specialized roles like IP may require more than 5 years of experience
- General contract work may require less experience
- Generalist background is helpful
- SEC experience also helpful
Tips for Litigators Who Want to Transition to In-house Position
- Most companies farm out their litigation work so you need to be able to manage litigation if you want an in-house position
- Do Westlaw search to see which companies are drowning in litigation and target those companies in your job search
- Consumer intensive companies (not business to business) are more likely to hire litigators
Tips for Law Students Who Want to Work In-house
- Don’t overspecialize in law school
- Intern for a company after your 1L year, intern for a firm after your 2L
In-house Hiring Process
- Slower process (compared to firm hiring)
- Don’t look for in-house jobs in 4th Quarter
- Use your networks and recruiters
- LinkedIn is key to building your network – Richard advised law students to begin building their networks on LinkedIn in their 1L year (he’d like my First-Year Plan!
) - ACC job board is excellent source for job openings
- Avoid Monster.com
- Build relationships with GCs on Twitter – Twitter is a great place to find out about people
In-house Compensation
- Typically 70% lower than firms initially; close to parity after 7-10 years
- Bonus tied to company’s performance; 30% is typical
Advantages/Disadvantages
- Advantages: Quality of life, interesting practice
- Disadvantages: Not easy to transition back into private practice (litigators and IP folks have easier time transitioning back into private practice)
Tags: #LawJobChat, in-house law job, Twitter