I am v30 corp, CCN top quarter. I am not necessarily looking to stay forever. In fact I may move to smaller low COL cities in a year (geographic flexibility in my current practice is limited, i work w structured products). I am hoping this job will open doors to other in house, low stress jobs in those markets. But I may stay, it's not clear at the moment. Take job or try to last another year in biglaw?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2249689&forum_id=2#23151504)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2249689&forum_id=2#23151644)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2249689&forum_id=2#23151586)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2249689&forum_id=2#23153283)

I gonna say, not knowing when you can leave on any given night is one of the biggest annoyances of biglaw. If you know for example that your work day ends at 8, at least you can look at the clock and be happy for a moment: only 2 more hours left, etc. Nothing like this exist in biglaw. You don't know when this shit is gonna end on any given night.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2249689&forum_id=2#23154609)

if this is a public company, in particular, you already have outside counsel doing the Ks, Qs, and meatier SEC filings and as in-house counsel, you're doing more the oversight. i honestly can't see how you're going to have that many unexpected late nights.

the most deadline driven things in legal are deal closings, whether it's M&A or your company is trying to raise money or sell debt, etc. i just don't see this happening at a food distributor. it is not the same as being at google with an entire army of M&A lawyers buying out any marginally successful app threatening their space or being at a company that's growing rapidly and needs access to money quickly so they're doing a secondary offering (outsourced to law firm anyway). litigation is also deadline-intensive, but again, you have outside counsel for that.

this brings me to the other main factor for the hours -- how much does your company use outside counsel? we use 3 different firms for corporate, lit, and general legal advice on industry regulations/standards. i have a friend in-house at a major fashion retailer that is very cheap and doesn't use outside counsel very much and she has to take to arbitration every time a disgruntled employee at their retail store sues them for discrimination or somebody slips and falls at their store. since she is basically litigation in-house, her hours are rougher and more unpredictable. you should ask this company what is outsourced v. what stays in-house.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2249689&forum_id=2#23158811)

They seem to do a fair amount of M&A, they seem to do these inhouse too. Senior guy told me he close about 5 deals a year. Maybe the M&As are very small and hence not worth outsourcing.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2249689&forum_id=2#23161318)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2249689&forum_id=2#23151633)

Also, a places that openly says 8am-6pm every single day will probably have numerous days where you end up there 7-8pm.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2249689&forum_id=2#23153308)

That said, I don't know the company, so don't know the opportunities to leverage it. I doubt it's a dead end based on how you describe it. I took a similar role (though it's a more developed legal department in a regulated industry) so I'm hopeful it works out.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2249689&forum_id=2#23154951)

It's as generalist and interesting as in-house gets, with as much responsibility as possible for someone his year. Most times, people his stage take this job at a big F500, but only get one segment of the business and have no interaction with the GC.

I don't understand what else you expect a corporate lawyer to do in-house (or at a law firm) that is "more interesting"? Are you even a practicing lawyer?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2249689&forum_id=2#23154889)

think of it this way: reading one presents you with ample evidence that even 60yo lawyers at F100s SUCK BALLS and don't know how to practice law AT ALL

i can't tell you how many times I've seen Ks come in from bigger companies full of ambiguities

hell, even when we were looking at expanded office space, the form L-T agreement failed to define very basic calculations adequately ("for every 1000 feet of leasable space you get Y widgets" was a big offender)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2249689&forum_id=2#23158773)

you know what's not? what you said

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2249689&forum_id=2#23158632)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2249689&forum_id=2#23159054)

supply contracts - so basic commercial shit

confidentiality agrmt - lol

SEC matters - aka roet reporting

M and A - lol, for that one acquisition tehy will make every 3 years (edit: and which will be outsourced to a firm anyway)

and shitty stuff like contract analysis, risk management and board matters - aka, contract management, paralegal, and take notes/minutes at board meetings

it's a shitty job. xoxohth

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2249689&forum_id=2#23158644)

this is not an AGC job, it's a dead end jr corporate counsel type job. if that's what he wants, great. doesnt make it not a boring job

ur done here

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2249689&forum_id=2#23158688)

yeah maybe if the guy plans to stay at this company and never lateral jfc

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2249689&forum_id=2#23158803)

As mentioned in the OP, my practice at law firm is highly specialized, which limits my geographic flexibility and perhaps also inhouse marketability.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2249689&forum_id=2#23160355)

for somebody who is interested in going up the chain in a generalistic role to ultimately become GC, it's better to have the broader exposure to various in-house areas, which is hard to gain when you're going to a large F100 company and your responsibilities are far more limited. particularly if this guy's #2 in legal, it is basically a AGC role.

in any case, i think this guy has an interesting opportunity b/c it is fairly rare to be able to be offered #2 in legal, but obviously this is just an unsexy industry with unsexy legal issues. he could definitely leverage that into an in-house position at a better company in the future though.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2249689&forum_id=2#23158926)

i mean, it's fucking legal work, i've worked on enough high profile cases (omg, bernie madoff!) to know that even the sexiest of legal work all over the newspapers is still fucking legal work and often times boring. even that guy mitigating legal risk on self-driving cars is going to have tedious tasks sometimes.

being in finance in-house, i now work on stuff that is sometimes complex and interesting (how to access a foreign market through derivative investments when direct investments are impossible), but sometimes my days are spent filling out licensing applications and making routine SEC filings. that's just the nature of legal work.

the best you can hope for is to get an in-house job that will set you up nicely, either for lateralling or staying there long-term with good potential for growth. fuck "interesting" work.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2249689&forum_id=2#23159300)

If you're just a regular junior corporate counsel at Google, the job responsibilities are similarly boring and generic:

https://www.google.com/about/jobs/search/#!t=jo&jid=1124001&

Of course, you're paid better at Google, but that's another story. It's pretty silly to say 99% of in-house work isn't boring.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2249689&forum_id=2#23159721)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2249689&forum_id=2#23161207)

But he'd deal with litigation as it arises, executive compensation, employee benefits, employment agreements, shareholder matters, etc.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2249689&forum_id=2#23161253)

In your role, you'll be able to engage in these things as much as you want.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2249689&forum_id=2#23161324)

This is my key concern. I know pay is low and hours are long, I am willing to do this as long as it opens more opportunity.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2249689&forum_id=2#23161359)

I know that when I left from Corporate at a law firm, I was giving up some in-house paths, primarily M&A-focused roles at F100 companies.

I don't know what kind of gigs specialized structured finance guys move into.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2249689&forum_id=2#23161418)

I also like how non sequitur got pwned in this thread with his elitism.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2249689&forum_id=2#23203357)