Is a Big Law Firm Better Than a Small One?
Generally, it’s six of one, six of the other. In a smaller firm, you will get a lot more “hands on” experience in court, and in dealing with clients, during the early years of your career. Smaller firms cannot afford the luxury of a big bureaucracy, and will be under pressure to bring you up to speed as a performing (i.e. high billing) lawyer as quickly as possible. You will be thrown in over your head and expected to swim . . . fast. In a larger firm, you usually will spend the first few years on important but mind-numbing “grunt work” – researching obscure points of law, drafting routine court documents and business contracts using standardized forms, carrying the partners’ briefcases to meetings, “collating, stapling and notarizing” documents at closings, and so forth.
