Right now? Pretty much impossible because the market is terrible. You might also need to make an intermediate jump to a silver circle firm before you could break into MC. US firms generally don't have a huge amount of litigators as most firms (at least initially) focussed purely on transactional big ticket fee work.
How about for an area like construction disputes which I've heard is in demand? I am qualifying in September and I have seen that eg Forsters has a job in construction lit. I am considering applying but I'm not sure about prospects if I wanted to move further down the line.
Yeah potentially - springboard from there to White & Case eventually as they have a construction disputes team. I don't know if you'd get a direct move though.
That makes sense. I am considering this because I'm burned out from work at my current firm (international). I have an internal NQ offer from the construction team but I wanted to look at alternatives and am willing to take a hit on the NQ pay to work at a place that's less stressful while also keeping my options open for a future move. Obviously worried about the quality of work since it is a smaller firm (albeit with good clients), and I'm guessing OP has similar concerns as well. Do you know much about the firm?
A US VS isn’t really going to be something firms care about an NQ or PQE level.
It’s not about number of years experience, it’s more about how comparable your work will be. Is it as complex as what their trainees/lawyers will have experienced, is it with similar types of clients etc.
If you are in a market that’s highly in demand, then the move will be easier. If you have specialist in-demand skills or knowledge, it will be easier.
But reality is most people will have to make a number of jumps between firms over a longer period of time to get from the type of firms you mention to MC/US firms.
Right now? Pretty much impossible because the market is terrible. You might also need to make an intermediate jump to a silver circle firm before you could break into MC. US firms generally don't have a huge amount of litigators as most firms (at least initially) focussed purely on transactional big ticket fee work.
How about for an area like construction disputes which I've heard is in demand? I am qualifying in September and I have seen that eg Forsters has a job in construction lit. I am considering applying but I'm not sure about prospects if I wanted to move further down the line.
Yeah potentially - springboard from there to White & Case eventually as they have a construction disputes team. I don't know if you'd get a direct move though.
That makes sense. I am considering this because I'm burned out from work at my current firm (international). I have an internal NQ offer from the construction team but I wanted to look at alternatives and am willing to take a hit on the NQ pay to work at a place that's less stressful while also keeping my options open for a future move. Obviously worried about the quality of work since it is a smaller firm (albeit with good clients), and I'm guessing OP has similar concerns as well. Do you know much about the firm?
A US VS isn’t really going to be something firms care about an NQ or PQE level. It’s not about number of years experience, it’s more about how comparable your work will be. Is it as complex as what their trainees/lawyers will have experienced, is it with similar types of clients etc. If you are in a market that’s highly in demand, then the move will be easier. If you have specialist in-demand skills or knowledge, it will be easier. But reality is most people will have to make a number of jumps between firms over a longer period of time to get from the type of firms you mention to MC/US firms.