Time to Lateral to the Bay Area as a Corporate Associate?
The need for experienced corporate and transactional associates in San Francisco and Silicon Valley is high. If you're practicing law at a big firm in New York or elsewhere in the U.S., consider exploring the market. As previously written, the Bay Area is the top legal market for working with clients in the technology industry (as well as their bankers and investors).
Using job listings collected by Firm Prospects, LLC, here are some of the trends that I am seeing for Bay Area lateral associate hiring at the start of 2019:
High need for tech trans associates with 2+ years of experience. "Technology transactions" attorneys advise on agreements related to the development, licensing, sale and purchase of intellectual property. Unlike other types of intellectual property work, a technical undergraduate degree is not usually a requirement (though firms do want attorneys that have experience working with tech companies). If you are someone that has "deal experience" working with tech companies, this may be something you want to focus in on in the Bay Area market. It's also one of the best paths for going in-house to a tech company (thus the high need on the firm side).
Need for public capital markets associates with 3+ years of experience. Firms across the Bay Area are looking for mid-level public capital markets attorneys. People who know the BigLaw legal market tend to think that New York is the primary market for advising on IPOs and other public equity and debt offerings. But in recent years, Bay Area-headquarted law firms have moved to become more full service, while New York-headquartered law firms have opened up offices in the area to leverage strong reputations in areas like public capital markets. The result is growth all around with everyone strategizing to advise on the "next big tech IPO in 2019."
Need for M&A associates with 3+ years of experience. M&A legal practice has long been a mainstay in the Bay Area legal market. Whether you are an attorney that advises startups, small tech companies, established tech companies, private equity firms, venture funds or all of the above, there is a lot of work to do. If you're an experienced M&A deal attorney that likes that pace and life, but wants to dig into the tech industry world, then a Bay Area move might be right.
General need for general corporate attorneys of different levels of experience. If part of the appeal for making a move is to find a firm that will allow you to have a more general corporate practice that includes a mix of finance, capital markets, M&A and others, then the Bay Area has opportunities in this space. Firms that have this need often want attorneys that can be full service to clients in a particular industry such as life sciences or tech.
Ultimately, whether you want to build a path to in-house or partnership, or just want a West Coast change of scenery, the time to lateral to the Bay Area may be now.