Career planning

You have already decided that you want to be an attorney. You should keep this professional path in mind even before you complete your studies.

After a sharp drop in transactions and IPOs in recent years, forcing firms to make cuts after a long boom period, a clear turnaround was observed in the past year. IPOs went back up and the number of transactions (M&A, private equity) rose sharply once again. As a result, firms are hiring more applicants in nearly all areas of economic law. However, the high requirements for new attorneys are still in place. In addition to above-average exam scores, nearly every firm expects excellent English skills, as well as specialization and some practical experience in a specific field of law. Many firms also require a graduate degree or LL.M. Of course, these high requirements may be relaxed somewhat, since there are good indications of a sustained recovery in the legal market, which will mean a rise in new hirings. Thus far, however, law firms are continuing to try and recruit the best attorneys (on paper, at least). In the recent past, it has become apparent that firms are increasingly trying to attract applicants with very high starting salaries.

What this means for you is that you should try to the best of your ability to meet the current requirements. Remember that not only will your exam grades be closely scrutinized when you join a firm, they may continue to be of importance throughout your professional career. Take control of your career by constantly planning and adapting your plans to each new situation. Begin planning even before completing your studies and obtain an overview of the market using the internet, journals, personal conversations, etc. Select a field of practice and begin specializing in that field. To that end, plan internships with law firms while it's still early. If you have the opportunity to spend a semester abroad in an English-speaking country and/or to complete an internship abroad, take advantage of that opportunity (also see the article "Guide for New Attorneys").

The legal internship period after completing your studies [Referendariat] gives you an even greater opportunity to get to know a law firm from the inside and to gain practical experience in at least one field of law. By completing one station of your internship in an English-speaking country, you will have laid a very good foundation for your career as an attorney, regardless of how you perform on your exams. You will have begun by gaining specialized experience with a well-known firm, and will have good English skills, making you an interesting applicant for any law firm. In this way, you will begin to have a feel for what you can expect from a firm as an employer and what to avoid in the future.

Next, you will have to find the firm which best meets your expectations. Ask yourself if you prefer to work in teams or alone, if you want international experience, if time abroad is important to you, and where you see yourself in three, five and ten years. If you are sure that you want to make partner within seven or eight years, you should find out precisely what actual prospects the firm can offer you, both in general and in your specific area of practice.

Even during your professional career, you must constantly re-examine your current and future prospects within the firm and your specific area. Changing firms after one or two years may be a sensible career move even if you feel good in your present circumstances. Analyze your career in two-year intervals. Examine your work and the market environment and try to assess your future prospects. In addition, you should monitor the development of the market: is there a better platform for you, and better chances of making partner, at another firm? Are there firms where you can earn more, due to their different make-up and expense structure? Look around for a better alternative while it's still early. That way, you can avoid having to search for a new job under time pressure, or personal pressure. Such pressure will be very quickly apparent to your counterpart in job interviews.

Many senior associates, after five to seven years in one of the absolute top firms (during which they did not make partner), hope to immediately become a partner in a firm which is not regarded quite as highly. However, this remains very difficult to accomplish in the current (recovering) market, unless you can bring your own "transportable" client base. After negative experiences in the past, firms are very cautious when it comes to accepting people from outside firms as partners. Nearly all firms would want to get to know the new attorney first for an extended period of time, i.e. get a chance to work with him, before making him a partner, unless the candidate presents an absolutely convincing business plan at the very beginning.

Consider this problem before it's too late. It may make sense for you to switch firms before five years have passed, since you can find a better platform for your professional development somewhere else, where you can become a partner after five to seven years.

Of course, making the right decision in this regard is difficult. If you are a good associate or senior associate and are considering switching firms, get some perspective and advice from a German recruitment agency which specializes in the legal market. That service should come at no cost to you.

Even as an equity or non-equity partner with continuing ambitions, you should keep abreast of developments in the market. Ask yourself if your firm offers the right environment for you over the long term. Do you even need a large international firm with a high expense ratio? Would you prefer to become independent, or is it enough for you to join a national firm with a very low expense ratio? Maybe you have exhausted the potential of your client base and it is time to switch to an international firm. Even as an experienced, very successful attorney, it certainly makes sense to constantly analyze your prospects, obtain information about the market and, if necessary, to have a confidential, non-binding conversation with someone who does nothing but observe the market.

Are you on shaky ground at your firm? The times when you were set for the rest of your career after making partner are long gone, as is demonstrated e.g. by the strong de-equitization waves in various firms in recent years, primarily major international firms. While the topic used to be taboo, now firms talk more and more openly of internal restructuring plans in which e.g. partner and compensation structures would be reconsidered. Sometimes this affects partners who are resting on their laurels from years gone by, sometimes partners who, for whatever reason, are always behind in internal referrals, and sometimes it affects partners who have simply established themselves in the wrong field, one which does not generate the profits expected by a major international law firm. Ultimately, the deciding issue is almost always the revenues which you, as partner, can (or must) generate. Whether or not there is just cause for demoting you as partner or forcing you out is not especially important for your future career. The decisive factors are your qualifications, your area of expertise and what you can and want to accomplish in the future. Certainly, there are many other possibilities, such as continuing at your old firm in a different position, working for a new firm with a lot of potential but for less pay, working in the corporate world, etc. In a market with German, English and American firms with various sizes, structures and philosophies, there are also a large number of possibilities for employees. For almost everyone, there is a reasonable solution for the future, one which might seem to some at first to be a step back, but which is certainly the better option for the medium and long term. Of course, navigating this jungle of possibilities takes extensive research. In addition to the available media, it certainly makes sense in such a situation to have a non-binding conversation with a "legal" recruitment consultant who really knows the market.