Advice on post call employment?

[moolooite]

Hi all, 

Would appreciate any advice in this situation. I was not hired back from the biglaw firm I articled at. I am hoping to land a job in the US, and was told back in May that it was inappropriate to apply for a position in a Canadian firm if I was planning to leave come September. Unfortunately the US move did not pan out and there are very few biglaw associate positions still open. I am currently receiving interest from some positions as a staff attorney, but I understand this makes the return to associate very difficult. Would it be better to land a position at a mid sized firm or should I take the staff attorney position? I'd like to keep as many doors open as possible. 

[QueensDenning]

6 minutes ago, moolooite said:

I am hoping to land a job in the US, and was told back in May that it was inappropriate to apply for a position in a Canadian firm if I was planning to leave come September. 

This seems like incredibly dumb advice considering your plan to leave was wholly reliant on getting a US big law job (which at the best of times is never a guarantee). 

[moolooite]

4 minutes ago, QueensDenning said:

This seems like incredibly dumb advice considering your plan to leave was wholly reliant on getting a US big law job (which at the best of times is never a guarantee). 

Yes, I understand that now, but this was heavily impressed on me at the time and I was concerned I would be burning my bridges with Canadian firms if I received an offer and then left a month in. 

Am I entirely out of luck now? I'm not sure what the best move would be. I keep being given advice that turns out not to be true and am pretty disheartened by the whole process. 

Edited September 12, 2022 by moolooite

[QueensDenning]

24 minutes ago, moolooite said:

Yes, I understand that now, but this was heavily impressed on me at the time and I was concerned I would be burning my bridges with Canadian firms if I received an offer and then left a month in. 

Am I entirely out of luck now? I'm not sure what the best move would be. I keep being given advice that turns out not to be true and am pretty disheartened by the whole process. 

Since no one else is responding, I'll give my $0.02. 

Full disclosure - take all of this with a grain of salt (as it's based on second-hand, purely anecdotal information).

I know someone who graduated a few years ago that didn't get asked back after articling at a mid-sized firm, took a staff attorney position at a big-law firm, then ended up getting an associate offer from a separate big-law firm, and is now in NY. If I were you I'd network my ass off, try for an associate position out of the gate, and settle for a staff attorney position over the mid-sized firm. I get the impression that the only way you can get to the US is from Canadian big law. At least that's all I've seen.

Again, that's just what I'd do and others are probably more qualified to answer this question.

[Bob Jones]

There’s a number of “knowledge management” or “conflicts lawyer” positions on Indeed right now from the big Bay firms. If you’re goal is just to get that on the resume and use they to pivot to US, you can try, but I think the better route would be to try to get into a mid size firm doing securities or M&A work for 1-2 years, then lateral into a Bay firm doing the same work (but on more complex/high stakes files), and after a couple years there if you still want US you’ll be a lot more marketable to join a Paul Weiss, Sullivan Cromwell, or Kirkland Ellis type firm if that’s what you’re gunning for. That said, while some Canadian associates have lateraled down to the US it is incredibly difficult to pull off. You’re competing against the top grads from Harvard, Yale, Columbia, etc who are also gunning for those same jobs.