Where Should You Work? Comparing Law Firms vs. Working In-House

Kim Sanchez
Apr 13, 2022
2 min read

It may seem as though working for the government or private law firms are the only two routes one can pursue after graduating law school yet that is not the case! For instance, one of the numerous options available to law school graduates is working as an in-house lawyer. Take for example a brand new but rapidly growing corporation. Such corporations require a legal department well equipped to solve future legal issues such as compliance, risk management, and ethics. Work in such areas is distinct from operations conducted at a law firm where most of your colleagues are fellow lawyers or professionals from the legal industry.

The legal industry has seen a pivot in the prevalence and importance of in-house legal departments. This is a consequence of the increase in corporations, in respect to both number and their sphere of influence. As a result, corporations are realizing the value in investing in their legal department, ensuring that its team is well versed in their business and is fully equipped to serve their legal needs (1).

To gain a better sense of what being an in-house lawyer is like, one can compare it to the field of private practice. In terms of salary, it should be noted that the average lawyer in private practice makes more money than the average in-house lawyer. Remember that the ultimate goal of these firms is to make profit, which requires their lawyers work more billable hours. Consequently, private practice typically dumps more work on the lawyers so they can make more money for the firm (2). This is an important caveat to consider when weighing the two options.

With regards to the type of work you’ll find yourself in, in-house lawyers lean more towards being ‘generalists.’ There won’t be much room to specialize in a specific type or nature of cases. For example, in-house lawyers are likely to work at a large company working to solve various legal issues, with relatively smaller teams when compared to a firm full of lawyers. One can refer to such lawyers as being the jack of all trades. Contrastingly, private practice requires lawyers to serve a very large client base. Therefore, a lawyer working in a firm is likely to receive more nuanced work in the specific area they’ve specialized in. Some might even say that the cases you undertake in private practice are more intellectually stimulating than the in-house counterpart (3).

As for the similarities, the nature of the two positions can be identical. At the very core of it, both routes consist of thorough research, intense debates, and lots of writing for the purposes of solving legal issues (4).

Endnotes

Page, Michael. Which Legal Practice Suits You? In-house or Private Firm?. https://www.michaelpage.ca/advice/career-advice/growing-your-career/which-legal-practice-suits-you-house-or-private-firm
Gardiner, Heather. (2011). The big dilemma: law firm vs. in-house. Canadian Lawyer Mag. https://www.canadianlawyermag.com/news/general/the-big-dilemma-law-firm-vs-in-house/268396
Davila, Denise. (2018). Starting in-house: Pros and Cons. San Diego County Bar Association. https://www.sdcba.org/?pg=FTR-Mar-2018-5
The Lawyers’ Lawyers. (2019). The Practice – Harvard Law 5, no. 4. https://thepractice.law.harvard.edu/article/the-lawyers-lawyers/