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My husband and I are thinking of relocating from Washington, D.C. to Raleigh/Cary. We're fed up with terrible commute times and way overpriced houses! Anyway, we're both attorneys (tax attorneys) and I'm curious what the legal market is like there, both at firms and in-house. Is the quality of life good there? In D.C., most people bill at least 2000 hours a year (total at least 2400 hours a year). Evenings and weekends are customary.
How wedded to tax practice are you? If you are willing to consider other practice areas, what are they?
You typically won't find firms here that specialize in tax law, but you will find corporate firms that utilize tax attorneys. I can recommend some in Raleigh, but I'm not sure if they are hiring right now. But, if you're open to other practice areas, I may be able to come up with some other ideas for you.
Quality of life is good regionally, but billing hours vary significantly by firm. I am a plaintiffs' attorney, so we don't focus on billable hours.
How wedded to tax practice are you? If you are willing to consider other practice areas, what are they?
You typically won't find firms here that specialize in tax law, but you will find corporate firms that utilize tax attorneys. I can recommend some in Raleigh, but I'm not sure if they are hiring right now. But, if you're open to other practice areas, I may be able to come up with some other ideas for you.
Quality of life is good regionally, but billing hours vary significantly by firm. I am a plaintiffs' attorney, so we don't focus on billable hours.
Good luck,
Mike
Hi Mike,
My husband wants to relocate his private practice. I posted in the Charlotte forum because we wonder whether Raleigh is better than Charlotte, or vice versa, for his areas of practice. He also has done criminal defense.
Also, what is the social/cultural opportunities for African Americans in general, and in the legal profession, if you know. Is Charlotte better than Raleigh for Black business people?
As far as my practice area, I have 5 years in tax controversy, probably to litigation of some sort, but I have no pure litigation experience. I'm not much into planning, so a lot of corporate work would be out.
I, too, had the thought that in-house would probably be most of what's available in Raleigh. What are the big in-house places down there?
Interesting on the variation on hours. I guess you have to find out by word of mouth how each place is!
You would likely be better off posting or searching on some law related or other boards than this for this question. Raleigh and Charlotte both have large firms with large practices and, I disagree with the above poster, some do have separate, non-corporate specific, tax practices. I suggest you do this the easy way...pull out Martindale-Hubbell and see what firms look interesting to you and then follow up with them. You could also look at the state attorney general's office listing, as they do some pretty high level tax work on behalf of the state.
As a lawyer who moved here from DC myself (I was headhunted out of DC to here over 20 years ago) I can tell you that you will find everything from sophisticated tax, corporate and litigation practices in big firms where they will still expect 2000 hours a year, down to small private, or one man shops. I can tell you that we have been hit hard, over the last 10 years, by lawyers in big city firms looking to slow their lives down (and buy bigger houses) by moving here and you will see many of them when you look at attorney bios in Martindale, so don't think that the firms will be surprised to have you apply. That said it is a pretty good legal market and jobs are out there. It just depends, as in any job market, whether you have something to offer that they need, if you are not coming in at entry level.
I would like opinions/advise as well. I am a black female personal injury trial attorney for 13 years married to a white IT/software architect. We are relocating to RTP in October and I need a job. I have been with the same firm in St. Louis for 10 years and have no contacts in NC. Where should I look for a job? I am willing to work in a new area of law. Where should we live?
( we have a 4 and 3 y/o). Any comments would be helpful and appreciated.
Sorry for the delay in getting back to folks. It's been a busy week.
As for the market for African-Americans, I personally would pick Ral-Dur over Charlotte. Durham has the NCCU School of Law, one of the best historically black law schools in the country. Central has a very strong local alumni presence. As such, the local legal community is extremely open to African-Americans at all levels, including Bar leadership. I think you'll find more opportunity and more diversity in the Ral-Dur market.
Giovanni, send me your resume when you're ready to look; that may coincide with the time I need to add a new litigation associate in my group (I'm targeting January, at this point, but we may consider moving it up). We are one of the larger PI firms in the state. Even if I don't have anything that fits at the time, I know many of the other folks locally who handle PI. Regardless, go ahead and get involved with the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers. It's a great organization and will also help you with local connections.
Hi,
I am a 3L at Seattle University, and am really interested in practicing in NC post graduation. My family is all in the southeast, and though I have lived on the west coast for 6 years now, I really want to come back.
My problem, aside from the fact that I would have to take the NC Bar instead of the WA Bar, is I am pretty set on practicing soft-IP. It is really the only area of law that I love, although I guess I can still get into other areas.
So, just wondering what the market is out there for positions in IP, and more specifically copyright/trademark/trade secret/advertising. I don't have the science background to do patent unfortunately.
Thanks.
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