Your professors are just completely unconnected to the realities of most legal practice. Ask yourself how many faculty members have worked as solo practitioners or in firms of five or fewer attorneys. You will learn how to practice law from the judges, attorneys and clients you encounter in your first few professional engagements. This article consists of two parts. First, it explores the question of which small firms you should consider, which ones you should avoid and which ones you should be careful of.
Most small firms turnover their staff somewhere between every six months to six years.
In my own practice, six years after I had accepted a job in Texas, none of the firms I had interviewed at that time were still listed in Martindale-Hubble. In Wichita Falls, Texas, only one small firm still existed in the same form it existed in when I moved here after ten years, and none existed after fourteen. Small firm attrition is no worse than large firm attrition. All of these things take time to develop in a small firm setting. They are important to keep in mind when looking at a small firm.