Ann Israel is the legal profession's Dear Abby. A New York legal recruiter since 1979, Ann is a past president of the National Association of Legal Search Consultants. Advice for the Lawlorn is updated every week.

Q: Will I lose my opportunity to work at a large Washington, D.C., firm if I choose to start my career at a local firm in my hometown? I will spend my 2L summer at one of the largest DC firms and anticipate receiving an offer of permanent employment.

I am contemplating moving to my small hometown and starting my career with a firm that has under 50 attorneys. At my DC firm I am only one of two summers that is not from a top 10 law school. I am from a school ranked in the 40s and I graduated from a very small, lackluster college. However, I know I will graduate in the top 10 percent of my class and am an editor on Law Review.

Is there hope for someone who wants to move from a small market to a large market after 2-4 years of work? I would be taking a large pay cut -- about 40 percent -- at home, but what worries me more is that I would be bored with the level of work after a couple of years. My other options are to start in a DC firm and maybe move home in a year or two or to clerk and put off the decision entirely. Any advice?

Many thanks,
Hoping

Dear Hoping: Yes, I have some advice: forget about all of these other options because based on what you want for your future, your decision is already made for you.

If this happened to be any other place or time, my advice to you might be different ... . I say might be different because in reality, I suspect I would advise you to take the DC job no matter what, based on what you have written to us. However, let's take a good long look at what is going on in your life.

You have told us that you eventually (meaning within two to four years after beginning your practice) want to work in a large DC firm. You will spend your 2L summer at one of those firms where you want to ultimately end up and you believe that you are going to be given an offer of permanent employment, even in this day and age when so many summer associates are finding themselves left out in the cold.

Here is what I like about you -- you are a very confident and self-assured individual and that is going to get you far in your career. However ... and there are several BIG howevers ... many of your predictions are just that -- predictions. You can't count on anything just yet because so many variables can come into play that might change things. I do believe you should continue thinking the way you do but you need to think about certain things carefully.

You are very fortunate to have an offer to summer at a top DC firm in this tough job market, especially considering that you are from a law school ranked in the 40s. Since the rest of your summer class -- except for that one other summer associate -- is all from top 10 law schools, you should be feeling very proud and confident. HOWEVER, there are no guarantees these days (as if there ever were guarantees) that offers of permanent employment will be given out to everyone, including you. So I am telling you that should you be fortunate enough to get an offer of permanent employment from this top DC firm, the type of firm where you eventually would like to work, don't turn it down in the hopes that you can return within two to four years after hanging out in small town America.

Why are you even considering this when you point out all of the negatives about working in your hometown? The 40 percent pay cut is one thing, but are you listening to what you are saying about the fact that you are deeply concerned that you will be bored with the work ... . Why are you even thinking about doing this when you believe you have a sure thing about to be offered to you?

If you read through the archives of this column you will find so many people complaining about a situation that you are liable to find yourself in -- they started out at small law firms in small towns and now want to join BigLaw but are unable to even get an interview. You have an opportunity to do the BigLaw gig and then, if it doesn't suit you, you can always go home and end up at the smaller firm -- you will be an incredibly viable candidate for that job market since you will have the big firm training, something that is always a desirable trait in a candidate. That's what is lacking in the candidates coming from the small-town firms trying to break into BigLaw and why they have such a difficult time trying to get an interview with those firms.

You, on the other hand, will probably have a chance to work in a fabulous city for a great salary at a top law firm and to be trained by big name attorneys. Then, after a couple of years, if you decide that this is not the life you want to lead, you can head home with a nice savings account (and perhaps a good chunk of your law school loans paid off) and know that you are a top candidate for a clerkship or for the best law firm in your hometown. Or whatever it is that you think might be the next step in your career. But if given this opportunity now, take it while it is offered. It may not be there later. Best of luck!

Sincerely,
Ann M. Israel
President, Ann Israel & Associates