Am doing structured finance at a Magic Circle firm at the moment. Hopped over from a Big 4 2 years ago.

I think at the baseline, Liti is more demanding than Corp work. But when we are comparing Big 4 and above where the complicated structures and market leading deals come in, I wouldn’t exactly say a corporate lawyer’s life is better or easier than a litigation lawyer.

Ultimately, to each his own. The real reason why people swap more from liti to corp is because liti is really in a realm of its own, with its own customs and rules. Whereas for corporate, the barrier to entry is not as high.

Inevitably, if associates get jaded practicing court work, they usually have to transit to corporate practice before going in-house - that is another reason - whereas corporate lawyers go in-house directly.