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I think you have to try. There isn’t anything worse than looking back and saying “I wish I would have” but you’ll never look back and say you wish you wouldn’t have. I made a switch about six months ago to a passion project and it didn’t work for me but I had to try. Now I know and any interviewer would understand that too.
There’s no way to figure it out in advance. When I was in a very small firm in my fifth year, I had an opportunity to go in-house. I agonized about taking it but eventually did. It didn’t end up being a great move financially, but it taught me a lot about how big businesses actually work and led me to contacts in Big Law, one of whom recruited me into his firm. Once there, the business perspective I’d gained in-house, and the Rolodex of in-house clients I’d cultivated led to a lot of success. I can’t say I planned any of that. The best you can really do is weigh the pros and cons, listen to your heart, and keep working to be the best at every role you take. But, yes, you absolutely can get too settled in a position, to the point that you don’t move forward when good opportunities present themselves
I agree wholeheartedly. There are a lot of positives to private practice, but it’s exhausting - not to mention inefficient and a malpractice risk - to be constantly “reinventing the wheel.” Unfortunately, with the local legal scene being composed of largely “general practice” firms, at least from my observation, is it makes it difficult to specialize from a business perspective because everyone tries to do a little bit of everything to keep the lights on, instead of referring it out (even when they should). To be honest, I also think that it negatively impacts the quality of the legal representation, even if it doesn’t result in “malpractice” per se.
Whether you stay or go you’re still closing doors. Every decision you make or don’t make closes off an option. It’s hard to predict what will make you more or less marketable in the long run but generally being unhappy and doing something which doesn’t align with your values doesn’t lead to great outcomes.
I agree - life is too short!
Chief
I just want to pop in and say at first, I thought you were someone with trauma who liked to keep doors open, and I was preparing for how to provide advice in that situation... But it's a metaphorical door 🙃
This made my day 😆
Depends. If you're the go-to person in a specialized/narrow area of law you'll always be in demand.