Hybrid venting asking for advice. Former BigLaw, AuDHD (high-masking). I burnt out hitting hourly requirements and made a pivot into a different practice area that’s less demanding at a mid law firm, been here almost a year. Now I’m having the opposite problem and not billing enough — maybe a hybrid of burnout from my previous job, but also the new type of work doesn’t take that long and we do a lot of work on fixed fee… but the firm is still measuring my billables and saying they’re too low 1/?

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I faced the exact same issues. Finally landed in-house. I found I could do things faster than expected when I was in biglaw which resulted in feeling burnt out but with low billable. Went to a boutique and found that not having the constant pressure, coupled with repetitive assignments, meant I would just sit on tasks and do everything last minute. Also burnt out but with low billables. Finally went in-house and found it to be a good balance. Different stakeholders means everything is “urgent”. Because my efficiency is finally an asset, I can do most of my work just working like 5-6 hours a day. I still need to find solutions for working on things I find boring or that have no deadlines, but I feel like that’s way more manageable than trying to conform to the billable system. TLDR- billables suck go in-house.

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You give the boring things reasonable (but pressing) deadlines and plan them for days you’re trying to cut out early. Trigger that deadline mode

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Go in house. The entire model is tailor-made for us. You’re incentivized to find efficient outside the box solutions.

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AA1: we’re in similar fields. I think we can probably get in at a bank, or trust company. If we learn more about tax-exempt orgs, we can work for foundations/family offices/university donation offices as well.

I like the practice of law and getting into the weeds, but I hate all of this billing pressure and I think it’s dumb how obsessed our industry is with billable hours. A lot of it is outside of my control. I’ve brought a few of my own clients in but am not at the seniority level where I’m expected to feed myself; in general the group is slow. And billable hours incentivize lawyers to be inefficient! Some days I’m super efficient, some days I’m not. Doesn’t seem like law firm environments are conducive to people whose brains work like mine.

I’m just wondering what avenues are for me career wise that would be fulfilling without all of the bureaucracy and arbitrary requirements. In house? A pivot to academia? I love the law, but maybe law firm life isn’t for me. I just don’t know what to do with myself. (2/2)

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