I finally "made it" in-house in my 8th year of practice. Before this, I was thinking of leaving the law and thought l'd give it one more shot. It's objectively a great job..but I just don't think the corporate world is for me. I have no debt and no kids... but feel like an idiot for giving up on a good thing after less than a year. Anyone else struggle with this?

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In my opinion - these types of choices are the devil you know v. the devil you don't. All jobs have a devil - you just have to decide which one you can best tolerate. Not sure if this is helpful - but I know I can tolerate the corporate devil better than the firm devil. And I'm at peace with that because it lets me have the life I want outside of work. (10 years firms (small/med/big law) and approaching 4 years in-house @ Fortune 500.)

If the law firms weren't for you and the corporate world isn't for you, then perhaps it's time to start figuring out how to work for yourself and/or how long you need to work for someone else before you can retire or only need smaller more passive income.

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With kids it wouldn’t be possible. And it’s not a fixed budget. I’m just relaying what our actual expenditures have been the last few years.

I stopped looking to work for fulfillment and it was a game changer…

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Sounds like big law hours for not big law pay.

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I had a great corporate job and at one point had aspirations to rise as far as I could. As soon as I realized that wasn’t going to be possible (my division was shrinking and being picked apart within the org) I treated it more like a 9-5 and did the basic minimum.

I started looking at side hustles and found something that was both exciting and profitable for me. Not a huge salary increase, but healthy. So I left the corporate job for a less strenuous in house job at a smaller place. Less responsibilities, less oversight, much more time.

Turns out I liked parts of the law and just wanted to work with exciting clients so I went solo and started picking up more clients in the areas I like. I got a good book of business so I partnered with a firm who can handle the billings and stuff I don’t want to.

Money is good, the side business still does well and I have a good nest egg where I can retire now healthily, or in 5-10 years lavishly.

So recommendation is don’t drop a good thing quite yet, find out how you want to spend your time and try to do that on the side and build it up before you leave. Save up your money because you may need that if you want to start your own business or work somewhere fun but low paying.

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All very true ! I’m appreciative of my job and want to take advantage of its many benefits…but also trying to develop myself outside of work more :)

One thing to keep in mind is not all in house jobs are created equal. The things you don't like about the corporate environment you are currently in may not be the same in other companies.

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I actually really enjoy the company I work for. Great people. I just am sick of being strapped to a computer and email running my life.

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