I left big law after 7 years to go in house to a FAANG. I work around the clock and have only taken 2 days of vacation in the last year because it is impossible to take off - I am the only attorney supporting multiple product areas with no coverage. I am hoping to start a family soon and need to find something more sustainable that actually enables you to have a life and take time off. Where can I go to practice law that wouldn't require a significant pay cut? I'm really burning out.

How do you deal with a Midlevel who tells the partner you’ll cover for them, but gives you less than 24 hours notice they’ll be gone without asking if you can cover? I helped out back on July on a deal with they were on vacation, and now every vacation since they keep adding me back on without keeping me appraised of the deal in the interim

Hello, Help needed finding a gorgeous destination for a real vacation ( no work). I picture myself sleeping, hearing the ocean, eating, walking along the beach and repeat. I live in GA and willing ...

Moving from T2 to McKinsey. How do vacation requests work? I have family and friends getting married this fall in weddings delayed because of covid, but I’ll just have started so wanted to get a sense of how realistic taking vacation this fall would be and how to approach taking it (e.g. mention to HR, staffing). TIA!

About to finish my first year. I’m a specialist. Only going to hit 65% of my hours (took a 4 week vacation cause of wedding/hm).

I never say no to work and i have fantastic reviews, and the head of my practice (with whom I work a lot for) has great things to say about me.

I’ve been fully utilized starting ~June, but first few months were slow. Am i fine?!

Have you felt the below, how did you overcome (apart from leaving!) Exhausted or demotivated, took a vacation to come back fresh. But post joining did not find work interesting anymore. All seems to boring and losing interest

We're discussing the company holiday plan and it looks like my manager is going to pressure me to work on Thanksgiving this year. Late-stage capitalist america, now without holidays!

Fellow expats, how do you handle the holiday season in Singapore? There's no way I can go all the way back to the States for Christmas, and I'm already feeling the pangs of homesickness creeping in.

Anyone from ACN asked to take a week of vacation in June? I was asked to but the friends I checked with we’re not; afraid I’m being prepped to exit.

Happy to report: Did not fall into any honey trap at the holiday party.

I'm 6 months old at D! Planning early promotion next year.. counselor and pm both are backing me.. I need to go to India for at least 4 weeks in Dec ... most probably would be rolling off from current project by then .. would this vacation hurt my promotion chances coz of utilization etc?

I’m in a little of a pickle but a good one. Offer A. Established “start up” doing well financially and projected to hit profitability. 130k base. Stocks offered, unlimited PTO, and 70% Medical covered. Offer B. Is at a business much larger…90k salary with 10% bonus and generous stock offering. Titles are different which is why the pay is much different. I know some may think it is a no brainer but offer A allows me to grow the department ground up whereas offer B id be apart of to just different

Any book recommendations for the summer vacation season? What's your favorite book over the last year?

So i work at this company in coimbatore (india) and we have a very poor work life balance. We have a 6 day working policy and no vacation or sick leaves just 1 day casual leave a month. We usualy had to work around 10 to 12 hrs and no leaves even during govt holidays. How can i make them understand this is killing our personal life. I have already shared a couple of emails to hr and CFO of our company to no avail. Please advice on what should I do next

Any next week joiners?

If yes, please comment your DOJ as Monday(OCT 24th) is a public holiday.

@EY

I have a Deloitte PDM offer. I’ve read about the positives/negatives and I’m so torn. When my recruiter says I’ll have “144 hours” of PTO (18 days), will I definitely still run into the utilization trap of not being able to take it? Are all projects 40-42 hr weekly caps? Third question: I’m new in the DC area, are PDMs invited to firm socials? Trying to make friends! Thanks in advance

I have been working in SEA region last 4 years. I feel burned out. I have 10yoe, I have try to move to other country but I pretty much suck in LeetCode. I want to take some time off to unwind, finish some personal business, and really prepare for interviews. I would like to hear from you. Should I quit to my current manager(5th so far) or wait after mid year performance review, when a new boss will take over my team? I'm thinking on giving them 2 months notice period. By contract is 1.

Thanks

Beyond ready for the holiday & PTO coming up soon🙌🏼

I seriously just received an Out Of Office email from my client that said "I'm on PTO" ... that's IT, folks. Achievement Unlocked! IDGAF Status Reached: Expert.

So I had 3 deals scheduled to either close end of May or mid June which were all pushed to end of June/beginning of July. Which is when I have my first vacation planned for over a year (I take 0 time off). My whole family is flying up and we’re renting a cabin near me. What do I do? I’m running one of the deals, semi running the other one and not doing much leading on the other one. Note: I was supposed to not be running any of these. Do I find a back up first or tell the partners first?

What motivates you to start or keep up a side gig? Is it just having more income or a specific financial goal?

What does everyone think about MLMs.. I know some are cringe, but others it seems are fine?

Is anyone else convinced we are headed for a correction in equities, and quickly? The market has been straight up for months, with the exception of a blip around GME week. Seems like everyone is day trading, too, which I take as a sign of froth. I know market timing is typically a bad idea, but talk me out of moving to cash for a few weeks until things get cheap(er).

Will the market continue with its usual bloody day?

Fishes, what is the base for 1yr experience AC currently?

Any views on rescheduling first round interviews? Is it frowned upon?

Newbie here. Did any one engage a financial planning service? I’m 34 with young kids, no debt, and $300k in cash. Absolutely no other financial/estate planning and overwhelmed!

I am a person, not a machine. That is all.

Worst luck ever. My group was very slow from Jan through may, so I won’t hit my hours, but am now (and will continue to be) very busy…. About to do 1990 hrs the most painful way possible. Fml.

Blast to the past - Anyone going to closing dinners and/or getting deal toys?

Robinhood is going to be the patsy in this one. The funds will continue to be fine.

Heard that Accenture gave promotions to all in the name of Fastrack promotion tag in Dec 2021.. as the attrition rate is high currently.. is that true...?

I’m looking for a new every day cash rewards credit card. Do you know of any that is better than 2.6% cash back? Trying to find something better than the Bank of America® Unlimited Cash Rewards Credit Card.

I’m a recent grad struggling to look after my health when I’m stuck in a cubicle 10+ hours a day. How do you juggle a healthy lifestyle with long hours at a desk?

Hey fishes, i need advice as to how to invest 200k? Should i go for individual stocks or funds or should i go to financial advisor? If individual stocks then looking for sectors. Can i invest as a VC? Any thoughts or direction please

Thoughts on the S5 sport back? Better alternatives? Reviews? Hate it? Love it?

I was wondering what’s the usual pay rise one gets with a promotion as an underwriter. I am an associate underwriter due to get promoted to underwriter 1

Hey Fishes,

I have offers from EXL Services(consultant II) and UST Global(lead II software eng) for data engineering role. They are offering almost same package. Which company should i go with?? TIA.

I’m in big law and on the cusp of making the jump to in-house. It sounds like the company I just interviewed with is getting ready to make me an offer. It’s definitely going to be a pay cut coming from big law but I do get some nice equity in the company. Is the jump worth it? I’m so burnt out by big law and this seems like an awesome opportunity to help shape a newish company. Any tips on how to figure out if this is the right move for me?

Been interviewing for two months for an in-house position. Is this standard?

I’m in-house at a small company (60 people), started right out of law school about 5 years ago. We had a legal team of 5 then. Everyone has left and we just hired a new GC. I went from $70k to $100k a little over a year ago. I am expecting an offer from a firm doing business law work but think this might be an opportunity to go to my current employer and ask for a significant raise, with new offer in hand. Any thoughts or advice going into this?

When is an appropriate time to send a follow up email after interviewing? Is a week too soon?

Would you say most in-house roles tend to hire from BigLaw?

Now that Facebook is Meta, I thought I’d just pitch MANGA as the new FAANG…

What’s it like being a senior in-house corporate attorney in biotech or tech? Is the work interesting or is it mainly just reviewing contracts and admin/CYA work for biz folks?

Currently working on a three person team in a larger GC group. I lateraled from a different group that did not pay attorneys on an attorney scale. I’m stuck in my old pay scale but have gotten promotions and raises quickly with more on the horizon. A recruiter reached out with a new role for 2-2.5x more than I currently make doing something similar. I love my company and the people I work with but the money isn’t there. Is it worth trying to get a counter to stay if I get the bigger offer?

I'm an IP Attorney for a global Fortune 500 company. I only focus on IP mainly patent prosecution, Right to Market searches, Patentability searches, Landscape Searches, advising the business on IP related agreements.

What are some secondary skills or speciality that could make me more than just an IP Attorney? Do any of you have other parts of your title? Just looking to grow and my head isn't super interested in that, but the CLO is, but doesn't know where he sees a gap for me right now.

I’m a new contracts lawyer and am trying to learn how to harmonize indemnification with LOL. Any tips or resources? I know this is a broad question, but would appreciate any direction on what questions to ask when reviewing a K to do this.

Any tips for moving up in a medium/large-sized legal department, aside from switching companies? I work in a collegial environment with plenty of opportunities to create more value, but the management level is fairly crowded and it seems the clearest path to get one of those roles is to be hired into it. What has been your experience? Thanks!

I’m in discussions to become the GC of a mid size but international company that does ~$1 billion in annual revenue. Smallish legal department. They’ve asked for my comp expectations. I don’t have specific expectations but I want to be compensated at least market for a NYC based GC (which looks like cash comp of at least $300k plus bonus, etc). Any suggestions on how people would respond?

Have interviews set up at FAANG co and getting good signals, for a position that was posted widely (all across US) but not remote. Haven’t broached the subject of location yet. Would you (1) early on clearly state that you’re not open to relocation but that you would be open to visiting a big office once or twice a month; (2) not say anything now and wait to get an offer and ask for an exemption; or (3) something else?

Anyone here work in-house at a bank/financial services? Curious about comp numbers given the lack of transparency (compared to law firm salaries)…

Is it difficult landing an in-house position as only a second year corporate associate in big law? I know some people who went in-house straight out of law school and some who had no transactional background but went in-house after just a year of practice. Not having that same luck on my end.

For those working in house, how much “from scratch” document drafting are you doing vs. reviewing and revising “outside documents”. For example, if your company wants to enter into a joint venture company with another entity, are you drafting the company agreement “from scratch” or is it based on internal forms? Or are you getting outside counsel to do it?

A client (in the banking industry) is looking for what they’re calling a software/dev ops attorney to report directly to the GC. Thinking 6th year+. Would need to be based in the south. Can provide more details if you dm me.

Has anyone moved from antitrust private practice to a non-antitrust in-house role? If so, what kind of role?

How far do you require depts be with negotiating commercial contract terms before your legal review? I’m talking routine low value and risk contracts (e.g., vendor services), where Legal terms won’t kill the deal. My clients blindly forward contracts. I say “are you sure this term is ok?” And often get “no.” They’re surprised because they never read them. Checking the temp to see what others experience, what might be normal. I feel contract training in my clients’ future...

Would you strongly advise against going in-house right after a state court clerkship? (No law firm experience in law school either). I don’t know if I want to become an in-house forever. Would it be difficult to get a law firm job at a later time?