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I’m currently about to lateral. My best friend gave me one piece of advice: you’re going to find yourself in a position where you doubt or even regret your decision at some point. Stay the course—if you thought it through, then you’ve made the right decision and it’s totally natural to have some grief about leaving. (Of course, if the situation is objectively awful now, that’s different).
Pro
I have never wanted to go back to any firm I have left 😂😂
If you like your team and they keep you reliably busy, stay the course. Even if the new firm has its issues, you’ll find issues at all firms. And issues often improve over time. It looks good on your resume that you were asked to join a partner.
Coming from a slightly different perspective - as someone who followed someone else and would never have chosen to go to the new firm on my own - I think it's worth listening to your gut if you have doubts. Obviously make sure you've stayed long enough to know whether the new firm truly has red flags (anything less than a year is probably too soon to tell). But I personally think it's more important to feel integrated and like the firm is a good fit over the long term than to blindly follow someone else. Especially as you get more senior and inevitably want to be somewhat independent from the partner(s) you lateraled with. In my case, I ended up lateraling to a completely different firm myself after a few years, but did entertain going back to my prior firm and know the door would have been open.
Totally agree and want to distinguish it from my response in two important ways: (1) yes, after a year+, if you still really don’t like it, you can leave but it seems OP is having immediate regrets and (2) I specifically noted “if you thought it through” — not in a condescending way at all, but I feel like following someone else isn’t the same thing as thinking about the firm as part of a fuller decision to leave where you’re at. Maybe not fully distinguishable but just seems like your response is slightly niche (though not a bad perspective).
Don’t look back. Leave that in the past and push forward to a better future. Looking back and doubting where you are now may only hinder your present progress to building something better. What’s done is done. Move on.