Is the pace of work different in-house compared to a law firm? Like, if you're still working 10 hours a day, does it feel less exhausting in-house?

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In house can be long hours on some days too, contrary to what people are saying. That being said, I do not think anyone ever expects you to stay up all night to get a document out, like you have in Biglaw. In house typically requires juggling a much larger number of matters and requires a lot more meetings either different groups, so it’s still work but it’s a different kind of work from Biglaw.

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Or from working at a law firm in general. Not everyone comes from BigLaw.

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It does not feel less exhausting.

It does feel like they owe you, though. So when that review before the raise/bonus times hit, be prepared to tout your extra efforts if they somehow could have gone unnoticed.

Top tip - don’t work 10 hour days in house that go unnoticed. Ever. Work late on high visibility high priority work.

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I never work 10 hours a day.

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Once you leave billables behind, you understand that NO ONE works 10 hours. At the office? Maybe. 10 hour billables equivalent? Maybe the CEO (maybe)

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10 hours is 10 hours. However, lower stress if you are leaving litigation at a firm for transactional in-house, imo.

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Me either. Much slower paced for me.

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I only “worked” that many days during trial in-house. And it was mostly sitting in on stuff and providing feedback.

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