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I moved from big law to a litigation boutique four years ago. The instant trade-offs were far more practical than I realized. There is not a lot of support staff, they are shared by all attorneys, and they are not available around the clock. That means that a lot of tasks that I would ask a paralegal to do end up on my plate if I want them done quickly. There are not as many attorneys, so junior work persists as you go up the ranks—which I think has stymied my growth overall. There weren’t offices for everyone when I first joined, so while we were hybrid, on the days where there were many people in office, some people would have to work on desks in the general area. In retrospect, I do have serious regrets about moving to a boutique, though I’m grateful for the things I did get—better hours, good substantive high level experience (the junior work point goes both ways), and insight into running a firm as a business.
I’ll quickly jump in to also say that the “benefit” of WLB at lower ranked firms is often a mirage. There is certainly a tendency at the very top firms to work crazy hours, but a lot of the time if you move down the totem pole you are getting paid less/have less good opportunities for the same amount of work.
If moving in a direction because of WLB, you have to be very confident there will actually be a shift.
I went AMLaw100 to small firm (3 attorneys). Gained: more money, 100% remote, supportive boss, ownership of cases, set work hours, no required BD, input on how firm operates. Loss: unlimited PTO, other associates to chat with, expensing CLEs and conferences, getting all my bar dues covered (current firm only covers state I practice in), full-suite benefits, internal firm resources.
Are you considering moving to a higher or lower tier?
As a partner I want for Amlaw 100ish to V20 to more demanding v20. I worked as hard at all three places. The nature of the work became more demanding and interesting as I moved up the chain; I wanted that. The best lawyers are all three firms weren’t all that different. But the higher you climb the tougher the competition gets. At an AmLaw 100 some people are brilliant and accomplished . At a genuine top tier firms almost everyone is brilliant and accomplished. I loved that. My associates were almost all mind blowingly smart and creative. But to rise in that environment you have to be really exceptional and you have to embrace that challenge.