Life is too short to be at a firm where you are extremely unhappy. I don’t know who needs to hear it, but I’ve spoke to two people this week about it. Acquaintances reach out to me on a regular basis because I’ve lateraled many times and they want to get my opinion. They’re afraid of having short stints on resumes and people thinking that they are job hoppers. They’re also afraid of not adjusting at a new firm. At the end of the day, if you’re unhappy, you should take a risk and look elsewhere.

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This is encouraging! Don’t stay somewhere where you are miserable. I am a fourth year interviewing for my third big law firm (one year at current firm), and have had these same fears. But the fact that I have made it to the interview phase says I am still being considered.

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I believe it makes a difference if you understand what exactly it is about the firm or the specific job that’s making you unhappy. You can go from one employer to the next experiencing the same thing. Can you list the top three issues causing you distress?

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I had two short stints, and was at 3 firms in 4 years before going in house. I was at my last firm for 7 months and started my in house search 5 months in. I was miserable and making the move I did was life changing.

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Maybe a hot and somewhat bleak take, but having made some lateral moves myself and experienced everything from midsize regional to Big Law firms, there are issues at every firm. A lot of it is driven by the billable hour model being our measure of worth and partners competing with one another to expand/grow their empire and personal brand over the welfare of the group. Candidly, if you don't like your practice area and find satisfaction in the work at some level, I think it's hard to be truly "happy" at any firm.

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Agree with the shade of grass comment here.

I think unhappiness is solved by either changing firms or accepting the short comings of your current firm, making peace with it and finding enjoyable things (eg maybe you like chatting to a particular colleague, or the way the work is organized, teaching juniors, etc).

*Life is too short to be at a firm.

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Feeling like I’m in this position. How many times have you lateraled?

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You should have a good story for any jump on your resume that doesn’t seem to fit a normal pattern, and even if it did you should have a story that confirms a normal pattern—leaving at natural inflection points as a junior, mid or senior for better opportunities in your practice or for location reasons.

Avoid being labeled a job-hopper if possible. That said, I worked with a junior associate once who was pushed out after his first year and appears to have hopped to at least 4 other firms, lasting only one year at each before now ultimately falling out of BL. So it’s doable, but a rare case. This person was probably able to do so through a combination of a hot job market for that particular practice, a Harvard JD, and being a member of a preferred DEI class.

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What’s the story with the Harvard guy/where’d he ultimately end up? Worried I’m starting to fit this pattern…

I hear you and there is something to that. From what I have seen, though, the “job hopper” thing really does come into play in all but the most frothy markets, and most people who lateral find the same issues, and usually others, at the new destination.

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