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It’s like leaving your wife for a hot new babe. No real way to know if it’s the right move until you’re in the new place.
As someone at what I like to think fits the bill of a reputable litigation boutique (that's also on a biglaw payscale, which isn't always the case)... do it. 100%. I've never seen myself at biglaw, and the fit/feel at a smaller firm is, in my opinion, incomparable.
Yeah the problem is jumping to a boutique without knowing someone there is there is really no way to get enough info on the firm, the hours, resources, support staff, etc that are the difference between enjoying your job and hating your job. I’m a fourth year in big law and nearly everyone I know who went to a smaller firm on the promise of less work for less pay has told me they regretted it because you end up doing the same work for less money and wayyyy less resources, perks, and support.
This is also 100% true. Less pay, but pretty close to the same workload.
Some advice I’d wish I’d had drilled into me before I made that move: be VERY sure of the move before you make it. It’s much easier to be forgiven for changing your mind / making mistakes / not fitting in at a bigger or even mid-size firms. And when boutiques don’t like you, they are much less kind about the graceful exit.
Doesn’t sound like it would be a difficult transition in theory. That being said, organizations can be treacherous for reasons you can’t know until you’re inside.
An anecdote to reinforce the point others have already made:
I have the same feeling about my current big firm (solid position but limited grow opportunitites), and thought about working at a boutique firm. I interviewed with a very reputed boutique which would even have paid me slightly more than what I get at my current big firm, but it was in a different city so I'd have had to move. I made it very clear to them (in a super polite and relaxed way which they reacted positive to) that I was interested in changing firms only if they would grant me more freedom compared to what I had before: E.g., I wanted to be able to come up with client event ideas and execute on these ideas *myself*. (Background: In my current firm the firm grants you some freedom initially but very closely monitors, waits until it's clear whether your idea is successful and if so, immediately takes it away from you.)
I went to the boutique firm for the interview for nearly a full day, they were extremely friendly and receptive and said "don't worry, we totally understand, we'lll manage that". The "general vibe" of the boutique seemed actually not bad on that day there - I really considered their offer. Then, at the end of the day, the managing partner of the firm (an ex Freshfields partner), while saying goodbye to me, suddenly from out of nowhere started to look like he was in extreme pain (I had said nothing right before, we were just doing smalltalk and i was already in my coat so he must have been thinking about our ealier talk).
He said nothing for a while and seemed to ponder whether he should really make a remark, and then couldn't stop himself and said: "You know, one thing i just can't be totally silent about - to be totally honest, it is NOT NORMAL FOR THIS FIRM THAT SENIOR ASSOCIATES HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH CLIENT ACQUISITION AT ALL." (all caps to show that he said this not shouting, but with a lot of emphasis).
I thanked them and left, called a few friends to discuss, and called the boutique firm the next day and extremely politely turned them down. Had the managing partner not made that remark at the last minute, I might have chosen differently. Just saying to reinforce what others already wrote: In particular regarding what you wrote is our primary motivation for changing firms - more room to grow - it is very difficult to judge the development opportunities until you are actually there. Just to round up re the story - I'm not angry at them, in fact I somehow even appreciate that the managing partner was (finally) honest to me at the end. But the move would have made no sense for me.