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My advice to you is to stick it out as long as possible my friend. Give it a good two full years and then reevaluate. The job you have right now is something you worked very hard to get and once you give it up you may have sellers remorse. As you get older you may grow into the position and find that the work is really not so bad. Remember work is work At the end of the day. What I mean is that whatever job you have is going to have its drawbacks, banalities and nuts-and-bolts tasks and day-to-day moments. Surely you did not imagine that being an attorney was going to be whatever you saw on TV or in the movies. I completely get the vibe you are putting out that you say you currently have no interest in corporate law. However I would advise you as an older attorney to attempt to realign your attitude about your work And attempt to find some type of joy and meaning in your cases and daily tasks. I assure you there is joy and meaning to be found in the work if you try searching for it. I don't mean to suggest that your corporate clients are Going to be the source of that joy and meaning. I'm talking about more of a Zen type of vibe. Plus, the experience and compensation are both good as well, I would imagine. Try to stick it out for two years if you can. You can always leave after that and go be a guidance counselor or even a well paid law professor With your two years of experience at that point. I hope that was somewhat helpful to you.
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I'm going to strongly disagree with A1. Sometimes an attitude change helps with a job, but if a job doesn't speak to you, at the most basic level, then you are never going to like it. I've had that kind of job before. And I knew in the first two weeks I wouldn't like it. I stuck it out for a year and a half, and my dislike grew to hate and resentment. Even changing bosses didn't help in the end, although it made it slightly less unbearable.
It's your life. Don't waste your time living someone else's dream, or the old you's dream.
In terms of practicality, you should stay as long as you can to use the income to pay off debt and build a plan for where you DO want to be. Never run from a job - always run to a job you really want. It will show in your interviews and make a big difference in you feeling like you have some control over your life.
Also, law professor jobs are unicorn jobs. If you're an inexperienced attorney, you're not going to land one absent some other very special + factors. And it sounds like you don't want to spend your day immersed in the law anyway, so that sounds like a terrible match regardless.
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A1, I appreciate each of your points, but I think OP shouldn't waste more time in a job they're not happy in. A future employer will see they did a year, which is plenty proof that OP isn't just jumping around. And OP's future employer is unlikely to be all that concerned with how long OP stayed at a law firm, anyway.
Good for your friends on getting those jobs. But, anecdotes don't make good data, and the data aren't great for the availability of full time teaching jobs at law schools, let alone tenure-track positions.
Agree with many of these points. Counseling can be a very hard profession too, and college and law school students are a tough crowd. Think about a job in-house or with a different type of client or industry. I enjoy working with some of the crazy start-up clients. They have such energy and joy, and it’s catching. You definitely feel like you’re helping. Three years out isn’t a long time—you’re in a place where you actually know what you don’t know. See if you can get involved in your firms pro bono efforts. I’ve found that very rewarding. Good luck!
I want to chime in -
I went to top 5 law school, worked for two v6 firm and a boutique. Now I’m sixth year and being pushed out..I have amazing credential but English is my second language, I never felt I was good enough when fellow Americans start to arguing back and forth
Never really wanted to do law. Always wanted finance but graduated in 2009. So no finance job (or any other job). Now I’m six years in, and looking back, I stayed at this job for too long and for money..
I don’t regret that I spent six years but I also feel life is short you should follow your heart. I have friends who graduated college same year with me, they never gave up finance, they went to do teach for America, random jobs and then got an mba and end up in finance or consulting. I wish I did those but I gave up too early and went to law school instead.
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Consider moving to a different group within your firm.
This is really smart. You might find a subspecialty more interesting. Start within the your group if you can—you can always learn more about what the IP, transactions, or privacy lawyers are doing without upending your life.