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Any family lawyers here?
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I would first say that you should consider long and hard taking a PI job where comp isn’t tied to settlement value. In my mind the primary benefit of PI over all other areas of the law is your compensation is directly tied to your performance. This can result in substantial compensation.
Assuming you find a PI shop that will pay you % of case value(deal breaker in my mind), you then need to understand the incentives behind both jobs.
In a civil defense firm, you are incentivized to bill hours. This means if you can squeeze 15 hours preparing a motion, you are incentivized to do so—it fills the coffers. Thus, you position yourself to maximize billing. On the other hand, at a plaintiff shop, you are incentivized to settle cases. The more you settle, the more the firm (hopefully you) make. This teaches you to be highly efficient and spend your time doing the most profitable tasks. This is a skill that is not taught in law school and a skill a lot of lawyers do not have naturally. It is almost an entrepreneurial mindset/skillset.
With your litigation experience, I would do government. You should be in six figures and you’ll have work life balance as the government works set hours. Look at the government.
I agree. If you want work-life balance, then defense litigation probably isn’t for you. I was an assistant AG for my first 2 years practicing law. I worked in the civil litigation division. Through a headhunter I got a job with an insurance defense firm, and I almost immediately hated it. For one thing, all they had me do was draft pleadings, motions, and re-parts to the insurance carriers. I felt like a high paid lawyer clerk! I was used to having huge responsibilities when I was in the AG’s office and handled cases on my own from start to finish. I also had a hard time learning to bill hours, but I eventually got it. I’m still doing insurance defense litigating (20 years later) with a different firm. I still hate billing hours, and often long to return to government work. That was the most fun I’ve had practicing law!
With a growing family (three kids, the oldest not even 7), I’m now looking to transition into civil law for better work-life balance and compensation and I’ve interviewed with handful, few offers on the table but two offers:
1. **Plaintiff Personal Injury Firm**
- **Position:** Litigation Department
- **Offer:** $110,000 annual salary, standard benefits, *bonuses* paid out in the fourth quarter (not tied to a percentage.)
- **Pros:** Salary, potential for bonuses, and the opportunity to leverage my trial experience. Not necessarily sure what an associates job entails (day-to-day), partner said he does about 2-3 trials a year.
2. **Civil Defense Firm**
- **Position:** Civil defense work with a focus on hospitals, insurance companies, construction law, and some commercial litigation.
- **Offer:** $1850 billable hours, with bonuses tied to hours worked above the billables.
- **Pros:** salary. Partners seem down to earth, the work involves more writing, motions, and depositions, which might mean fewer trials.
Both firms seem like good fits culturally, and the partners are approachable. My main dilemma is ensuring a smooth transition from criminal to civil while also considering long-term quality of life. While I have strong trial skills, I’m not looking to continue spending my entire career in court.
For those who’ve made a similar switch or are familiar with the civil side, particularly in personal injury or defense, which role might offer a more seamless transition? I’m looking for insights on day-to-day responsibilities, work-life balance, and long-term career growth.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Agree with PI job or another govt position.
Billable hours are hard. It’s an art and can be a struggle to make them (especially if you never have been exposed). You are going to feel like you are working all the time to hit them. It’s different if you are used to them. I hope that makes sense.
I spent the first part of my career in government then went in-house in the private sector, but missed litigation and was getting told I needed “firm experience” to be taken seriously for higher in-house roles so tried civil defense—- absolutely hated it with a passion.
I saw NO trial work and only had a few depositions and mediations. Basically, the partners billed me out at a higher rate due to my many years of experience but gave me menial work a good paralegal could do and spent a lot of time “reviewing” my work so they could also bill partner rates on top of the Sr. Associate rates for slight re-wording changes and adding a comma here and there without having to actually add any value. I had to track hours in government too because of state and federally mandated work for which we could get reimbursement, but billing in civil defense is a nightmare.
You may get to the point where any time inefficiency or waiting in your personal life will make you very impatient as you will begin to start calculating everything in 6 minute time increments and be mentally subtracting time spent on personal matters from the time you have left every month to hit your billables. (I broke it down monthly so as not to fall behind over the year.) It is crazy-making. I remember having head surgery to remove a mass and I just kept thinking… how long is this gonna take? Doc, how can I recover more quickly? Most people would be thinking about their health, family, and survival stats. My firm wouldn’t reduce billables if people got sick or wanted to take vacation. Anyhow, I’m back in-house again.