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I didn’t have mixed feelings, but the hours were a factor for me. For me, it was enough. I had lots of hobbies that I’d put on hold for work. Felt like they deserved some attention again after that time on the ice.
Edit: my group was great though. Just felt like we were all martyrs spending so much time working while also trying to stay human (e.g. decent, fostering mentorship, even just laughing).
I had no mixed feelings and overall I love my job. The hours of big law never really bothered me at the time but good god you don’t realize how stressed and wound up you are until you work for several months outside of that environment. I was always worried about work and overthinking every bad interaction with an asshole at work, and I thought I had a good big law experience. Now I have hobbies again, rarely work after hours or on weekends, and am stressed maybe 5% of the time (and usually from my own doing).
Business people are their own breed of pains in the ass but it’s gravy as compared to the assholes of big law.
I’m a few weeks in to in house and the anxiety and regret has ceased. My situation is a little different because I had already left the big law life, so the in house compensation wasn’t a huge hit and the hours are better but not wildly so. My main concern was leaving the people/relationships (from what I understand it’s common to feel like you’re not as close to your in house colleagues as you were to your firm colleagues). That seems true and it’s an adjustment but one j can deal with.
Following. In a similar situation, but don’t think I will miss my old firm.
I’m a month into my first in house gig and had some anxiety about leaving biglaw and firm life, but that didn’t last long. I think most of my anxiety was just starting something new and unknown. I don’t miss firm life at all, but I wasn’t happy where I was for multiple reasons (not just the hours). I took a bit of a pay cut, but I got my life back.
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Hate that so many firms haven't yet matched milbank and was really hoping for that extra $ by now!
I really loved my team in biglaw but I knew that I could always go back if my in house gig didn’t work out. I’m very happy where I am now and for seizing that opportunity!
I went in-house almost 3 years ago, after 3 years in a firm (and one trial win!). Definitely have rose-colored glasses sometimes, but it suits my lifestyle right now and I try to remember - I still have a lot I can learn and experience here and I’m not afraid to change later if I want to.
I was in your shoes 9 months ago. No regrets whatsoever...and even managed to keep in touch with the few people who I actually liked from my previous firm.
Only question I have for myself now is: "how the heck did I manage to put up with all that for 4 years?"
I recently put in my notice to leave big law and go in house. I had cold feet before telling the partners too, but I did it and felt better after.
Going in house many years ago was a mistake looking back. I really needed to find a different firm rather than a company. Hours were an issue as was not having enough portable business to make partner.
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when did you feel the regret and how long did you stay at the company for?
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💯 happy with my decision, never looked back.
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I was not in big law, so leaving the salary was not as big of an issue for me. I went in-house in tech and the comp is enough for me to have a comfortable lifestyle. It wasn’t until I left that I really realized how much of an emotional drain having to meet billable hours and do constant networking outside of work to build a book of business had on me. I still work hard in-house, but have a lot more flexibility over how I structure my time. My family life is important to me and I feel good about my decision because it has allowed me to have a meaningful career but also to prioritize other aspects of my life better than law firm life did.
For me the single biggest reason I left was to not deal with billable hours pressure. I have been at one of the V5 as well as a V50. I went in house 6 months ago.
To me the additional money wasn’t worth it to live every day staring at the clock wondering how late I will have to work to hit hours. Or if I take 30 mins to do something personal knowing that will set me back 30 mins for when I’m getting off work, no matter how efficient I am.
The pay cut hurts but it depends on how much. I found an opportunity where I am starting at about $400k total comp and work that has actually been more interesting and challenging than my biglaw gig. In some ways it was a no brainer although still early days into this in house career. My attitude was (1) more money is not worth it if you dread living by the clock every day and (2) biglaw will not disappear and people do go back after a couple years in house, if they want.
If I had been taking a 50-70 percent cut in total comp, not sure I would have gotten there on making the move. Unclear. Others have done it though and not looked back. Nothing is worth making yourself unhappy every day.
Having said all that, there is plenty about in house that sucks, but there is plenty about any job that sucks, legal or non-legal. It’s still lawyering and I always tell people if you hate being a lawyer, the solution is not in house but doing something other than law. My bet was I’d be happier without billable hours and that has definitely proven to be the case.
All these specifics happy to discuss more if you DM me. I don’t know if it was helpful for me to discuss my comp but just felt like I needed to include for completeness. Bottom line, if you NEED the biglaw money to maintain a certain lifestyle or service certain debt or obligations, that is one thing, but you have to try to separate that from the social comparison of feeling bad because other people are making more money, which as social animals we are prone to.
I just view biglaw money as different. For short or medium term, great to kill debt and build some equity for a house down payment, but I kind of view it as “funny money” as far as yeah, when I left I was making a base salary of $350k or whatever it was, and that was awesome to see those direct deposits hit every two weeks, especially because I made $60k in my first job, but it didn’t feel sustainable for the long term. In house has felt more sustainable so far.
Following this thread as I am also having cold feet about making the switch. Did anyone feel bored/not challenged when they went in house? Or is it just a relief to not constantly be slammed with urgent deadlines?
I definitely know people who feel bored and not sufficiently challenged when they go in house.
However, my in house position has turned out to be more varied and interesting than what I was doing in biglaw. I am constantly slammed with deadlines however. I think in the corporate world the more interesting jobs are often ones with more stress, but with that comes more pay and upside, etc. It really depends on the specific nature of the opportunity as above poster said.
Of course if you find that job that is super interesting, low stress and well paying - let me know!!