Working as Plaintiff PI attorney and I’m thinking of switching to defense side. Anyone with successful career change experience could advise me some pros and cons of the switch? Also, how many hours you actually have to work to bill 1900 hours a year? As Plaintiff’s side, I don’t do billable hours. I’m currently working more than 54 hours a week and would like to get a general idea of how many hours defense attorneys work. Thank you!

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Horrible idea

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I first worked for a private insurance defense firm, went plaintiff side for a while, and recently went back defense. However, I now work directly for an insurance carrier fully remote and don’t bill my time, so my days are so much more relaxed now. The better insurance carriers usually pay the same as private firms, so I’d look into that. It’s so nice not having to bill hours or worry about crazy plaintiffs/clients calling me on weekend asking me how they’re going to pay their mortgage this month.

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I should add that dealing with crazy plaintiffs is one thing if you’re solo and getting paid directly on cases. However, while working for someone else, I don’t see myself dealing with that ever again.

I was on the defense side before going to the plaintiffs side. I wouldn’t switch back for all the money in the world.

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I did something similar:
I found the average plaintiffs firm to be a sweatshops. Highly disorganized. High turnover. Not a ton of valuable cases. Little to no guidance on what to do. Scummy clients.

Find out the structure of the firm
If you litigate: are you just prepping clients for depos/ responding to msjs/ doctor depos all for the managing partner to swoop in and try the case?
Is there a performance based bonus given?

If no, don’t do it.

If pre-lit:
Find out what their average attorneys fees are per case
See if they will pay you a % of the attorneys fees you collect

Overall
Length of how long associates have been there
Do judges think highly of the firm

I’d reach out to a mediator you have used before and trust. Ask the mediatorwhat they think of xyz firm.

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I originally started on Plaintiff’s side, switched over the the defense a while ago. I can tell you, that you’ll likely be working longer than expected at first until you pick up the art of billing and capturing your hours. It’s a large learning curve; once you figure it out, it’s easier than Plaintiff’s work.

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The attorney I work for switched from defense to Plaintiff side and he said the same thing as Praxlem Sams above. He said that he had to work long hours until he got the hang of it but he is working less now on the Plaintiff side than he was when he was billing hours.

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I’ve done both. Agree, once you get best practices for billing down it’s good, and better than PI in my view. ID is more structured and the clients, insurance claims folks, understand the litigation process and risk analysis, unlike PI clients who are usually first-timers to the litigation process, emotionally invested and often look to overreach.

Also if you open your own shop or are a partner at a PI firm, because the fee structure is contingency with you fronting massive costs personally, versus getting paid via regular hourly-based invoices by a (usually) nicely solvent insurance company with the company paying litigation costs, the business model is less likely to wreak havoc on you personally.

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Depends on where you work for billables. I’ve found that plaintiff side was more case development and case theory experience whereas on the defense side you get into the technical side of it. It’s easy to flip flop between the two. One side you deal with crazy clients more often whereas on the other side you deal with crazy claim reps more often. If you’re younger and want more technical background and experience I’d suggest defense whereas if you want to focus on development of the cases from the beginning plaintiff side is better

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