Help me get over myself (lawyer)
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Anonymous
| I’m a fairly senior in-house counsel at a mid-sized company. Been here a couple years after close to a decade in big law - was counsel, never had partnership in me. I struggle with feeling like I should have more influence at work and feeling like this is kind of a dead end for my career. My boss is great but is not going anywhere soon so I will be playing second fiddle for a long time. Sometimes I don’t care because the work/life balance is great and I have young kids. Other times it grates my ego that I’m not in charge and I’m not even developing the skills to be in charge because of the way this company runs. Anyone have words of wisdom? Not everyone can be the big cheese, right, and I should get over it? |
Anonymous
| Apply for GC positions or get over it. Those are your choices. |
Anonymous
Agree with this. GC would be the next step. Well, or Deputy GC. |
Anonymous
Early retired Biglaw partner here. Yea, my advice is to just get over it and concentrate on enjoying your family. I know that’s easier said than done. |
Anonymous
| This is just life - it's the reality of pretty much every employee in every industry. The fact that nearly everyone plateaus somewhere beneath the top position is just math. For example, in my federal office, there one head of the office, four supervisors and 25 line attorneys. Many of the line attorneys will plateau as line attorneys, but unlike the firm gig, they won't get pushed out. |
Anonymous
|
I’m sure the person who replaced me after 13 years felt the same. Very few people make it to the top job. But in an unanticipated move for me to a different role in the company opened my job ten years earlier than anticipated.
People are right - either apply elsewhere or get content. |
Anonymous
| Try to Stop Caring and enjoy the fact that you have a decent salary with less stress. |
Anonymous
Man that sounds great to me. |
Anonymous
| I think you should lean in. Listen to outside counsel's plan on something then tell your boss you want to do that yourself. Insert yourself into other division meetings, tell them what they are doing is wrong, and then offer to help them get it right |
Anonymous
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Strong disagree. Do not lean in. Someone motivated enough to lean in will just lean in, and they would have been leaning in all their life (and would not ask randos on this board for career advice). It’s innate. People don’t change, so if you didn’t have it in you to go for partnership (at your old firm or by hopping to another firm), you don’t have it now to be GC.
And that’s not a bad thing. Know yourself, be comfortable with it, and live your live. The grass is not greener. |
Anonymous
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That’s just how it is when you work in-house. Most in-house legal departments don’t have a ton of turnover, so you might be stuck as a senior attorney (or whatever the title is) for 15 years before a deputy GC position opens up. And you might get only one or two chances at a promotion. It’s the same at many government agencies.
If being promoted is really important to you then you need to move jobs. Plenty of small companies have only one or two in-house lawyers. But there’s a lot of downside to leaving stable employment, especially with young kids. |
Anonymous
OP here. This might be true… but the current GC fizzled out in big law and was nowhere near partnership either so maybe in-house is a different animal. |
Anonymous
PP here. Of course, you know you. As long as you are honest with yourself you’ll be fine. |
Anonymous
| You can develop skills outside of your job. Bar association volunteer roles, board member of small nonprofit, leadership training programs, thought leadership, etc. No reason you can’t put some effort into this while still maintaining a good work life balance. |
Anonymous
| I know multiple failed associates who made GC. Completely different ballgame IMO. |