going in-house from big firm - thoughts?

[Anonymous]

My husband is a partner, I am a mid level associate at a big firm. We have two small children. I feel like I run around all the time totally stressed and crazy and I am also increasingly bitter about working at a big law firm, because I feel like they are totally abusive of associates. I have an opportunity to maybe go in-house at a large company. Same commute. Pay will likely go up because my firm pays below market. I guess I'm just wondering if going in-house is all it is cracked up to be, especially for the moms out there. Is it really less stress? Is it really more reliable hours? Can I really leave at 5 or 6 everyday? Is not billing really totally awesome (ha ha)? What are the downsides?

Any/all thoughts from those who have made this transition would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Depends on the culture of the legal department/ general counsel's office. Are you able to farm out a lot of work to outside counsel? You will likely have to be "on call" for your clients (the company) but you won't be burning the midnight oil writing any briefs. You can just get outside counsel to do it.

For me, there's virtually no face time requirement because none of my clients are in DC. Of course, I still have to work IN the office, but no one cares if I work from home here or there, or have to leave early.

But I do have to have my smartphone with me in case of emergencies.

[Anonymous]

DH went in-house and the hours were definitely better, but he could have negotiated a better salary.

Unfortunately it turned out to be a terrible work environment--all but one of the other attorneys had been there FOREVER and were grumps, and the other recent hire had an affair with DH's boss and the whole place was a train wreck. But that could happen anywhere. He's had some real charming coworkers at big firms as well.

He's had several law school friends go in-house and they seem pretty satisfied with it.

[Anonymous]

I went in house and the hours were a huge improvement. I did have more of a "face time" requirement. I found the work less challenging/interesting (the really "hard" stuff got sent to outside counsel, but that might not be true everywhere).