Two questions for lawyers: going law firm to in house, going litigation to non-litigation

[Anonymous]

I'm looking for some 'real world experience' from the attorneys out there.

My background is in a specialized litigation area. I recently made the jump to the business (non-litigation) side of my specialty. For a number of reasons, it is in not a good fit, one of them being that my narrow specialty is hard to find work in (almost impossible in litigation, and slightly less impossible, but still difficult, in non-litigation). I'm trying to keep this brief, so bottom line and without going into detail, I can't go back to my litigation specialty. My options seem to boil down to going into a more general litigation practice, or trying to find one of the few opportunities where I can work in my specialty, including a current in-house opening.

So my questions are:
- In the right situation, can in-house work be more interesting or more specialized than law firm practice? Are there any in-house lawyers out there that have been able to really develop a specialty that was not available (or less available) in law firm practice? Or is the trade off for the balanced quality of life in-house giving up the focus and sophistication of law firm practice?

- Can a litigator ever love non-litigation work? Or once a lover of litigation, always a litigator/ill suited for non-litigation work?

Thanks! I love being a lawyer, but sometimes it is hard in the business of practicing law, to make it all come together.

[Anonymous]

I was in house for a bit although I am not sure I had a typical situation. I would say I got some interesting work, but in general if something was cutting edge it went to outside counsel. I ended up in govt and have been able to do more sophisticated work than in house.

[Anonymous]

I second that. Go government if you can find a federal entity that is hiring during sequester. Never look back!

[Anonymous]

OP here...thanks for the input but part of the facts I left out...I left government job (which I realize looking back was the greatest job) to relocate to a city that does not have my litigation specialty and doesn't have federal jobs.