Attorney looking for entirely WFH job

[Anonymous]

I need to move in with family if we’re going to be doing these covid closures on and off for a while. I can’t take care of my toddler and work. This isn’t sustainable. But my family lives in a tiny town with no jobs for me. I am a litigator but don’t care about being in a courtroom. Substantively I have experience in criminal and civil law and civil rights. Ivy League law school. Where would I even start to look for an all WFH job?

[Anonymous]

You can’t be serious. Law firms are laying people off right now. You think you are going to get a new WFH attorney job in the middle of a pandemic?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I need to move in with family if we’re going to be doing these covid closures on and off for a while. I can’t take care of my toddler and work. This isn’t sustainable. But my family lives in a tiny town with no jobs for me. I am a litigator but don’t care about being in a courtroom. Substantively I have experience in criminal and civil law and civil rights. Ivy League law school. Where would I even start to look for an all WFH job?

I've always figured an attorney can just turn a dimmer switch on their salary and hours whenever they want. Why work 60-80 hours a week for 300+ grand when you can work 30-40 for 150, or less, and stay sane!
This does not answer your question I know but you have a good idea and are on the right track

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I need to move in with family if we’re going to be doing these covid closures on and off for a while. I can’t take care of my toddler and work. This isn’t sustainable. But my family lives in a tiny town with no jobs for me. I am a litigator but don’t care about being in a courtroom. Substantively I have experience in criminal and civil law and civil rights. Ivy League law school. Where would I even start to look for an all WFH job?

I've always figured an attorney can just turn a dimmer switch on their salary and hours whenever they want. Why work 60-80 hours a week for 300+ grand when you can work 30-40 for 150, or less, and stay sane!
This does not answer your question I know but you have a good idea and are on the right track

Not true.

- an attorney

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I need to move in with family if we’re going to be doing these covid closures on and off for a while. I can’t take care of my toddler and work. This isn’t sustainable. But my family lives in a tiny town with no jobs for me. I am a litigator but don’t care about being in a courtroom. Substantively I have experience in criminal and civil law and civil rights. Ivy League law school. Where would I even start to look for an all WFH job?

I've always figured an attorney can just turn a dimmer switch on their salary and hours whenever they want. Why work 60-80 hours a week for 300+ grand when you can work 30-40 for 150, or less, and stay sane!
This does not answer your question I know but you have a good idea and are on the right track

Not true.

- an attorney

Yup, not true at all, absent a Fed job or sometimes in-house. Otherwise, smaller firms often are hustling just as much, just at lower rates

[Anonymous]

I think you're looking for a unicorn job that doesn't exist right now.

[Anonymous]

FWIW I work at a small nonprofit and have never met our lawyer (whom we've worked with for well over a decade). I'm not even sure where she's located. So, you might try looking for law firms that specialize in nonprofit work where you work with clients from around the country.

[Anonymous]

I work at a mid-sized law firm in CA, and many of our attorneys work from home. I mean, we ALL work from home right now except the copy room guys, but generally, we have probably 30 or so attorneys who only come in between once a month and once a year.

But we're not doing interviews or hiring right now. I don't think we'll hire anyone until at earliest, September.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think you're looking for a unicorn job that doesn't exist right now.

They exist. I’ve got one. But there are no openings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I need to move in with family if we’re going to be doing these covid closures on and off for a while. I can’t take care of my toddler and work. This isn’t sustainable. But my family lives in a tiny town with no jobs for me. I am a litigator but don’t care about being in a courtroom. Substantively I have experience in criminal and civil law and civil rights. Ivy League law school. Where would I even start to look for an all WFH job?

I've always figured an attorney can just turn a dimmer switch on their salary and hours whenever they want. Why work 60-80 hours a week for 300+ grand when you can work 30-40 for 150, or less, and stay sane!
This does not answer your question I know but you have a good idea and are on the right track

[Anonymous]

No private practices are hiring now. My agency is currently hiring lawyers but we normally WFH only once a week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think you're looking for a unicorn job that doesn't exist right now.

They exist. I’ve got one. But there are no openings.

Yeah that's what I meant. Nobody is hiring for these positions in this economy.

[Anonymous]

I've met lawyers who do things like Social Security benefit appeals from home. I don't know what that pays or how to get those jobs though.

[Anonymous]

I work from home but I got the job through someone I worked with at a prior job. Know anyone with whom you already have a proven track record and could use some extra help?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I need to move in with family if we’re going to be doing these covid closures on and off for a while. I can’t take care of my toddler and work. This isn’t sustainable. But my family lives in a tiny town with no jobs for me. I am a litigator but don’t care about being in a courtroom. Substantively I have experience in criminal and civil law and civil rights. Ivy League law school. Where would I even start to look for an all WFH job?

I have similar experience and credentials (HYS law school, multiple fed clerkships, more than ten years as a high level litigator with > 10 federal jury trials) and I have been looking for a job like you are describing for the last year, with zero luck. I'm sure they exist for a lucky few, but the vast majority of attorney jobs require some facetime, and to the extent you are permitted to WFH, you typically need to prove yourself first by being in the office for a number of years. With COVID, I'm pretty sure I will never be able to find this kind of job in the near future, considering I wasn't able to when the economy was stellar and qualified attorneys were in demand.