Reply to Whats worse - big law litigator vs public school teacher

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[quote=Anonymous]Take partnership and learn to market yourself. You're going to have to pivot, but not quite so dramatically as to becoming a teacher.

You're right you can't litigate in-house. But a lot of in-house departments at companies with lots of IP would pay for an experienced patent litigator to oversee and work with outside counsel on litigation. Companies spend enormous sums on this litigation (as you know) and someone who understands how it works and also how law firms work can be invaluable.

You could also move to a smaller firm (or maybe even same size) as an of counsel and potentially work out a better work-life balance situation. A lot depends on whether you are originating work, acting as relationship partner, etc. I know counsels and even partners who largely manage the clients originated by other partners, but also are not doing a ton of the day-to-day. Yes, even in litigation. Clients often need a lot of handholding and they want it from someone experienced who knows how to talk to them. You don't make as much doing this sort of thing (it is not really an equity partner role) but it can have real value to the firm and be worth 250k+ a year.

This is a common mid career problem, not unique to Big Law or litigation. You need to level up your skill set, look for ways to pivot off your current experience to get what you want. You can't see it, but you have way more options than most people at this stage. The very fact that you are considering starting over in teaching and this feels like a feasible thing is sort of demonstrating your privilege -- you are in a financially secure position, likely with loans paid off and a decent amount put away, hopefully with a manageable mortgage (if you overbought, time to downsize). But don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. You are actually just getting started, and you have way more options than just pecking away as a litigator for the foreseeable future. Open your eyes and look around.[/quote]

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