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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP here -- sounds like a lot of us got in at the same time. Law was a stable profession about 10 yrs ago -- you could go to a top 10 school then a big firm and if you worked hard you could make partner; maybe you wouldn't make it in 7 yrs but most firms would keep you around and make you partner in 9-10 yrs. Now at my firm and many others -- they are barely wanting to hold on to existing partners, let alone make others.

I do worry about jumping into another field (something business related) and being bad at it, but I also worry about going to another firm (if I can even get in which I haven't been able to in the last 8 months as such a senior assoc). You go to a new firm that's hopefully not "up or out," that firm doesn't make you partner for any reason or no reason at all -- then you're searching a few yrs from now for your next gig. I have seen people who are at 16th yr associate level who have had this happen at 2-3 firms and they have NO clue that they'll do, aside from hanging out a shingle and hoping for the best. I just see this future in law where you could end up hopping job to job forever -- am I being overly pessimistic or do others see this too?

So I'm wondering if it's better to take the money and employment hit now to figure something else out while I'm "young" enough or whether it's better to collect as long as I possibly can knowing I may be closing some doors.

I would regret not practicing, but I do have some other skills and interests (dating back to undergrad - so it'll be hard to leverage them but if I cant do it now, I certainly won't be able to 5 yrs from now).[/quote]

Big Law was not the way you described 10 years ago.  Maybe 30 years ago.  I'm thinking you didn't want to see the business for what it is, which is a poorly managed profession that can be lucrative if you not only are smart, but also lucky enough to find a good mentor and a hot, sustainable practice area.

I'm about burned out with the profession, or more precisely with the personalities of some of my colleagues, but at least I had good timing and will be able to leave law in a few years with enough money saved to pursue other interests or retire young.  I would feel sorry for the next generation of lawyers, but for the fact that their own generational personality traits often magnify the pressures facing the profession.

If I were you, I would try to find a Government job where you can become a recognized subject-matter expert and gain more visibility than you might get in the bowels of Big Law, or change professions.  Hopping from firm to firm as a senior associate or counsel, unless you are more or less guaranteed partnership in 1-2 years, strikes me as the worst form of purgatory imaginable.[/quote]

Agree w/ this ... if you (OP) think it wasn't this way 10 yrs. ago you significantly misread the signs.

It wasn't this way 33 yrs. ago when I got out of law school, but it has been for more than 10-15 yrs., increasingly so.

It IS a broken business model, OP is right there.  I don't claim to be prescient, but I thought I saw the direction things were headed long ago and after 7 yrs. of nonprofit and private firm (medium sized) work I went into the federal govt.  In 26 yrs. there worked up to 20+ yrs. as a manager (Division Director and Associate Office Director) and retired in April (early outs offered due to dire budget situation and outlook).  I am very lucky to be able to get out early and manage it financially.  I'll do some volunteer mediation (one of my certifications) and some consulting (just a little) in one of my areas of experience/expertise, but I think my active practice days are behind me and I'm not too unhappy about that given where things have gone.

Govt. practice has gotten worse and also will in the next 10 yrs. due to budget pressures, but it is probably still a better balance of interesting work and lack of absurd BigLaw pressures.  You just have to live within your means to do it.  A GS-15 non supervisory attorney position will be harder to get but if you are a "national expert" in a given area it will increase your chances (may be necessary).

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