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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I just did this move - biglaw senior associate to gov't - about 7 months ago. I left bc I wasn't going to make partner and didn't have too much of a choice and I needed to move cities and get to DC for life reasons. I'm at one of the "great" agencies that's hard to get into and to be honest -- I am really unhappy and wanting to go back to any kind of firm.

Despite this being such a hard to get into agency that's so "high level," I find the people to be unmotivated and they only care about work life balance -- i.e. working as little as possible; I haven't met one person yet that I think is amazing at their job (though they are nice). So for me -- I am biding my time and thankful for my paycheck and the stability as I figure out whether I need to make a move to mid/small law or if I can get in house or whatever bc the thought of doing this for 10 yrs or life or whatever is too much to take.

So consider whether you are someone who needs/wants challenge and super smart people bc you may not get that.[/quote]

It sounds like you picked the wrong career regardless of whether you're private or public sector.  Or maybe your standards are too high?[/quote]

Don't think I picked the wrong career at all -- my prior job had challenging work and super smart people, so it's not like that can't be found in law. I think I picked the wrong current job. I guess my standards are too high, but I'm not ready to settle yet.

Whether the SEC has a good or bad rep amongst other regulators -- it has a decent rep in the areas I care about -- the private sector -- bc it does a lot of work closely tied to the private sector and bc it is hard to get into. Sure -- I'm sure DOJ is more prestigious, but a gig there prosecuting drug crime just doesn't do anything for my career; theoretically every DOJ prosecutor can go be a law firm partner, but the reality is that move has gotten harder and harder over the years as firms aren't dying to take lateral partners w/o a book and are even less willing to give chances to people who aren't 100% working in the same areas as that firm. It isn't the same model of - go be an AUSA for 4 yrs - and you can pick your partnership. [/quote]

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