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[quote=Anonymous]I left Big Law about 10 years for an agency and while I would not say every single lawyer in my agency is a top performer or busy with cutting edge, challenging work, certainly the large majority of the people I work with are.

When we are writing rules or in litigation, we are almost always up against BigLaw, usually multiple firms.  When it's a couple of agency lawyers and a couple of DOJ lawyers facing off against dozens of BigLaw lawyers to defend important policies, you need to be thoughtful and sharp.  And while people do value work life balance, and there is no expectation of working weekends, at the same time everyone puts in the time needed for specific projects (which can include at nights and weekends) and often people can get at least some of that time back as additional leave later.

I find there is a decent balance of kinds of work, between litigation, counseling and rule-writing.  It is true that you can end up specializing not just in one area of the law, but in very niche sub-areas.  On the other hand, my agency is pretty good about letting people who are feeling bored in an area move to a new area after a few years.

I wouldn't say I love every single moment of every day, but I do feel pretty lucky to be able to do challenging work on important issues, get paid enough to live pretty well and still have time for my family.[/quote]

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