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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Quite right that it's clear to me that if my own professional interests were the only factor, I would go straight to DOJ and never look back.  And you're also right that my original question was far too narrow and did not really get to the key pivot point in my decision process.  My spouse has expressed a preference for the biglaw route, and I came to this more family-oriented board to see if a wave of family-oriented people would tell me that I was being a selfish jerk who was asking too much and not appreciating some unbearable strain I would be placing on the people I love by going to a litigating section at DOJ.  So I remain undecided.  I was curious to see the thinking behind the folks who would choose biglaw -- is it for family reasons, which would give me pause, or [u]is it for professional reasons about long term goals and what work they enjoy, which I simply do not share?[/u]  Obviously it's ultimately a personal/family decision, and how my spouse and I are willing to compromise on our preferences is going to be the dispositive factor--not an anonymous internet poll.   But the informed opinions people have shared in this thread have been enormously helpful and informative for moving my conversations with my spouse forward, and I sincerely thank everyone for their time and input.  [/quote]

Thanks for the explanation, PP.  That helps me understand where you're coming from.  Good luck with your decision.

Before I move on, I do want to take issue with one point I've seen you make a couple times on this thread.  At least twice, I've seen reference in your posts to knowing for certain that you will not be professionally satisfied by the work you'd find at BigLaw.  One example is underlined above.  I of course cannot claim to know what you would find personally satisfying, but I do think you're being closed-minded about what really happens at BigLaw, and (forgive me) you might be just a bit uneducated about it too.

In point of fact, the real work at BigLaw is actually extremely challenging and exciting.  Most clients will not go to BigLaw for small-ball matters, and certainly won't pay the fees, so BigLaw matters are almost always extremely complex and intellectually challenging, because those are the matters clients cannot get handled somewhere else for cheaper.  I'm definitely not saying there isn't drudge work, because those big complex matters will always involve a fair amount of close-in detail that can get boring.  For example, any billion-dollar case is going to have mountains of documents to assess, and despite the advances in review technology, many of those documents are going to have to be reviewed by lawyers at some point in the process.  As an associate at BigLaw, that's part of what you'll do.  Of course, if you get put on that kind of case at DOJ, you may find yourself doing even more of it, since the resources might not be as available to you to make the job easier (ie, more people, more technology).  I've been at BigLaw for quite a while now, and I can honestly say I've never (even as a junior associate) worked on a case that wasn't intellectually challenging.

Maybe you've got some personal worldview that prevents you from ever representing corporations in any context -- if that's the case, then I suppose BigLaw is not for you.  But don't make the mistake of thinking BigLaw is just mindless drudge work, while DOJ is the place where real lawyers earn their stripes on the toughest cases.  That's just simply not the case.  If DOJ has some super high-profile case, you can bet all the money in your wallet that there's a BigLaw lawyer on the other side of the V.  And at least in my area, litigating against the government is generally perceived as easier than litigating against other private BigLaw firms.  That's not a knock on the DOJ lawyers we sometimes face, because most of them are very good advocates, but it's rather a recognition that they often don't have the experience with mega-cases, or the deep support team, that opposing BigLaw litigators will have.

Good luck with your decision.  It sounds like you have two good options; neither will be a "wrong" choice.  Just pick one and move forward.  If you later decide you want to switch horses, you can make it happen.[/quote]

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