Reply to Junior associate at Big Law -- help!

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The problem, OP, is that these are really your prime years for your career development. If you can put in 3-5 years at your firm you will have so many more options.  Right now you aren't very valuable to any employer because you don't know much.  If you leave now you risk stunting your career growth long term.  If you can stick it out, you can lay the foundation for longer term career growth. Can your husband lean out for a few years?   [/quote]

These are also her prime years to be a mother. [/quote]

Yup, but that ship has already sailed.  She's got a lot of debt, and if she wants to be able to pay it down and ensure the financial security of the kids going forward, this is the time to double down professionally.  The alternative is crippling debt, still working full time at a job that pays a lot less, and long term lower earning potential.  That's just how it is.  There are no better options.  I've been a big firm attorney, I'm married to one, and I've worked as a legal recruiter and am now in a position where I hire experienced lawyers.  I know this world, and there is no good scenario here.  Best she can do is to put her head down and work her butt off for the next few years and right the ship.[/quote]

I cannot believe those are the only options. What if OP and her family moved out of this ridiculously expensive area to a smaller place that is more family friendly?[/quote]

Sure, they can move, but who is going to hire her. OP has no marketable skills as a rising second year associate and no employer will be interested in her except maybe another big firm doing exactly the same work she is doing now. And that would be relatively unusual.  Firms hire entry level or midlevel laterals, typically. The deal is you go to a big law firm for maybe 3 to 5 years, suffer, pay down as much of your debt as possible, and the leave as someone who presumably got great training and some legal expertise and judgment that someone is willing to pay for.  The market for lawyers is not great anywhere, but it is better in DC than elsewhere.  [/quote]

And the biggest irony is that the training OP is getting is probably piss poor. Junior associates are given very little real substantive work. They are basically researchers and paralegals in a lot of big law shops in my experience.

I actually do not allow junior associates to be staffed on my matters because it's just another way to drive up a bill without adding value.[/quote]

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