Where in DOJ has a full-time in person requirement? Rhetorical, not expecting an answer, but I know a lot of people in different divisions and the most I’ve heard of is 3 days a week.

Better pay, access to mentorship and more aggressive cases. You will learn a lot in big law which you can transfer back to govt.

At the law firm, you should be aware of the fact that you have no job security. You are vulnerable to a downturn in the economy, a decision to start outsourcing your work, or a decision that you must either go for partner or get out. Do not expect a part time litigation support gig to last. What's your plan for your next gig?

I’d be surprised if you didn’t regret leaving government. There is no private that gives you more time with your kids than government. And, if you haven’t been a litigator before, it’s always unpredictable and screws with your personal life. And there is never flexibility when you’re a trial lawyer. You will be expected to be there regular business hours, work more than 40 hours a week and be accessible to clients after hours. There’s a reason that people jump to government.

I loved law firm work but within six months of my first kid, I knew I had to leave if I wanted time with my kid and I jumped to government for that true 40’hour a week job.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Current job: great gig at DOJ, true 40 hour weeks (rarely ever nights/weekends), but full-time in-person requirement, which means I'm gone 10+ hours everyday.

Job offer: $75k more in base salary (although health insurance will be much more expensive), 1560 billable target ("part-time" BigLaw), mostly remote, great flexibility other than the unpredictable swings of litigation (so definitely a give and take with the flexibility), the group partner has been vetted as a great guy to work for.

Which would you do? #1 priority is maximizing time with kids.

Lol? Then you don’t do biglaw.

I don’t think that billable target, paired with being in litigation, is going to feel very part time at all. I regularly billed 1600 as a normal full time associate, and had many bad weeks/months where I barely saw my kids.

+100. I did about 1560 my last couple years in biglaw - which was an 80% schedule at my firm - and it was still utterly miserable. Also litigation.

You need to find an attorney job in a different agency with a different in-office requirement.

maybe you can switch to HR role, then it's likely easy to move between agencies

Switch to different group or agency if you want telework. Not big law. In litigation no less. You can't be serious.

If your kids are your priority then you should never go from government to biglaw. Also your offer sounds terrible. Assuming you’re 8+ years out of law school, a fulltime biglaw job should pay approximately 400 base + 100 bonus at a minimum. So a part time gig at 75% hours should pay around 300 base plus 75 bonus. GS cap is 183. 1560 billable hours for a 75k increase in comp is a bad deal.

If the only issue with your government job is that you're 100% in the office, why not look to other jobs with more telework?

OP: I find it odd that you do not state how many years tat you have been employed by the federal government.

If priority if kid time then don't leave the govt. job. Also, you're leaving a pension job too.

I would never leave a government job.

Anonymous wrote:Current job: great gig at DOJ, true 40 hour weeks (rarely ever nights/weekends), but full-time in-person requirement, which means I'm gone 10+ hours everyday.

Job offer: $75k more in base salary (although health insurance will be much more expensive), 1560 billable target ("part-time" BigLaw), mostly remote, great flexibility other than the unpredictable swings of litigation (so definitely a give and take with the flexibility), the group partner has been vetted as a great guy to work for.

Which would you do? #1 priority is maximizing time with kids.

Lol? Then you don’t do biglaw.

I don’t think that billable target, paired with being in litigation, is going to feel very part time at all. I regularly billed 1600 as a normal full time associate, and had many bad weeks/months where I barely saw my kids.

Current job: great gig at DOJ, true 40 hour weeks (rarely ever nights/weekends), but full-time in-person requirement, which means I'm gone 10+ hours everyday.

Job offer: $75k more in base salary (although health insurance will be much more expensive), 1560 billable target ("part-time" BigLaw), mostly remote, great flexibility other than the unpredictable swings of litigation (so definitely a give and take with the flexibility), the group partner has been vetted as a great guy to work for.

Which would you do? #1 priority is maximizing time with kids.