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I am an associate at a great firm in a major market. I've done well -- good reviews and relationships. I, however, am completely burned out. While I could take a vacation, I was curious if anyone knew of a way to take a "break" from the law without forsaking your career. As I understand it, once you are off the proverbial legal track, it is near impossible to get back on (and maybe for good reason). Still, I was curious if anyone knew of ways you could take a break (some schooling? fellowships?) without leaving the big law world for good. I know clerking is an option, but I know you have to work very hard for a clerkship as well, so am not sure it would really be worth it at this point.

Anonymous User wrote:I am an associate at a great firm in a major market. I've done well -- good reviews and relationships. I, however, am completely burned out. While I could take a vacation, I was curious if anyone knew of a way to take a "break" from the law without forsaking your career. As I understand it, once you are off the proverbial legal track, it is near impossible to get back on (and maybe for good reason). Still, I was curious if anyone knew of ways you could take a break (some schooling? fellowships?) without leaving the big law world for good. I know clerking is an option, but I know you have to work very hard for a clerkship as well, so am not sure it would really be worth it at this point.

A few questions:

1. How long of a break are you looking for? A couple of weeks/months? Looking to jump to an alternative career for a while?
2. How senior are you?
3. How big is your debt load?
4. What practice areaish are you in? Lit/corp/or some other specialist group?
5. When was the last time you took a solid, no work vacation?

Anonymous User wrote:I am an associate at a great firm in a major market. I've done well -- good reviews and relationships. I, however, am completely burned out. While I could take a vacation, I was curious if anyone knew of a way to take a "break" from the law without forsaking your career. As I understand it, once you are off the proverbial legal track, it is near impossible to get back on (and maybe for good reason). Still, I was curious if anyone knew of ways you could take a break (some schooling? fellowships?) without leaving the big law world for good. I know clerking is an option, but I know you have to work very hard for a clerkship as well, so am not sure it would really be worth it at this point.

If you're at a firm with generous benefits, have a child or two. The most successful senior associate I know has six children and has been cruising by on 1500 hours a year for a long time.

You can ask for leave if you have something you want to do but kiss good bye to ever making partner. I know someone who went to cordon blu cooking school and got leave for that. No one took them seriously afterwards but they didn’t get fired.

Mental breakdown gets you disability - but I’m not sure how far you want to go with that. If a doctor says you need leave, they have to give you some short term disability. You don’t need to be hospitalized. Probably ends your long term future but they wont fire you for being disabled.

I strongly recommend against having kids when you are exhausted and burned out. It won’t help.

Possibly becoming extremely organized and efficient can help you take control of your situation. Demanding more support for getting your work done. More juniors, whoever can help too.

That’s all the suggestions I have to offer. Bright side is you aren’t likely to make partner so it can’t hurt that much.

Sounds like you need a secundment

If you are a litigator: Some District Attorney's offices have a program where they let private attorneys prosecute DUI cases full time for 6 months, and biglaw firms generally like it because it gives the associate valuable trial experience.

You can take FMLA leave for a physical illness (preferred) or a mental health condition (less preferred), and you have some built-in protection against being fired (especially if you live somewhere like CA that has statutory protections that are stronger than FMLA). Taking an extended mental health leave will certainly not help your reputation, but if you have a real reason (especially if you can point to a non-work-related trigger like someone dying) and a very good reputation you will likely be able to overcome it.

Secondment (including temporary positions like working for the DA) and parental leave are the most common reasons to take leave and typically incur little/no backlash. I've seen people do it for other reasons (work on a political campaign, write a book, etc.) and not really incur any backlash, but I think if you did it to go to cooking school or "just because" it might not be a good look.

Does your firm offer some sort of pro bono fellowship for midlevels, where you can take a few months and work 40 hours a week at a legal clinic? Some firms have those. Another thought is to lateral to a new firm - if you can push out your start date a couple of weeks, you can kind of take almost two months off (your 2-3 weeks notice at the old firm where you do nothing, plus the time spend not working once you have an offer but are waiting to clear conflicts, then the 2-3 weeks off in between, then the first couple of weeks at the new firm where you have nothing to do). I've been lobbying my firm for a "sabbatical" for associates after 4 or 5 years, where midlevels or senior associates could take a couple of months off, but obviously that's going nowhere. Honestly, I think if they gave midlevels some time away (not just for parental leave) they wouldn't leave to go to other jobs and the firm would be better off (unless, of course, the firms WANT certain midlevels to leave....)

Our firm sends an associate to a pro bono organization for 3-6 months every other year. Our clients also occasionally ask for associates to do a secondment but that is relatively rare in my practice group.

I'd recommend checking if your firm has any pro bono programs like that. Even if they don't, if you really want to take a leave, I'm sure you could find many pro bono organizations that would be more than happy to for you to volunteer with them for a few months. Then you could approach your firm asking for leave to do it and negotiate whether it will be paid/unpaid. I think my firm would be open to that. Obviously, they would rather you keep billing but if it is between you leaving the firm and doing a pro bono leave, the pro bono leave seems like a win-win as firms like to increase their community involvement/perception and it helps you not burn out.

The months before and after my clerkship were sweet, sweet paradise. Traveled, played instruments, went day drinking regularly, actually read non-fiction. Once you’re at the firm for good you are screwed until you can facilitate a true job switch. But even then you aren’t likely to have the opportunity to take as much time as a clerk; my friends who lateraled recently only took 2, at most 3 weeks.

IMO, TCR is to clerk. You’ll have your start date very far in advance. As a result, you can schedule the date you depart your firm for a month or two before the clerkship start date. And you’re going to a clerkship so there’s no job uncertainty. Chances are you’ll be able to go back to your firm, but if not, you’ll likely easily find something else post-clerkship...and hell maybe you’ll be able to do it again.

Returning to biglaw can be harder than getting there.

Disregard the advice to have a child, as a means of getting a break from biglaw.

objctnyrhnr wrote:IMO, TCR is to clerk. You’ll have your start date very far in advance. As a result, you can schedule the date you depart your firm for a month or two before the clerkship start date. And you’re going to a clerkship so there’s no job uncertainty. Chances are you’ll be able to go back to your firm, but if not, you’ll likely easily find something else post-clerkship...and hell maybe you’ll be able to do it again.

I'm surprised it took so long for this suggestion to appear.

I agree, clerking is the cleanest answer. It's certainly not a break from the law but, as they say, a change is as good as a rest. And it's not going to come with the same hours demands as biglaw.

I've had officially taken multiple 2+ month breaks from the law to return to firms but it took me switching firms. I would get a new job and ask to start in a few months, quit my job and then take 2-3 months to take a break and travel. Definitely recommend this, feels like I have had two separate sabbaticals already and I'm only a mid-level associate.

Of course, you need to leave your firm to do this, but I highly recommend, especially if not trying to make partner.

albanach wrote:

objctnyrhnr wrote:IMO, TCR is to clerk. You’ll have your start date very far in advance. As a result, you can schedule the date you depart your firm for a month or two before the clerkship start date. And you’re going to a clerkship so there’s no job uncertainty. Chances are you’ll be able to go back to your firm, but if not, you’ll likely easily find something else post-clerkship...and hell maybe you’ll be able to do it again.

I'm surprised it took so long for this suggestion to appear.

I agree, clerking is the cleanest answer. It's certainly not a break from the law but, as they say, a change is as good as a rest. And it's not going to come with the same hours demands as biglaw.

OP said they don’t want to clerk but it could be the answer if they are in litigation. I assumed corporate because of the burn out level.

Npret wrote:

albanach wrote:

objctnyrhnr wrote:IMO, TCR is to clerk. You’ll have your start date very far in advance. As a result, you can schedule the date you depart your firm for a month or two before the clerkship start date. And you’re going to a clerkship so there’s no job uncertainty. Chances are you’ll be able to go back to your firm, but if not, you’ll likely easily find something else post-clerkship...and hell maybe you’ll be able to do it again.

I'm surprised it took so long for this suggestion to appear.

I agree, clerking is the cleanest answer. It's certainly not a break from the law but, as they say, a change is as good as a rest. And it's not going to come with the same hours demands as biglaw.

OP said they don’t want to clerk but it could be the answer if they are in litigation. I assumed corporate because of the burn out level.

OP said clerking was hard work, not that they didn't want to do it. From those I know who have clerked, while it's hard, it's not like biglaw. And, as they say, a change is as good as a rest.

Even if they're corporate, I think clerking can still work. If need be, try and clerk in the tax court or somewhere else with a heavy corporate docket.

I still think that, for someone trying to get a break from biglaw while retaining reentry options, clerking is the best move. Unless OP can get secondment to a client's in-house legal team for a decent length of time. The trouble there is that, the more senior OP is, the harder it becomes to get an in-house secondment since most firms are going to be wary of spending the $$$.

A know a few people at my firm who just asked for a couple of extra weeks of unpaid leave in August (which is traditionally molasses-slow). They combined it with a couple of weeks of vacation time, took the whole month off. If a month off doesn’t recharge your batteries, the problem may be more fundamental than just needing a break.

I agree that finding a flyover district judge who's still hiring clerks for August/September 2019 is the best move here. If you get hired, you can immediately begin winding down your case load in the expectation of leaving. Don't accept any new work with a time frame of more than a couple months max. By May you should basically have nothing to do. I've seen multiple people (3rd years-ish) pull this move and leave from major market lit biglaw to go clerk in W.D. Oklahoma or something for a couple years, then they come back (or jump firms/markets).

Actually surprised the secondment suggestion has only come up once. I know many people who have done 6 month secondments at clients with no repercussions on career trajectory (could see it being a little harmful if over 5+ years given how senior associates are evaluated). Find the right gig and life is great - normal job, no overtime and biglaw pay. We have an associate here who is doing 6 months at a place where he works 4 days a week at a fourth year salary.

I quit my job as a 3rd year, citing burn out and general unhappiness. After traveling for about a year I went back on a part time basis. My impression from partners is that I could still make partner if I made the effort and went back to full time, although maybe that window will close. I specialize in a niche within a niche and was already doing partner-level work before I left, which I assume is why they keep me around (I basically serve as an overflow valve when partners in my area are underwater). So, another possible answer is just to have enough value to make it worth it to the firm/partners in your group. Not very easy, because most biglaw work doesn’t actually require abilities that are uncommon among law grads.

Do a secondment. I did one in the summer and it was as if I was on vacation. Worked out at lunch every day, arrived late, left early, stared at the computer, surfed the net. Never took work home. No weekends. Left by 05:00 or 05:30 pm.

For those that went on secondments, what was your process in getting one? Did you ask a professional development staff member or did you broach the topic with a partner? I'm a fourth year corporate associate strongly interested in a secondment (eventually to go in house), but weighing on how to bring up the topic without potentially signaling that I'm not interested in staying on partner track if I don't end up getting placed on secondment.

Anonymous User wrote:For those that went on secondments, what was your process in getting one? Did you ask a professional development staff member or did you broach the topic with a partner? I'm a fourth year corporate associate strongly interested in a secondment (eventually to go in house), but weighing on how to bring up the topic without potentially signaling that I'm not interested in staying on partner track if I don't end up getting placed on secondment.

You could just say -- truthfully -- that you're interested in a secondment for the opportunity to learn more about client operations/the business side of things. I think most partners have a pretty deep knowledge of client operations, such that working for a client would help you develop that skillset. Whether you stay on the partnership track or ultimately go in-house, working for a company would likely be a productive use of time (with the added benefit of avoiding burnout, it sounds like).