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Hi everybody. I'm a first year biglaw associate in a major market. My hours aren't bad, but I'm not interested in the work I do and can't see myself practicing this type of law for much longer.

I have an offer to join a midlaw firm doing the type of work that I want to do, but I'm worried that leaving biglaw with less than a year of experience is going to be a black mark. Should I hold out for an opportunity to lateral within biglaw, or can I make the jump without tanking my career and future in-house exit options?

Anonymous User wrote:Hi everybody. I'm a first year biglaw associate in a major market. My hours aren't bad, but I'm not interested in the work I do and can't see myself practicing this type of law for much longer.

I have an offer to join a midlaw firm doing the type of work that I want to do, but I'm worried that leaving biglaw with less than a year of experience is going to be a black mark. Should I hold out for an opportunity to lateral within biglaw, or can I make the jump without tanking my career and future in-house exit options?

Your instincts are correct. You haven’t even approached your peak marketability. You will have a hundred offers. I understand that when you are asked to do grunt work assignments over and over it can be hard. Just stick it out. This is forever.

objctnyrhnr wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Hi everybody. I'm a first year biglaw associate in a major market. My hours aren't bad, but I'm not interested in the work I do and can't see myself practicing this type of law for much longer.

I have an offer to join a midlaw firm doing the type of work that I want to do, but I'm worried that leaving biglaw with less than a year of experience is going to be a black mark. Should I hold out for an opportunity to lateral within biglaw, or can I make the jump without tanking my career and future in-house exit options?

Your instincts are correct. You haven’t even approached your peak marketability. You will have a hundred offers. I understand that when you are asked to do grunt work assignments over and over it can be hard. Just stick it out. This is forever.

My fellow mod is correct. Stick it out. Don't leave as a first-year. It isn't forever!

objctnyrhnr wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Hi everybody. I'm a first year biglaw associate in a major market. My hours aren't bad, but I'm not interested in the work I do and can't see myself practicing this type of law for much longer.

I have an offer to join a midlaw firm doing the type of work that I want to do, but I'm worried that leaving biglaw with less than a year of experience is going to be a black mark. Should I hold out for an opportunity to lateral within biglaw, or can I make the jump without tanking my career and future in-house exit options?

Your instincts are correct. You haven’t even approached your peak marketability. You will have a hundred offers. I understand that when you are asked to do grunt work assignments over and over it can be hard. Just stick it out. This is forever.

This is the OP. Is that still true if I'm trying to make a practice group change? That's what I meant by "type of work", not type of assignment. I'm fine doing grunt work, but I want a career as a tech trans lawyer, and I'm doing capital markets.

Anonymous User wrote:

objctnyrhnr wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Hi everybody. I'm a first year biglaw associate in a major market. My hours aren't bad, but I'm not interested in the work I do and can't see myself practicing this type of law for much longer.

I have an offer to join a midlaw firm doing the type of work that I want to do, but I'm worried that leaving biglaw with less than a year of experience is going to be a black mark. Should I hold out for an opportunity to lateral within biglaw, or can I make the jump without tanking my career and future in-house exit options?

Your instincts are correct. You haven’t even approached your peak marketability. You will have a hundred offers. I understand that when you are asked to do grunt work assignments over and over it can be hard. Just stick it out. This is forever.

This is the OP. Is that still true if I'm trying to make a practice group change? That's what I meant by "type of work", not type of assignment. I'm fine doing grunt work, but I want a career as a tech trans lawyer, and I'm doing capital markets.

Get a recruiter and see if they can help you lateral to another big law firm that will retool you. I'd hold out -- you're still junior enough that you can make an attempt at the move for a place that needs bodies.

QContinuum wrote:

objctnyrhnr wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Hi everybody. I'm a first year biglaw associate in a major market. My hours aren't bad, but I'm not interested in the work I do and can't see myself practicing this type of law for much longer.

I have an offer to join a midlaw firm doing the type of work that I want to do, but I'm worried that leaving biglaw with less than a year of experience is going to be a black mark. Should I hold out for an opportunity to lateral within biglaw, or can I make the jump without tanking my career and future in-house exit options?

Your instincts are correct. You haven’t even approached your peak marketability. You will have a hundred offers. I understand that when you are asked to do grunt work assignments over and over it can be hard. Just stick it out. This is forever.

My fellow mod is correct. Stick it out. Don't leave as a first-year. It isn't forever!

Sorry yes that

Anonymous User wrote:

objctnyrhnr wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Hi everybody. I'm a first year biglaw associate in a major market. My hours aren't bad, but I'm not interested in the work I do and can't see myself practicing this type of law for much longer.

I have an offer to join a midlaw firm doing the type of work that I want to do, but I'm worried that leaving biglaw with less than a year of experience is going to be a black mark. Should I hold out for an opportunity to lateral within biglaw, or can I make the jump without tanking my career and future in-house exit options?

Your instincts are correct. You haven’t even approached your peak marketability. You will have a hundred offers. I understand that when you are asked to do grunt work assignments over and over it can be hard. Just stick it out. This is forever.

This is the OP. Is that still true if I'm trying to make a practice group change? That's what I meant by "type of work", not type of assignment. I'm fine doing grunt work, but I want a career as a tech trans lawyer, and I'm doing capital markets.

Is there any way your current firm would let you change practice groups? As a first year, they should be fairly willing to accommodate a switch, as a lot of first-year training is interchangeable (many firms don't even assign first years to specific practice groups). I feel like getting into the right practice group first, then sticking it out until you're a third-year would be the easiest way of going about this.