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I'm currently a first year restructuring associate at a V50 firm. I've realized lately that my ultimate goal is to eventually go in-house somewhere that'll give me a 9-5/6 with very, very little (if any) evening/weekend work with a decent salary (somewhere within a reasonable range of first year market salary). I also realize that restructuring isn't the best for in-house roles, and I like the transactional aspects of restructuring better than litigation, so I'm willing to work in corporate/M&A or some other transactional practice for a while before going in-house.

Basically, I have these questions:
(1) Should I lateral to an M&A shop (switching practice groups in my current firm doesn't seem like an available option) to get some corporate experience? Would this help me reach my goal?
(2) How should I go about trying to switch into a corporate/transactional practice? I'm generally willing to take a class year hit, but I would also like to avoid this if possible.
(3) Also, I welcome any general advice about moving to the kind of in-house role I outlined above.

Is there any chance you could find something closer to what you're looking for in the restructuring practice at a smaller firm? In another BK/rx thread, I remember one poster mentioned how the hours at their V100 restructuring practice were "nowhere close" to the schedule that other K&E/Weil associates were describing.

If not, I see a fair number of "re-tool" opportunities posted by recruiters on LinkedIn for associates trying to switch areas, so you might try networking with some headhunters. While I know it's not often the perspective of those hiring in-house lawyers, I've always thought that restructuring may be one of the better areas to prepare for in-house life given how generalist the practice area is.