Bring up professional dissatisfaction at evaluation Forum

[Anonymous User]

My evaluation with the partners in my group is coming up. I think all has been fine (received no complaints through the year) and the firm has been good to us through the pandemic (no layoffs, same as during the 2008 crisis and no salary reductions).

Only issue I have with the office I am in is that all I am doing is transactional law. That is all my office focuses on so I can't switch out of it, unless I move to a different office in the network. I don't know if I would like it better, but I would like to try to do some litigation. So, that would mean I have to switch offices. I also have personal, geographical reasons which lead me to want to switch offices.

I'm wondering if during my eval it's smart to just be completely honest and bring up I am looking to switch offices for both of the aforementioned reasons, or only bring up the personal reasons for wanting to move? Part of me is afraid that they will indicate that they're definitely not looking for litigation associates and use my conveying I want to broaden my horizon as a reason to put me on the chopping block, as they could interpret that as me not really wanting to stay at the firm (which, to be fair, is true, I have been in touch with recruiters just in case). Or am I just overthinking it?

[malibustacy]

I don't know how it works at your firm, but think about who has the ability to influence such things and if saying what you mean to say will actually move the ball in the direction you prefer.

Are you a junior? I would definitely not bring up the fact that you want to switch offices if your review.

There are more discrete ways of accomplishing this, such as leveraging connections in other offices or discussing this with partners there. No transactional partner reviewing you is going out of the way to make your dreams of practicing litigation in another office come true. I just see zero upsize in mentioning it, just a lot of potential downsides.

[Whatislaw]

Agree with the above post. All bad with no good. All you will accomplish is inform your current Partners that you won't want to stick around long-term in transactional practice.

[lolwutpar]

This one is tricky. Wanting to move offices for personal reasons is valid and common (though don't mention this in the review). But, when you move, you'll still be in the transactional group. Switching both a group and an office seems...tough.

[jotarokujo]

You still need to move ASAP though. the longer you stay in transactional the harder it will be to switch to litigation

[gregfootball2001]

Only issue I have with the office I am in is that all I am doing is transactional law. That is all my office focuses on so I can't switch out of it, unless I move to a different office in the network. I don't know if I would like it better, but I would like to try to do some litigation. So, that would mean I have to switch offices.

Why do you have to switch offices to work with someone in another office? I work in a larger firm, so perhaps it's different, but literally 80% of my work comes from partners in other offices. Can you reach out and see if you can help out with a lit matter and get your foot in the door?