Finance stub—are there exit ops worth sticking around for? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Already hating biglaw (not the work or the people, just the biglaw environment) and wondering if it’s worth sticking around. I know the general advice is to stick it out for a few years until you can go in house, but from what I understand, those in house jobs look for corporate generalists. I have no intention of moving to New York to go in house for a bank.

I’m wondering whether it makes more sense to make an early exit before I’ve established myself too much as a finance associate—I’m open to government, public interest, whatever. As long as there are no billable hour requirements. I’m worried the longer I wait, the harder it would be to jump into something totally different, whereas right now, I could still market myself as a new grad (H/S, if that helps). Couldn’t hurt to throw out some apps right?

Just seems like a miserable environment to stick it out in for not-great exit ops. Fwiw, I do have significant loans but planning to go on IBR.

[TUwave]

Already hating biglaw (not the work or the people, just the biglaw environment) and wondering if it’s worth sticking around. I know the general advice is to stick it out for a few years until you can go in house, but from what I understand, those in house jobs look for corporate generalists. I have no intention of moving to New York to go in house for a bank.

I’m wondering whether it makes more sense to make an early exit before I’ve established myself too much as a finance associate—I’m open to government, public interest, whatever. As long as there are no billable hour requirements. I’m worried the longer I wait, the harder it would be to jump into something totally different, whereas right now, I could still market myself as a new grad (H/S, if that helps). Couldn’t hurt to throw out some apps right?

Just seems like a miserable environment to stick it out in for not-great exit ops. Fwiw, I do have significant loans but planning to go on IBR.

Retool to a M&A/Cap Markets/ECVC position, suck it up for a couple years and pay down your loans, and then go in-house.

[justanotherlurker]

Is it right that you have been at the firm for only 2 or 3 months? What about the environment do you hate?

To me (and I apologize if I'm reading too much in between the lines of your post), it sounds like you're having stress/feeling pressure about billable hours and tracking your time. That is a normal adjustment to working at a law firm. You get used to it. Tracking your time becomes a chore, but not a stressor, and you learn how to cope with the busy times and enjoy the down time. If those are the kinds of things getting you down, you might try to give it some more time.

But your post raises a bigger question: Why do you want to be a lawyer, and what kind of law do you want to practice? Do you want to end up a corporate lawyer in-house, or a litigator, or a regulator/policymaker?

Finally, for what it's worth, the new grad job market in public interest/government is very, very tough. You've probably missed the boat on fellowships, DOJ honors, etc. Sure, it wouldn't hurt to throw out some apps for your dream job, but I wouldn't be optimistic - especially given the state of the economy with COVID.

[Anonymous User]

Is it right that you have been at the firm for only 2 or 3 months? What about the environment do you hate?

To me (and I apologize if I'm reading too much in between the lines of your post), it sounds like you're having stress/feeling pressure about billable hours and tracking your time. That is a normal adjustment to working at a law firm. You get used to it. Tracking your time becomes a chore, but not a stressor, and you learn how to cope with the busy times and enjoy the down time. If those are the kinds of things getting you down, you might try to give it some more time.

But your post raises a bigger question: Why do you want to be a lawyer, and what kind of law do you want to practice? Do you want to end up a corporate lawyer in-house, or a litigator, or a regulator/policymaker?

Finally, for what it's worth, the new grad job market in public interest/government is very, very tough. You've probably missed the boat on fellowships, DOJ honors, etc. Sure, it wouldn't hurt to throw out some apps for your dream job, but I wouldn't be optimistic - especially given the state of the economy with COVID.

I am coming up on 3 months, yes. In addition to the time tracking, the hours suck obviously. On average I have about 2 hours of free time per weeknight to eat dinner and watch a little TV before bed. And everyone senior to me is even busier. I’ve already started missing out on family stuff due to work, and the holidays obviously make it feel worse. I’m not trying to say it’s unbearable, and I obviously wouldn’t quit without having something else lined up, but it also doesn’t seem like there’s anything to look forward to here except more work. My top priority right now would be finding something, anything, with sustainable hours, whether that’s in law or otherwise. I’m hoping to find something sooner rather than later but, again, wouldn’t quit with nothing lined up. If you told me there are amazing exit opportunities that await a third year finance associate or something, that might be worth thinking about. But otherwise, I think I’d jump at the first available opportunity that offers a living wage and normal human hours that allow me to participate in my life.

To the previous poster: I don’t think I can retool at my current firm.