Looking for some advice here.
I'm a senior litigation associate who moved to a firm late last year after being recruited to work with a particular set of partners.
Needless to say, the things I was promised when I made the move haven't borne out. I'm working in an area of law I have no interest or experience in, the hours have been insane even for biglaw standards, and the firm is hemorrhaging associates because of the workload combined with not paying COVID or market bonuses, which just compounds the first two problems.
I'm looking to make a quick exit. Given the above, do folks have success stories about making a switch from a situation like this? Is it as simple as describing that I've been pigeonholed into an area of law where I have no interest or experience and want to move back to an area within my expertise?
I have good credentials (T6, clerkship, etc.), and this is the first job I've had other than clerking where I've lasted less than 3 years, so I'm hopeful I won't come off as a job-hopper. But welcome any thoughts, particularly in the current market.
Advice to Quickly Make a Move After Lateralling to a Poor Fit Forum
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Re: Advice to Quickly Make a Move After Lateralling to a Poor Fit
Bumping cause I am in the same position, except that I am still in the 2-5 year sweet spot. Should I just get out now or wait a year!
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Re: Advice to Quickly Make a Move After Lateralling to a Poor Fit
I was on a similar boat, albeit as a more junior, and jumped ship in less than a year after lateraling (i.e., I started applying 4-5 months in).
I emphasized exactly what you described: that I wanted to practice X and was promised that when I lateraled only to find out that the team did only 2-30% of X area and the remaining was on Y which I had zero interest in. I also applied specifically to all firms that focused on the X area, did my due diligence (searched on the web and spoke to either people who were working in those firms or others who had worked across from those firms), and described why I thought those firms would be a good fit given my previous experiences and long term interest.
Most people I interviewed with did not seem to mind the quick jump; interviewers generally seemed to deem the aforementioned reasons to be reasonable. I think as long as you positively describe it (e.g., that you think the current firm is a good place, just not focused on the area of law you’d like to grow your practice in), people seem to be generally ok with one quick jump.
I emphasized exactly what you described: that I wanted to practice X and was promised that when I lateraled only to find out that the team did only 2-30% of X area and the remaining was on Y which I had zero interest in. I also applied specifically to all firms that focused on the X area, did my due diligence (searched on the web and spoke to either people who were working in those firms or others who had worked across from those firms), and described why I thought those firms would be a good fit given my previous experiences and long term interest.
Most people I interviewed with did not seem to mind the quick jump; interviewers generally seemed to deem the aforementioned reasons to be reasonable. I think as long as you positively describe it (e.g., that you think the current firm is a good place, just not focused on the area of law you’d like to grow your practice in), people seem to be generally ok with one quick jump.
