deleted Forum

[Anonymous User]

deleted. thanks everyone.

[Anonymous User]

Junior associate, been working for two years in a small niche practice group at an international satellite office for a V10 firm. Good pay, great partner, and cordial culture.

The only problem is that I have been coasting for the past year, billing less than 50 hours for my practice group per month! To be sure I did help out busier practice groups and hit 1500 hours for the last year. But I really do not want to continue splitting my time and not grow my skills in my intended practice. I am worried that I don't have enough exposure/skillset to be a mid-level down the road.

No sign of business picking up for my practice group. No one has told me to "look for jobs elsewhere." Seniors said there's nothing I could do other than wait.

Am I crazy to leave for another firm with a busier practice? Thanks.

Leaving isn't crazy, if you do your research. I had a friend at my firm in the exact same situation, also in a niche practice group. After months and months of ~50 hours, he realized the practice group at our firm had one foot in the grave, and other firms were eating our lunch in that area, so he (and a junior partner, iirc) lateraled to another firm that was actually getting that kind of work, and he's happy there.

If you have a solid reason to believe your kind of work will pick up soon at the firm you're at, maybe you just enjoy the chill times and wait for things to get busy. But ~50 hour months are not sustainable forever, so if that's the way it's going to be, you're probably better off lateraling before your firm switches you to a practice you don't like or something.

[Anonymous User]

Following because I'm in a similar "predicament" (except my practice group is actually relatively busy, but I've just been somehow dodging all the work).

My two cents is that it isn't a bad idea to stay, assuming it fits with your overall goals. I don't see you becoming a partner like this, so that's out. Is your niche practice so niche that it doesn't ranslate to inhouse positions?

My area is not that niche, so I think I can still go in house, even though I will not have much substantive experience (as I won't be advertising that during the interviews).

[Anonymous User]

Following because I'm in a similar "predicament" (except my practice group is actually relatively busy, but I've just been somehow dodging all the work).

My two cents is that it isn't a bad idea to stay, assuming it fits with your overall goals. I don't see you becoming a partner like this, so that's out. Is your niche practice so niche that it doesn't ranslate to inhouse positions?

My area is not that niche, so I think I can still go in house, even though I will not have much substantive experience (as I won't be advertising that during the interviews).

Also chiming in as someone who just went in-house from a niche practice in biglaw. No one at the company I'm going to asked how many hours I billed or how many cases I was on. I had a modicum of experience in the very specific field they needed an in-house lawyer in, so that automatically made me the most qualified candidate. (It just so happened I had pretty solid experience and billed ~2000 hours to that practice per year for several years.)

All that to say, if you're in a *really* niche practice to the point where lawyers like you are exceptionally rare, and you want to go in-house, the fact that the niche practice on your resume is probably way more important than how many hours you bill or how much experience you get, though of course it's great to get experience and knowledge if you can. The bigger problem for lawyers like that/like me is that super-niche in-house jobs might open up once ever 5-10 years.

[Anonymous User]

deleted

[Anonymous User]

Thanks everyone. OP here.

No plan to go in-house yet. Still trying to get more out of big law and building my credential as a lawyer. When people in my practice go in-house, it would be on the compliance side, which is not that exciting (you might have guessed what the practice is already)…

Compliance is quite vague so not clear to me what the practice is but my question is whether other associates are busy in your group. Is there a partner or anyone senior who has given you feedback on hours status?

Are there many firms in your market that offer this niche practice? If not, it may be best to stay put.

[Anonymous User]

Thanks everyone. OP here.

No plan to go in-house yet. Still trying to get more out of big law and building my credential as a lawyer. When people in my practice go in-house, it would be on the compliance side, which is not that exciting (you might have guessed what the practice is already)…

Compliance is quite vague so not clear to me what the practice is but my question is whether other associates are busy in your group. Is there a partner or anyone senior who has given you feedback on hours status?

Are there many firms in your market that offer this niche practice? If not, it may be best to stay put.

Yes. There are other firms hiring for this practice, and these other firms seem to attract more business than we do. I guess I just want more exposure and learning and feel the need to move, even though I don't have to.

[Anonymous User]

OP I think the answer really depends on the reason why you’re slow. If it’s corporate like M&A or VC or CapM, then I think you need to talk to the “great partner” you work with and get his take on why you’re not getting work since that practice has been slammed.

If your practice is truly slow and everyone else is billing 50 hours then they should be able to spend time giving you learning tools, working on firm blog posts, going over precedent, doing relevant pro bono etc.

I only say this because if there are issues with your work product that you’re not aware of, then going to another firm isn’t going to fix it (speaking from personal experience). Plus it sounds like you like the firm so why not confirm before you leave.

[Anonymous User]

You in a big market? If so, lateral moves are no big deal in my opinion but smaller markets can make this a tough choice.

[Anonymous User]

Junior associate, been working for two years in a small niche practice group at an international satellite office for a V10 firm. Good pay, great partner, and cordial culture.

[Anonymous User]

deleted. thanks everyone.

OP I am in a very same situation as you. Any advice on what you ended up doing? For me the money at the new firm would be more so Im really leaning but feel like I should be grateful for the slow times here. If you want to talk in private message instead that's ok too just desperate to hear from others who have experienced this too.