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Six months ago, I made a lateral move to a much lower ranked firm that heavily marketed itself as being a lifestyle option. Instead I’m on track for 3000 hours, responsiveness and turnaround expectations are outrageous, people are being a—holes, there’s a ton of people with goodwill capital ahead of me for partnership prospects, and so on. Am I going to have any luck moving again, and if so, what do I say? I’m not afraid of hard work, I just don’t like being mislead into a suboptimal situation.

Right there with you man. I started the search. Will be my third firm. Just keep trucking. Its hard but we'll do alright.

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 11, 2022 10:17 am

Six months ago, I made a lateral move to a much lower ranked firm that heavily marketed itself as being a lifestyle option. Instead I’m on track for 3000 hours, responsiveness and turnaround expectations are outrageous, people are being a—holes, there’s a ton of people with goodwill capital ahead of me for partnership prospects, and so on. Am I going to have any luck moving again, and if so, what do I say? I’m not afraid of hard work, I just don’t like being mislead into a suboptimal situation.

Is returning to your old firm an option? I've heard in this market, firms are pretty friendly to "U-turns" for people who were good and left on good terms.

Moved out of NYC and my previous firm doesn't hire remote associates, so I can’t really go back to the previous firm.

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 11, 2022 11:53 am

Moved out of NYC and my previous firm doesn't hire remote associates, so I can’t really go back to the previous firm.

Same for me OP. Tried to go back to my firm after 6 months. Left on good terms. Was a no-go. Also remote. I love working remotely but hate that we are even more disposable it feels like for firms. I guess a trade off.

I have been in this situation before. It’s an uphill climb and the short jump will be a red flag, but it isn’t impossible to overcome. At the end of the day, only you can weigh how miserable you are in your current spot versus the potential downside of applying elsewhere. You may be forced to look at firms you consider a downgrade, or if you interview around and don’t get anything you want, you might harm your chances to re-interview at those spots a year or two from now. I made a horrible lateral move similar to yours and then jumped again a year after - interviewing was at the 10 month spot or thereabouts - so it isn’t impossible.

As to what to say, I think you just need to find a way to explain you were promised X and got Y. There are better ways to couch it than “I work too much and hate the partners I work for,” of course.

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 11, 2022 10:17 am

Six months ago, I made a lateral move to a much lower ranked firm that heavily marketed itself as being a lifestyle option. Instead I’m on track for 3000 hours, responsiveness and turnaround expectations are outrageous, people are being a—holes, there’s a ton of people with goodwill capital ahead of me for partnership prospects, and so on. Am I going to have any luck moving again, and if so, what do I say? I’m not afraid of hard work, I just don’t like being mislead into a suboptimal situation.

Can you offer what you’ve done to deal with the situation?

-Tried to set boundaries
-log off at 10 p.m., log on at 9 a.m.
-be responsive but more “will do” than actually handling the request

Worst they can do is fire you which typically takes 3-6 months.

Would ramp down and not take the shit from the partners. Play the beta and say little but do what you want. Act in accord with what you were promised not what they delivered.

Cautionary tale and sorry to hear about this BS. It’s a pretty shit working environment across so much of Biglaw, irrespective of the rankings.

I'm in a similar situation except with an inhouse job and have been there less than 3 months. Is pretty devastating to me since I worked hard to get this job and was very excited to leave biglaw for this. Also don't think the door is open for me to go back to my firm since I moved for this.

I am at a loss regarding what to do.

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 11, 2022 1:17 pm

I'm in a similar situation except with an inhouse job and have been there less than 3 months. Is pretty devastating to me since I worked hard to get this job and was very excited to leave biglaw for this. Also don't think the door is open for me to go back to my firm since I moved for this.

I am at a loss regarding what to do.

Right there with you. Was a litigation associate... lateraled to a remote corporate position because I loved the flexibility of remote.. within 2 weeks I was looking to lateral back to litigation. It's been a struggle.

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 11, 2022 1:38 pm

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 11, 2022 1:17 pm

I'm in a similar situation except with an inhouse job and have been there less than 3 months. Is pretty devastating to me since I worked hard to get this job and was very excited to leave biglaw for this. Also don't think the door is open for me to go back to my firm since I moved for this.

I am at a loss regarding what to do.

Right there with you. Was a litigation associate... lateraled to a remote corporate position because I loved the flexibility of remote.. within 2 weeks I was looking to lateral back to litigation. It's been a struggle.

What happened in the first two weeks? Weren’t you onboarding for half of that. Sorry to hear

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 11, 2022 2:03 pm

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 11, 2022 1:38 pm

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 11, 2022 1:17 pm

I'm in a similar situation except with an inhouse job and have been there less than 3 months. Is pretty devastating to me since I worked hard to get this job and was very excited to leave biglaw for this. Also don't think the door is open for me to go back to my firm since I moved for this.

I am at a loss regarding what to do.

Right there with you. Was a litigation associate... lateraled to a remote corporate position because I loved the flexibility of remote.. within 2 weeks I was looking to lateral back to litigation. It's been a struggle.

What happened in the first two weeks? Weren’t you onboarding for half of that. Sorry to hear

Just the work, the group, everything. It wasn't what I was sold on. Though I would be part of a larger group, ended up in a group of 10 people and we don't vibe at all. I also missed the diversity of litigation work. I onboarded for 4 hours my first day. That was it. Since then, it's just been a failure to integrate. Have to fight for work and no one gives me work (probably because I'm remote and no one knows me, but oh well). 8 months later, still here, looking to get back into litigation work. Trying!