I lateraled and *hate* my new firm Forum

[Anonymous User]

I was totally misled by the partners and recruiters...this place is awful. I miss my old firm and want to go back.

I've been here for 3 months and spend each day regretting my choice to work here. Very grateful for any advice from anyone who's left and then changed their mind.

[Anonymous User]

Well, what do you hate specifically? The things you hate might be common to all law firms. Or they may be common to a specific type of practice. Without more details, I think it will be hard to provide an answer regarding potential exit opportunities.

[Res Ipsa Loquitter]

Experience level, market, practice group, and rough V rank of firms you’ve worked at?

[Anonymous User]

I was totally mislead one time. In my case, I stuck it out for a year and then bailed to another firm. In the meanwhile, I did whatever I could to make the experience bearable (sick days, mentally disconnecting as much as I could, a lot of exercise).

[Anonymous User]

I was totally misled by the partners and recruiters...this place is awful. I miss my old firm and want to go back.

I've been here for 3 months and spend each day regretting my choice to work here. Very grateful for any advice from anyone who's left and then changed their mind.

Can you just talk to your old firm and go back? If you're well liked and have a good reputation, I'm sure they'd be happy to take you back (if not immediately, maybe in a couple of months whenever there is a need).

[Anonymous User]

Very frankly, your best move might be to see if a little bit of groveling to your old firm might fix your problem instantly. I had to do this once and it did pay off surprisingly well. You might deal with a little bit of smug satisfaction from the old firm, and that's okay, they deserve the ego stroke. You just want your old job back.

With only 3 months going by, the pros and cons of this are pretty weighted in favor of doing it:

* 3 months is so quick that this will not disrupt your CV
* The feeling of goodwill you hopefully left behind at the old firm is still present
* The negative feelings caused by your departure will be less than if you had done this after a full year or so.
* You have nothing to lose. If the old firm says no, I guess you'll be sticking it out for a year or so.

Not seeing the huge downside of trying.

[thehistorian]

Very frankly, your best move might be to see if a little bit of groveling to your old firm might fix your problem instantly. I had to do this once and it did pay off surprisingly well. You might deal with a little bit of smug satisfaction from the old firm, and that's okay, they deserve the ego stroke. You just want your old job back.

With only 3 months going by, the pros and cons of this are pretty weighted in favor of doing it:

* 3 months is so quick that this will not disrupt your CV
* The feeling of goodwill you hopefully left behind at the old firm is still present
* The negative feelings caused by your departure will be less than if you had done this after a full year or so.
* You have nothing to lose. If the old firm says no, I guess you'll be sticking it out for a year or so.

Not seeing the huge downside of trying.

This seems like a good option. As long as you did not burn any bridges there, going back to the old job seems like a good option.

[Anonymous User]

I left my first firm on good terms earlier this year and framed it as a practice group switch (which was true, and Firm #1 does not have my current practice group). My firm explicitly told me the door was open if I wanted to come back. There are also a few people I personally know of who did this at Firm #1.

An associate in my current practice group at Firm #2 also left and returned to Firm #2 within 3 months. I think this is not uncommon, so reach out to your old firm (maybe preview it with some partners you worked for?) and see what they have to say.

[Anonymous User]

Thanks all for the advice. I'm a corporate junior in a secondary market. My firm before this one was ~v50.

[Res Ipsa Loquitter]

Thanks all for the advice. I'm a corporate junior in a secondary market. My firm before this one was ~v50.

If you can’t get back to your original firm I strongly suggest sticking it out. Opportunities for corporate juniors are thin, unless you’re doing debt finance