(1) Time to Jump In House (?) and (2) How to avoid burning bridges Forum

[Anonymous User]

Update: broke the news this morning. Nothing but back pats, congratulations, and good feelings all around.

Thanks for the advice all I’ll leave the below up for future use

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Hey all so going to organize this into two parts. For context I’m a third year associate in a transactional practice. I lateraled from a V10, where I was a bankruptcy associate, to a V50 where I now do purely transactional work.

(1) just got my in house offer in this week - commercial/corporate counsel position at F100 tech (not FAANG). Comp is 220k, 15% bonus target, 20-40k in RSUs (negotiating) - so about 275-300k all in. Provided that the stuff in (2) tracks, this is a pretty great deal for a lawyer at my level right? I’m reading this as just about as strong of an in house offer that I could have hoped for, and think it merits hopping off of the Biglaw train a year or two early. Practically speaking I’ve only just now started to make the 250k third year salary so it won’t be a big practical change from my second year 225k. My firm also requires hours for bonus, which I won’t hit, so a bonus that I’ll actually earn most years seems nice. The environment seems nice at the company as well. F100 can sometimes just be Biglaw 2.0 but at the very least my read on everyone who would be working with me directly is they they are all very relaxed people.

(2) I’ve been at my new firm for less than a year. I took a risk switching practice areas and it did not pay off - really not a fan of the new practice area (multitude of reasons that are all fundamental to the practice). The in house role is much more generalist and I’m as confident that I can be that I’ll enjoy it more.

At my firm, I think I’m socially well regarded as far as attending events, having a good attitude, etc but I suspect I’m not overly well regarded professionally at my firm as I’ve only billed a 150+ month once and, through a combination of the firm being slow and my not marketing for work aggressively (hating the work, unable to mentally commit to a career in this practice group, likely to my own detriment), am not a profitable biller by any means. It’s been a tough process of interviewing for positions while also acting like I want to improve, get more work at my firm, etc.

Overall I’d like to leave without at least burning bridges outright. I’m unsure of whether certain partners will be quietly relieved that I found a way out or upset that I rolled in, took my signing bonus, and left without doing all that much work. Any advice on how to approach? I’m unsure of whether to take an “it’s not the firm it’s just that this job is great and I think it’s best for me” approach, or more of a “this is just a deal that didn’t work out” (with some explanations available in the unlikely event that this meeting lasts longer than 10 minutes).

Ultimately I understand that I don’t even merit a footnote at this firm, but it’s much better in my opinion to keep things amicable, so any advice on how to handle correctly is appreciated.

[nealric]

Sounds like a pretty reasonable offer, and I agree you probably won't be getting anything dramatically better on the comp side unless you waited to become quite a bit more senior. Main thing is whether you like the company and the work environment. If you do, it sounds like a nice upgrade from biglaw.

I wouldn't worry about burning bridges with the firm. When I announced I was moving in-house, I was suddenly everyone's new best friend. Partners I had never worked with sent me emails whishing me luck and wanting to connect after I was settled in at my company. Once you are a potential client, they have every reason not to burn their bridges with you.

[Anonymous User]

Congrats on the offer! Yes, you probably would need to stick around in biglaw another three years to get an offer that beats that, and even then it would be tough sledding. I've only had the one in-house position, but I too thought the people were pretty relaxed when I interviewed and that turned out to be accurate. But you never know (and that's no reason to pass this one up if you are excited about the position).

There are going to be partners who are upset that you are leaving inside a year, but they'll have forgotten about you by July.

[TigerIsBack]

I second all the above. Sounds like a good offer on the comp side and that you're not enjoying your current role.

On the burning bridges, I think just being honest about it being a great opportunity you didn't want to pass up is the right answer, but you don't need to be worried. I have lateraled before (to another firm, not in-house) and everyone is shockingly nice about it and understanding/professional. It happens all the time in biglaw. I've seen friends leave to go in-house and people are even nicer to those people on the way out, because as noted above, you're now a potential source of work for the firm. The only thing I'd say is you mentioned your signing bonus and that you've been at your firm less than a year - most firms have a 1-year clawback on signing bonuses, so I'd check your offer letter in case they enforce that. Might not matter if you end up hitting a year before your departure date, but I'm not sure how close you are to that mark.

[existentialcrisis]

Take the offer.

I don't think the firm will be that upset either, they generally like putting people in house.

[hangtime813]

Great offer that tons of people would jump at. If in house is the goal, id take and not look back. Congrats!

[Anonymous User]

I second all the above. Sounds like a good offer on the comp side and that you're not enjoying your current role.

On the burning bridges, I think just being honest about it being a great opportunity you didn't want to pass up is the right answer, but you don't need to be worried. I have lateraled before (to another firm, not in-house) and everyone is shockingly nice about it and understanding/professional. It happens all the time in biglaw. I've seen friends leave to go in-house and people are even nicer to those people on the way out, because as noted above, you're now a potential source of work for the firm. The only thing I'd say is you mentioned your signing bonus and that you've been at your firm less than a year - most firms have a 1-year clawback on signing bonuses, so I'd check your offer letter in case they enforce that. Might not matter if you end up hitting a year before your departure date, but I'm not sure how close you are to that mark.

Op here - unfortunately they’ve got me contractually on this but I’m hopeful that by exiting gracefully and going in house rather than to another firm they won’t enforce it. I asked a former recruiter who’s still a professional contact of mine and he suggested that firms are loathe to actually sue you for it or something because of the bad optics, worst case.

But end of the day it is a potential risk and I’m willing to accept it.

[Anonymous User]

I second all the above. Sounds like a good offer on the comp side and that you're not enjoying your current role.

On the burning bridges, I think just being honest about it being a great opportunity you didn't want to pass up is the right answer, but you don't need to be worried. I have lateraled before (to another firm, not in-house) and everyone is shockingly nice about it and understanding/professional. It happens all the time in biglaw. I've seen friends leave to go in-house and people are even nicer to those people on the way out, because as noted above, you're now a potential source of work for the firm. The only thing I'd say is you mentioned your signing bonus and that you've been at your firm less than a year - most firms have a 1-year clawback on signing bonuses, so I'd check your offer letter in case they enforce that. Might not matter if you end up hitting a year before your departure date, but I'm not sure how close you are to that mark.

Op here - unfortunately they’ve got me contractually on this but I’m hopeful that by exiting gracefully and going in house rather than to another firm they won’t enforce it. I asked a former recruiter who’s still a professional contact of mine and he suggested that firms are loathe to actually sue you for it or something because of the bad optics, worst case.

But end of the day it is a potential risk and I’m willing to accept it.

I will echo that almost all well-adjusted lawyers will not care about you departing. I've left in-house (and back again now) and normal people are capable of being happy for you personally while understanding it may set them back professionally. You are free to choose how you get paid for your own professional time.

There still may be particular partners who are upset, but that is on them not you. I had a bad experience in my case with one partner because I was "his" associate doing most of his work and I gave him my in-house notice while he was also going through a divorce and child custody problems. He did not take the news well, but I know he wasn't in a great head space to begin with.