When is it appropriate to move on? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I passed the July '24 bar and have been working in a local government agency doing almost nothing at work.
I've been handling these super simple administrative hearings every day, following other attorneys in hearings to "observe" them (it's the same type of hearing over and over again, not much to learn from), and the supervisors at my office don't seem to care about the newer attorneys' development. The agency is very hierarchical, so I'm subject to the whims of the higher ups.

The pay is excellent, though--low six figures. My work involves almost no thinking, writing, nor research of any kind. It's been all easy admin hearings so far. But I fear that I'm not learning and growing here. I've worked here since September. When would it be time to start looking for other jobs?

[asdfasdf2]

Personally, I would say never. Sometimes life is about learning to take the win. Making six figures and not having to think to do it is rare.

[Anonymous User]

I'm in a very similar situation, except in bigfed. I think it's a nice to land in a position like yours after life has chewed you up and spit you out, but it's kind of insane to just retire immediately out of law school.

[nealric]

Personally, I would say never. Sometimes life is about learning to take the win. Making six figures and not having to think to do it is rare.

The problem is that if you don't grow your skills you'll end up completely dependent on the organization. If anything changes at that organization, you are up a creek. Government may seem "safe", but a lot of federal employees probably thought they had 100% job security until recently. You never know what could happen over 10, 20, or 30 years. You don't want to find yourself laid off at 50 without enough money to retire but no skills to sell to another employer.

To the OP, it's been less than a year. I'd probably target staying 2-3 years at your first job, but you can start your soft search now. A soft search means networking (informational interviews, coffee chats, etc.) and maybe throwing in an application if a really attractive opportunity presents. You can also start to talk to your supervisors about taking on more responsibility or getting involved in other matters. There may even be some opportunities to take initiative and get involved without asking.

[Anonymous User]

Also, do any attorneys in the office do more interesting work? Like is there the potential to do more complex work at some future point, or is this super simple stuff all there is? If the former, I agree you don’t want to hang around forever waiting for the opportunity to do it, but can you reach out to those attorneys and ask them for advice about getting into more interesting work?

Or are there any other more interesting divisions in your agency or local government more broadly that you can talk to attorneys there about moving into those jobs?

If the super simple stuff is what the job is then I agree that “soft searching” is a good move, but people often move around between different parts of local government so seeing if you can use being in already to your advantage to do something more interesting might help.

[Anonymous User]

OP here.
I like nealric's advice. Becoming dependent on this org would be a bad idea.

To the most recent poster, I don't know if these admin hearings are all there is, or if I'll get a chance to move on to better things. It'll be worth asking around.
In the meantime I'll do soft searches. 2-3 years here in the meantime sounds reasonable.

Thank you all for sharing!

[Anonymous User]

Out of curiosity, might you be able to spend time doing legal research for a law review article? That keeps your legal mind moving and potentially puts you out there for other jobs if you can get it published. It's a great signal that you have capacity for more if you can prove it by getting published (and that your writing is good).

[Anonymous User]

I had a do nothing gig at DOJ. It was supposed to be an interesting/prestigious office that folks on here would probably rate highly, but for whatever reason I had only a few hours of substantively challenging work a month. I waited for things to improve for about 18 months and then made a move; I wasn’t ready to functionally end my legal career in my early 30s and just drone on for a paycheck. I also became pretty deeply depressed, tbh, and I don’t think waiting as long as I did or any longer would have been healthy.

It seems like you feel a bit like I did in this role at first. I would give it a year or so, talk to folks to see if the role substantively changes over time, and then get serious about making the move. Don’t feel any shame in selling your experience as more than it was—everyone in your position has to do the same. Good luck.

[Anonymous User]

OP again.
Thank you to everybody who contributed.

The other attys at the office essentially do the same thing as me--low-stakes hearings with at most a few hours of challenging substantive legal work every month. It seems the only way to move up in this agency is to apply for an opening when somebody higher up leaves. Then, another old-timer or somebody good at office politics gets the position. Those new openings are rare, though, because the senior attorneys are too comfortable to leave.

I haven't thought about writing a law review article. I do enjoy the research and writing aspects of law, so that's worth looking into.

Maybe it is a blessing to get paid 6-figures to do almost nothing, but non-monetary things like marketable skills and enjoyment at work matter too. I don't want to end up regretting that I spent 2+ years here.