Lawyers, what would you do?

[MightyMeerkat]

I'm a 37 year old lawyer at a large national firm. I'm single with no kids having devoted the last 15 years to my career. Except that I've recently been passed over for promotion and am now starting to wonder whether I've wasted my life....

I have 3 options:

1. Stay where I am, but be overworked, underpaid and stressed and hope that they stick by their promise of promotion in 2015.
2. Accept a job at another large national firm, more money and promises of promotion in 2016 and arguably better quality of work which could take my career to new heights.
3. Accept a job at a small regional firm, big pay cut and reduced quality of work but regular hours and less stress.

Option 3 is starting to look really attractive - I could actually get a life! -but it would mean a real step off the career ladder. Would I get bored with routine work? What would I do with all my newly acquired free time? Is 37 too young to take such a step? Would I regret it?

Option 1 is tempting because it's easy and comfortable. Better the devil you know etc. However, I'm not sure anything will change and I could end up being a lonely bitter 40 odd year old!

Option 2 fills me with a sense of exhaustion. More money would be lovely but I think I'm almost at the point that I don't want to have to build my career again somewhere else.

I would be interested in hearing whether any of you have had a similar career dilemma and what you did.

Thanks

Didn't want to read and run. What area of practice are you in? Career advice can depend on the market - Commercial Property equals hot property at the moment whereas you couldn't get looked at 3 years ago.

You're not in a relationship so you don't have to factor in hanging around at your current firm for accrued maternity benefits or anything.

I think you just have to go with your gut feeling and do what suits you best at the moment. You won't starve whatever job you pick, so I would be thinking in terms of quality of work vs quality of life.

Thanks for replying.

I'm in a fairly niche area of public law so lots of jobs in London, but few in the regions. I wish I was in commercial property, it would give me lots more freedom of choice!

As silly as it sounds, I have been my career for 15 years. If I give it up what will be left?! Scary thought.

I'm probably not the best solicitor to advise on career strategy - I'm pretty cynical. Same shit somewhere else is usually the case - no rest for the legal. Someone else will come along soon with pearls of wisdom and strategic advice on positioning etc

I'm ex Magic Circle, was made redundant a year before I was supposedly up for partnership. totally destroyed my career path, but I'm pretty philosophical. Spent 3 years as a SAHM as I was pregnant and there were absolutely no jobs anyway. I'm back working, full time, although I'll never be more than a perpetual senior associate now. All my clients have moved on.

Sorry to hear the legal profession has treated you no better than me.

I'm pretty cynical too. Come to the conclusion that we are all interchangeable commoditities strung along by promises of recognition and reward that never materialise!

Do you have clients of your own who will follow you in Option 2? In other words, what does your order book look like and is bringing in work a requirement of Option 2?

Is in-house or public sector an option?

Bringing in work would be a requirement of option 2 but I'm not required to have a following on day one. I couldn't guarantee I would have clients to bring with me as most are on all service agreements with my current firm.

In house isn't an option. Public sector would be great but I can't afford the 50% pay cut it would entail.

I left a national firm. I gave up a very decent maternity package which I somewhat regret now that DP and I are TTC.

I am now working at a very small boutique practice. The work I have is of a lower quality than what I did before but I have a much better work/life balance. I have only worked beyond 5.30 pm on two ocassions this year & can always take my lunch break. I'm not very career minded anymore (i want to change careers) so this is good for me but if your career is very important, i'd be more minded to go for option 2.

Aside from the maternity package, do you ever regret your decision, luna? Do you ever get bored?
I used to be very career minded but less and less these days. The stress really gets me down after a while. Plus the hours leave little time for a life outside work do I am starting to question what I'm actually working for!

I do get a little bored but that, I think, is largely due to going from having a ridiculously huge caseload to a very small caseload (probably a normal caseload rather than small!). I have found it hard to break that adrenelin mindset you get into if you have worked under a lot of pressure for years.

The lower quality work doesn't bother me so much, sometimes it is nice to do a bit of simple work where I don't have to think too much or worry about being negligent. I do have some complicated files and interesting ones but I have a lot more routine work now than before.

Overall, no I don't regret leaving a large firm and I am glad I am out of there. It was incredibly stressful and my role had absolutely no prospects. I moved on as I was genuinley scared that I would have a breakdown if I stayed. I wouldn't have a breakdown at my current firm. Die of boredom perhaps, but go off with stress, no chance!

I rarely have sleepless nights anymore and I don't feel so stressed (I find the general nature of legal work and regulation stressful though hence my desire to change careers).

Part of me thinks going to a new firm is the best way to progress. The problem with moving up the ranks is that if you have annoyed one person/messed up a case/pissed a client off - you'll always be remembered for that despite all the success you have. At a new firm, you get a fresh start, you can go in, be efficient and impress people much more quicky and easily.

Sorry, really gone on here!

Go for option 2 so long as it is clear that the firm is expected to feed you their clients, rather than you building your own business case. In the latter case, the risk is that your promotion is based on how busy you are and if you are not, you would stagnate again or possibly be pushed out.

It can be quite a harsh world, particularly at your seniority.

I know what you mean about the adrenalin mindset - if something isn't urgent then it won't get done for ages! I think I will find it hard to break that habit. But living with that kind of stress is just not sustainable long term I think. The more I think about it, the more I recognise how miserable I have been for so long.

I agree about a new firm being the best way to progress. Home grown talent is often ignored where I work in favour of the talked up new lateral hire - even though half of them never turn out to be as expected.

Thanks for your comments. Option 3 is starting to look like the best bet, just need to think about the practicalities.

The only thing I would add about Option 3 is that at a smaller firm you may have less admin support, which in itself could be stressful. I'm quite happy filing as I go, typing letters and light copying/scanning (I do have assistance but as I am not very busy I tend to do a lot of this myself) but I know some people don't! You may not have many trainees/paralegals to assist you.

You may need to be more on top of CPD, money laundering regs and conduct issues as you might not have a department sorting that out. Client relations may also be more important if the firm does not have a main source of clients.

On a different angel, could something law related but not being a lawyer be another option? PSL/journalism/publishing/legal training/mediation?

I'm 38 and in a similar position (although my firm is saying that there is still a chance of partnership but I no longer believe them - they never make any one up in my office, just hire laterals who don't live up to their promise...). I'm choosing option 2 and talking to a couple of firms at the moment. I feel like I'm not quite ready to "give up" yet and to me (to speak bluntly) something like option 3 would feel to me like giving up when I have worked so hard for so long.

I'm 38 and in a similar position (although my firm is saying that there is still a chance of partnership but I no longer believe them - they never make any one up in my office, just hire laterals who don't live up to their promise...). I'm choosing option 2 and talking to a couple of firms at the moment. I feel like I'm not quite ready to "give up" yet and to me (to speak bluntly) something like option 3 would feel to me like giving up when I have worked so hard for so long.

I know what you mean about the support, luna. But I don't think it would bother me if I wasn't working at such a frantic pace all of the time.

Euro, I agree about the giving up thing. And that's my biggest worry, that I am throwing away a promising career after all my hard work and sacrifices. Having thought about it a lot, option 2 seems impossible at the moment. I don't have it in me to be enthusiastic and perky about a new job. I have some time off coming up soon, maybe a rest will chairs my view.

Slightly different point but did you see the yahoo article the other day which said lawyers are the most unhappy of all employees? I didn't find it very surprising sadly.