Any lawyers that went in-house after becoming a parent?

[Yapyapyapping]

Are there any in-house lawyers that worked in private practice and made the move after becoming a parent? Was it worth it? Is the work life balance really better?

I’m a lawyer and now in house having formerly been in private practice. It’s a bit of a myth that all in house jobs are regular hours and so have a better work life balance to be honest. Just like in private practice it depends on what kind of law you specialise in and what kind of company you work for.

If you do M and A, it doesn’t matter if you are in PP or IH you will have times when you are working mad hours. If you do commercial contracts, you will be flat out at certain times of year when revenue needs to be booked to hit accounting deadlines. If you are a litigator, you will work round the clock before a trial in house just as much as if you were in PP.

I guess if you went in house somewhere like a local authority and were advising on planning applications, perhaps you could guarantee you only worked fixed hours but you will need to pick your role and employer carefully and don’t assume that all in house roles offer work life balance as they don’t.

As above, depends on your specialty. What area are you?

I went in house from private practice. I have much, much better work life balance and the perks of in-house are great in terms of the package. I get private medical/company car/bonus etc none of which I got in private practice. I also wfh full time and only have to go into the office if I have a face to face meeting.

I do work for a big corporate with a big legal team though. I think if you go in house as the only lawyer you can end up getting dragged into all sorts of things outside your practice area, from what friends have told me.

Interesting… i’m in property litigation. Very niche and i’m up North so good in house jobs are quite hard to come by.

Wfh full time is amazing! The perks too! I do get private healthcare and there is a bonus scheme at my firm. However i only get to wfh two days per week and company policy is 3 days in the office or 2 if part time!

You don’t have to stay in exactly the same niche when moving in house though if you are joining a big team you will only be able to reinvent yourself to a limited degree. I’m now GC of a large company with a large legal team and wouldn’t appoint a property litigator to give competition or M and A advice but I would consider them for any litigation role or non contentious property role and once they were in would let them work on other areas if they expressed an interest and had aptitude. If you are joining a smaller company or a local authority there is more chance you can get a role in a different legal discipline or as sole legal counsel but that’s unlikely to come with the benefits described above.

Thank you! This is really positive and reassuring to hear. One of my main concerns has been how niche my current role is, and whether that would limit being accepted or trusted within other areas of law in-house. It’s helpful to know that while there are some natural constraints in larger teams, there is still scope to broaden out over time where there’s interest and aptitude, particularly once you’re through the door. That gives me a lot more confidence about the longer-term flexibility of the move.