Hi everyone, I have worked in-house and at a Tier 1. I quit the tier one and moved back inhouse to a newer company and was extremely happy with the immediate relief I felt. Money at my current job isn’t a problem, culture is great and work hours are super manageable. But, I am no longer doing transactions and the work at this place is quite honestly straight forward and not as mentally stimulating. I miss being staffed on high value transactions and just the more challenging work in general but every time I think about the firm I was working at, I dread having to work in that environment again. I’m at a crucial point in my career and I need to decide what I want to do. Is it worth trying out another Tier 1 firm? Did I write them all off too early by just working at one of them? Or should I just look for another inhouse job and accept that working on quality deals in India necessarily means you have to put up with super toxic culture? Also, please save the “stop looking for career advice on LI” comments. This is an anonymous forum of lawyers and I want to hear from everyone. What I do with the feedback I receive is my business. TIA.

For your sanity, continue at the in-house firm. Your job at a law firm may have provided you with bursts of adrenaline; but you need a steady stream of peace/calm in the long run. Ask if you can take on more responsibilities in your current role, go on secondments etc. It seems like you’ve gotten a good gig - so do introspect :)

This sounds ideal but do you think you got the gig because of the number of years you spent with a firm before? I quit the tier 1 pretty quickly…but I think the kind of role you’re working in is usually bagged by people who have done transactions at a law firm for a atleast 3-4 years?

More than 3-4 years. In my opinion, for the average lawyer, it takes at least 5-7 years of work experience to understand their practice area to a decent level of competence. So, you won't get such a role with 1-3 years of experience.

If a T1 law firm doesn't work for you, I found working in a T2 firm to be a better training ground. I had a great boss and I did a far wider range of work compared to the equivalent work ex folks at the T1 firm I later joined. Additionally, I didn't only do due diligences for the first few years. I was drafting docs from year 1 (at whatever competence that I could manage) but that really did help me. That came at the cost of earning lesser but I was fine with that.

If you like being in-house, see how you can create a role for yourself (even perhaps within the same organisation - may take a year and some deft relationship building) that is more exciting. Both in-house jobs I've had I've been able to fashion something for myself that is more than/ different from the original JD advertised - because once I was in the door I could prove my chops and display ambition. I wouldn't go back to law firm life if you paid me 10x to. My time, health, relationships, fitness, hobbies, occasional navelgazing -- all matter too much to me ;-)

Very true. Corporate culture and in-house has its own problems, no doubt, but if you're competent and at some companies you can have more flexibility to move into adjacent spaces than in law firms, where the power and progression structures are much more fixed (except for a few non-legal roles).