Eighth-year BL general commercial litigator here facing what feels like a crossroads career decision. Long-ish brain dump ahead, but any advice would be very much appreciated.
I began looking at exit options at the start of the year because, mainly, (1) this is my last year as an associate, and I don't think the partnership life is for me (I could stay on as Of Counsel though), and (2) I'm finally crumbling under the weight of what I think is severe physical and mental burnout after years of 2400+ hour billing. With that intro, the decision to leave is a "No Duh" to my non-lawyer boyfriend, friends and family, but to me things don't seem as clear.
Having done a good chunk of energy-related litigation and regulatory work, it seemed to make sense to me to explore in-house jobs in the energy sector. I was fortunate enough that my first application landed me an offer to serve as a regulatory attorney with a large energy company. Zero red flags about the interviews I had - - all of the people I met and the company seem great. The consistent themes I heard and liked in my interviews were: (1) the company has great growth opportunities (the resumes of the attorneys I met bear this out); (2) the issues attorneys work on are varied and interesting; and (3) the people are good people.
That said, now that I have an offer in hand, I feel frozen with panic about this decision. Here are the pros and cons I see re: leaving BL litigation behind:
PROS:
**Hours / W-L balance - - more than anything, I'm tired of not having control over my schedule; not having time for friends, family, hobbies, working out, etc.; not being able to actually relax on my time off; and being depressed and exhausted, so this is the biggest pro and motivator re: looking to go in-house.
No billables - - relatedly, I'm so ready to leave billables and billable requirements behind. I'm tired of skipping lunches, etc., and opting out of casual office conversations just to squeeze in more billing time.
Long-term growth opportunities - - at this company and in this industry more generally, it seems like there are more long-term career options than staying in private practice, particularly if I don't see myself being a partner.
Greater depth of knowledge / developing a specialty - - I'm currently very much a generalist in my practice, so there's some appeal to me in focusing in on one industry/practice area.
CONS (things I'm anxious about):
Comp - - my opening offer is about $200k salary, with an allegedly virtually guaranteed 20% annual bonus payout, plus stock options and a 5-year vest pension. It's an overall competitive comp package I think, but paycheck-wise I'm taking an over 50% haircut. I can afford this, it's just a feeling of pay cut sticker shock.
Missing the excitement of "real" litigation - - I've been fortunate to get a lot of great trial and appellate experience in my current role, and I'm afraid I'll really miss the excitement of a trial/depo/oral argument, even though I know these exciting parts are only a very small part of the overall grind of this job.
Not being able to go back to litigation / BL / private practice - - there's a big fear in my mind that if I move in-house, I'll close the door on what I'm doing now forever.
Pidgeonholing myself into this industry or type of work - - in a similar vein, I'm afraid that by picking an industry (energy) and/or type of work (regulatory focused), I'll never be able to pivot back to a more generalized practice or to a different subject matter.
Being bored - - even though the attorneys I interviewed with all said they enjoy the diversity of their practice and find the issues they work on interesting/challenging, I'm still afraid I'll be bored by an in-house role, either because the issues will all now be in the same arena; because I don't like the work as much; and/or because the environment is less of an adrenaline-fueled pressure cooker. I'm pretty miserable when I'm not intellectually stimulated at my job, which is one of the big reasons I've stayed in BL.
I don't think any of these anxieties are specific to the role I've been offered - - I'm fairly certain this list would look the same for any in-house role I pursue. I think I'm moreso struggling with the idea of leaving BL and litigation behind, and transitioning to a totally different career path.
To that end, if anyone - - particularly former BL litigators who went in-house - - could share their advice / experiences, that would be really helpful to me in making this decision.