Stuck on Repeats

[dtb]

Originally Posted by Did you just call me Coltrane?

This is why I've redirected my focus to college foosball.

Heh.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

when I started in private practice the main reason to go in house was they left the office at 5 and could use all their vacation time. the people I know in house now work longer hours than I do.

I second this. The only reason I can think of to go in house is to get a nice equity chunk of a company likely to go on the market so you can feather the nest with some real fuck-you-money.

[Adder]

Originally Posted by Did you just call me Coltrane?

Assuming it would result in a minor haircut on compensation, what are other reasons to NOT go in house?

• red tape;
• can't grab assistant's ass;
• $$ potential capped much lower.

Other thoughts?

Depending on the in house and the firm, #3 might not be true.

[Did you just call me Coltrane?]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

the people I know in house now work longer hours than I do.

Let's assume this isn't the case.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by Did you just call me Coltrane?

Let's assume this isn't the case.

Before or after the coming layoffs? Or are they European?

[Did you just call me Coltrane?]

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

Before or after the coming layoffs? Or are they European?

I have no idea. I am speaking completely hypothetically.

[bold_n_brazen]

Originally Posted by Did you just call me Coltrane?

I have no idea. I am speaking completely hypothetically.

I am in house. I love being in house.

I get to email a document to my lawyers at my firms at 5:00 and say "I need this when I get in in the morning" and then go home, have dinner and a cocktail, and go to bed. Sometime around 3:30 am, a document will be emailed to me. I may or may not open it when I arrive at work in the morning.

I am the client.

[Replaced_Texan]

Originally Posted by Did you just call me Coltrane?

Assuming it would result in a minor haircut on compensation, what are other reasons to NOT go in house?

• red tape;
• can't grab assistant's ass;
• $$ potential capped much lower.

Other thoughts?

I've been in-house with the same organization for ten years. My client infuriates me on a regular basis, and often doesn't listen, but I can't get rid of it unless I quit and move somewhere else. And I don't make nearly as much as my outside counsel counter parts (who my client goes to when they don't like my answer after exhausting every other lawyer in my office, and some who work for our organization but aren't lawyers for the organization) do. I do a lot of non-legal hand holding, and I've gone through at least six rounds of layoffs and am about to start a fourth administration (if they ever get around to finding a new president). Oh, and there's not much further for me to go up. But I haven't worried about my own hours in a decade, I'm not having to drum up my own business, and I'm pretty sure that I don't want to go outside ever again. And I get to practice really cool law (to me anyways) that not that many other lawyers in the country get to do.

I actually rather like what I do for a living.

[ferrets_bueller]

Questions for the prospective in-house attorney, at the risk of being obvious:

1. Do I have a specialty that several corporate in-house shops would find useful?

2. Do I like that specailty, to the point where I wouldn't mind doing it for the foreseeable future? Is it a transferrable skill that might apply across market sectors or industries?

3. What are my realistic chances of grabbing the brass ring of partnership? Related questions: Is the brass ring worth it at my firm, in trerms of both financial reward and lifestyle? Are many partners working on their third spouse? Does the plight of Dewey provide a cautionary tale? Do you have your own clients or are you going to be a "service" partner?

Long, long ago I went in-house in a razor thin specialty. I transitioned from legal to corporate management. I learned you can get rich slowly. Your mileage may vary, but I got to see my kids play sports, occasionally as a coach, and watch them grow into adulthood. My lawyers can do the same, even as they produce exceptionally high work product.

One caution, which you know instinctively: The talent pool of lawyers looking to go in-house is staggering at present. My last two hires, trained in biglaw firms, are brilliant, dedicated, and happy as hell they left the gerbil wheel of law firm life. They join a staff whose tenure is measured in decades. But for my two cents, I made the correct choice. Not to prove a point, but....it is 5:00 and headed out the door.

Good luck.

Ferrets

[ThurgreedMarshall]

Please welcome Melissa Marie Gonzales:

http://www.lawtalkers.com/forums/sho...postcount=1187

http://www.lawtalkers.com/forums/sho...postcount=1188

http://www.lawtalkers.com/forums/sho...postcount=1189

http://www.lawtalkers.com/forums/sho...postcount=1190

TM

[Sidd Finch]

Originally Posted by ThurgreedMarshall

Please welcome Melissa Marie Gonzales:

http://www.lawtalkers.com/forums/sho...postcount=1187

http://www.lawtalkers.com/forums/sho...postcount=1188

http://www.lawtalkers.com/forums/sho...postcount=1189

http://www.lawtalkers.com/forums/sho...postcount=1190

TM

She looks very classy, especially in the shirt with the apples.

[Atticus Grinch]

Originally Posted by Replaced_Texan

I've been in-house with the same organization for ten years. My client infuriates me on a regular basis, and often doesn't listen, but I can't get rid of it unless I quit and move somewhere else. And I don't make nearly as much as my outside counsel counter parts (who my client goes to when they don't like my answer after exhausting every other lawyer in my office, and some who work for our organization but aren't lawyers for the organization) do. I do a lot of non-legal hand holding, and I've gone through at least six rounds of layoffs and am about to start a fourth administration (if they ever get around to finding a new president). Oh, and there's not much further for me to go up. But I haven't worried about my own hours in a decade, I'm not having to drum up my own business, and I'm pretty sure that I don't want to go outside ever again. And I get to practice really cool law (to me anyways) that not that many other lawyers in the country get to do.

I actually rather like what I do for a living.

Big Red 2.

[Atticus Grinch]

Originally Posted by Did you just call me Coltrane?

Other thoughts?

How many hourly billers can you name who are retired? As in, no longer practice law, and just live off what they earned while working? Of those, how many of them made that decision for him/herself?

I'm sure Sidd and Hank and others can name a name or two, but in my father's generation of lawyers, the only ones who are retired were in-house private or public sector. The ones in firms are dead or still working at 68, claiming they love it too much to quit.

[robustpuppy]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

when I started in private practice the main reason to go in house was they left the office at 5 and could use all their vacation time. the people I know in house now work longer hours than I do.

Word.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by Atticus Grinch

How many hourly billers can you name who are retired? As in, no longer practice law, and just live off what they earned while working? Of those, how many of them made that decision for him/herself?

I'm sure Sidd and Hank and others can name a name or two, but in my father's generation of lawyers, the only ones who are retired were in-house private or public sector. The ones in firms are dead or still working at 68, claiming they love it too much to quit.

I really see that as a reason not to go in house. Do you really want to stop working at 65? I suspect I'll be pretty useless by 70, but having something to do every day will be nice. Unless, maybe I should buy a vineyard?