Community Perspectives: When did you know it was time to go in-house?

In-house legal professionals discuss how when they knew they need to make the shift from law firm to in-house.

(Author) Associate

When did you know it was the team to move in house? I’m on secondment, so have a taste of a 9-6ish life, which is great, but am halfway torn between getting this crazy money for another year and getting my life back for much less money. For context, I'm a 5th year corporate.

9-6? Bro - you’re doing in-house all wrong if you’re working those hours 😉.

The longer you wait, the harder it is too stomach the change in compensation.
I found myself being bored doing pretty much the same thing over and over again. One evening, I saw an equity partner logged in at midnight or so. I didn’t want that to be the prize after 10+ years.
If you have the money you need for a down payment on a home or can still save for that at an in-house job, might as well go now. If not, you might start looking now anyway. At some point the economy will slow down and it will be harder to go in-house. You could find yourself forced to look as a 9th year in a bad economy.

There was a point when I realized I didn't want that much money anymore. The constant raises started feeling kind of gross and wasn't enhancing my quality of life in a meaningful way. I also wanted to get out before ripping off the compensation bandaid would hurt even more. It takes a while to find an in-house job anyway, so no harm in starting to look before you are 100% sure that you want to make the move. Also, people advised that years 4-5 is a good time to make the transition. I know people who tried finding in-house jobs at years 8-12 and couldn't get a single screener. The overwhelming advice was to not wait until it's "too late."
I was lucky in that I did not incur additional large monthly expenses compared to I what I had as a junior associate. I think twice when I impulsively open Postmates on a weekday evening (since I have time to cook now), but that's about it.
At the end of my 5th yr, my mentor told me she imagined me making partner and suggested I sign up for my firm’s business development training program. I knew I didn’t want to make partner and the last thing I wanted to do after billing 10+ hours was work on business development I never intended to utilize. At the same time, I didn’t feel like I could turn down the program without losing opportunities. At that point, I started looking in-house (which was my long-term plan anyway).
Had a year from hell with a terrible litigation team. Constant, unnecessary team calls after 8pm and on weekends. Our partner even wanted to have calls with the client on weekends of Christmas and NYE until the client said they weren’t available. Partners noodling on minutiae while overlooking big ticket items. I could go on. Anyway, I really knew it was time when that case ended, and I had the opportunity to start a new one with a better client and a team I knew would be good, and I was just dreading the work ahead in the schedule. I am typically most excited about work when starting a new case, and the fact that I had nothing to look forward to at that time for the next case was the big flag for me that I needed to change things.
I’m in the same boat; 5th year corporate and just had a part-time secondment (which wasn’t as good cause I was balancing firm demands still), but it seemed pretty sweet. I think I’m going to start applying to stuff pretty soon.
I struggle with this point and I am going on 8 years in law firm practice. The one tip that I would give is to practice spending as if you were in an in-house position (or whatever your preferred job is) and make decisions accordingly both for you and your family. I think my family (not me individually because I am always working) got used to being able to spend freely and it’s hard to now tell them that we need to cut back if I am going to be able to work more normal hours. So beware the golden handcuffs.