Hate lit; want to move to another practice area. Need advice. Forum

[Anonymous User]

Hi all,

I saw this in another thread and it echoes how I feel:

“We have a guy leave about 8 months in because his group was absolutely brutal. Didn't have a single weekend off, crazy hours, and one partner in particular was a complete jerk to him. Went to another biglaw firm though, but I think is a lot happier.”

Basically my situation right now.

Disclaimers: first-year, NYC, NOT big law (in fact, the unicorn midlaw).

I hate the partner I work for, the hours are insane, haven’t had a weekend off in months and I get chastised if I leave before 7, even if no work needs to be done, no boundaries whatsoever. It’s pretty clear my boss manages through fear and intimidation. The other partners are fine but due to this case, I’m exclusively working for her.

I understand that I’m on a relatively intense case but I generally don’t enjoy the work at all. Discovery is boring and tedious, doc review is mind-numbing, I’m sick of the 3000 motions filed in this case, and so on and so forth. I’m sick of the fire drills due to misorganization above me. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the law - I like research, and writing is fine, but the intensely adversarial nature of lit isn’t my cup of tea. I just don’t have the strong Type A personality needed for it.

That being said, and without giving too much away, the firm I’m at has several different practice departments. In fact, in doing doc review this week and working on another floor, I’ve been exposed to the other departments and it’s SUCH a better working environment. Everyone is collegial and out of the office early, it’s night and day from what I’m used to. The work is the same (insurance) but not litigation.

I’m at an impasse. I really want to transfer to another practice group. I’m early on (4 months in) but I really really don’t like anyone I work with and the work of litigation I tself. The strange thing is, I’m generally an affable person and like/get along with everyone, but really, I’m grasping at straws to find any reason why I shouldn’t go ahead and at least ask if I could move to another area.

Please let me know your thoughts and give me advice (and ignore any typos - this was done on my phone).

[jkpolk]

Usually firms have internal listings regarding their recruiting needs. See if any of your firm's needs match up with something you'd be interested in and then physically walk into the person you trust in HR/Recruiting the most's office and ask about it.

[Manteca]

Usually firms have internal listings regarding their recruiting needs. See if any of your firm's needs match up with something you'd be interested in and then physically walk into the person you trust in HR/Recruiting the most's office and ask about it.

This is going to be a stupid question, but what do you mean by internal listings? If that’s a thing, I’ve yet to see anything of the kind, despite several new employees being hired on.

[jkpolk]

Usually firms have internal listings regarding their recruiting needs. See if any of your firm's needs match up with something you'd be interested in and then physically walk into the person you trust in HR/Recruiting the most's office and ask about it.

This is going to be a stupid question, but what do you mean by internal listings? If that’s a thing, I’ve yet to see anything of the kind, despite several new employees being hired on.

Poke around the HR/Recruiting's internal facing website. There's usually a "what our needs are" job board. If you cant find anything, look at the external facing recruiting website (i.e. what you would look for as a lateral to know to apply to your firm).