New job opportunity... how to go about deciding!

[msprolific]

Hello all. I've been an attorney for a year and a half. I live in a smallish city and work at the third largest law firm in the city. The law firm has been very good to me in terms of promotions, bonuses, schedule, etc. For my first year I did litigation work (insurance defense) but about 6 months ago I was offered the opportunity to train under in a different area of law, which so far I've liked. It involves real estate and my city is growing a lot so this is a good opportunity.

 

Enter my dilemma. Recently I was offered a position at another law firm in town, making almost *twice* as much as I make here. It's in insurance defense, which I thought I was moving out of, instead of my new real estate practice training. It's a much smaller firm (4 attorneys -- the one I work in now has almost 60). I have the potential to earn a lot more because I get paid per hours billed, and there is no limit to the number of hours I can bill.

 

I hadn't thought of a job change before I was approached by this other attorney, but I was thinking of seeing what else was out there -- exploring my options. I think the new job offer would be better for the short-term because I would be getting paid a *lot* more than I do now for the same work (and it would give me more hands-on experience). But my current firm is better for the long term because it provides me the opportunity to learn a unique practice that not everyone here does. So if I were only thinking long term I would probably stay put. But another caveat is that I don't even want to stay in this city my whole life -- my entire family lives on the East Coast -- and I always think about moving somewhere else. So I wouldn't mind working hard for a few years and being paid a lot to bill a lot of hours, then moving back East (or who knows where... I like to travel ) and doing something different... maybe something more creative, or maybe working as an attorney somewhere else.

 

I don't know who to talk to about this because I don't want to tell any of the attorneys at my job that I'm considering a job change. My questions here are: how do I go about "interviewing" the other firm to see if it's a good fit for me while keeping everything completely confidential in a pretty small city and tight-knit legal community? I know the attorney whose firm it is, because I've worked with him on another case, and that's why he asked me to work for him -- he seems easy-going, laid back and pretty cool as far as "bosses" go, but I would like to ask the other people currently working for him some questions. Also, if I *do* decide to take the other job, how do I break that to my firm when they have been exceedingly good to me? I wouldn't mind opinions about whether to change jobs or not, too.

 

Thanks everyone.

[curiousnycgirl]

You need to really think about this one. If your long term goal is to move to another city - it might be better for you to stay with a larger firm that might be better known which will be better on your resume.

 

Another area to consider is that in larger firms there is generally really good infrastructure to support the attorney's whereas in smaller firms you'll have to do more yourself (word processing, billing, etc)

 

Finally I think you need to really think about what area of law you want to pursue. If the real estate stuff is of greater interest to you - then you might want to stay and continue down that path.

 

If you want to explore the other firm more closely, tell this guy you would like to investigate the opportunity further, specifically ask to meet/interview with others to ensure it would be a good fit for you. This is a perfectly reasonable request especially in such a small firm.

 

Good luck to you, whatever you decide.

[Ronni_W]

Well, you could look at it that if you're earning twice as much money for doing twice as much work, then you're not MAKING more money as much as reporting more annual income.

 

So, how much you value your current non-working time comes into play. I'd suggest breaking it down into an hourly between the 2 firms to see if it really is attractive enough to make the change.

 

Do you want to become an insurance defense specialist, or more 'lawyer of all trades'? I also read someplace about a lawyer who wanted to exercise creativity, and got into the entertainment industry -- still a lawyer but it also met the need for being with/around creative types and having freedom to offer more 'out of the legal box' input and solutions.

 

In terms of your resignation, tell them pretty much as you've said it here: you very much appreciate and value, and feel this next step is important to you in terms of pursuing your own life vision and dreams.

 

Good luck - there's definitely not one straight-forward and clear decision. At the end of the day, maybe just trusting your gut will prove best.

[msprolific]

You need to really think about this one. If your long term goal is to move to another city - it might be better for you to stay with a larger firm that might be better known which will be better on your resume.

 

Good point. Although my city is small and I don't know if any of the firms here -- even the biggest ones like the one I work in -- are "well known" in bigger cities like those I'd consider moving to. However, I see your point that working for a large firm makes me look more established and credible than a small private office.

 

I guess an added consideration here is that at the small firm I'd get much more hands-on experience and be pretty much in charge of my own cases, whereas here I work on bits and pieces of cases for more senior attorneys. I don't know if the added experience will look as good as the firm name. I will have to look into that.

 

 

Another area to consider is that in larger firms there is generally really good infrastructure to support the attorney's whereas in smaller firms you'll have to do more yourself (word processing, billing, etc)

 

True but I basically do that myself here -- I have an assistant but she has a senior partner too that she does almost all the work for, so at this point it's usually easier to do all my own stuff than wait for her to get around to it. I'm a fast typist lol. And we all do our own billing. But my firm provides me with really good benefits like a good 401K and support if I would need to be out of the office for some reason, whereas I'm not sure what the smaller firm's benefits are or their policies regarding sick leaves vacation etc. There are definitely benefits to a larger firm as you pointed out.

 

Thanks for your insightful advice CNYCGirl. I'm planning to talk with the other attorneys who work at the small practice and ask them some of these questions and more.

[msprolific]

Well, you could look at it that if you're earning twice as much money for doing twice as much work, then you're not MAKING more money as much as reporting more annual income.

 

So, how much you value your current non-working time comes into play. I'd suggest breaking it down into an hourly between the 2 firms to see if it really is attractive enough to make the change.

 

Do you want to become an insurance defense specialist, or more 'lawyer of all trades'? I also read someplace about a lawyer who wanted to exercise creativity, and got into the entertainment industry -- still a lawyer but it also met the need for being with/around creative types and having freedom to offer more 'out of the legal box' input and solutions.

 

In terms of your resignation, tell them pretty much as you've said it here: you very much appreciate and value, and feel this next step is important to you in terms of pursuing your own life vision and dreams.

 

Good luck - there's definitely not one straight-forward and clear decision. At the end of the day, maybe just trusting your gut will prove best.

 

Good points, thanks. I often wish I had a more creative job. (I've always loved to write and originally went to law school because it involved a lot of reading and writing... of course, there's been little time since then for impractical things like creative writing lol). Neither insurance defense or real estate law involve much creativity. Although I do like the research and writing aspect of litigation and coming up with creative arguments. However, the litigation work seems to take a lot more time/ work than the transactional real estate law, leaving LESS room for me to be creative when I don't have to work. I'm sure there's something creative I can eventually do in the law. ?? Or I wouldn't mind working super hard as an attorney for a few years if I could make that kind of money, saving it up and then doing something completely different -- teaching, editing, etc.

 

Thanks again for the help.