RSM, I've been following your posts for awhile, because I am also a young attorney, also not happy at work and not making what I would like to. Your posts really resonate with me! That said, I went back and looked at three of your topics here on MMM:
Absolutely No Motivation at Work and Not Sure How to Turn it Around
http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/ask-a-mustachian/absolutely-no-motivation-at-work-and-not-sure-how-to-turn-it-around/msg674180/#msg674180
Attention to Detail at Work (Lawyer -- But All Are Welcome)
http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/ask-a-mustachian/attention-to-detail-at-work-(lawyer-but-all-are-welcome)/msg1336567/#msg1336567
Stumbled Upon a Corporate Memo Stating I Might Get Fired...Need Some Advice
http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/ask-a-mustachian/stumbled-upon-a-corporate-memo-stating-i-might-get-fired-need-some-advice/msg1188492/#msg1188492
I've never worked in BigLaw, but it seems to me that you might not be a good fit for it. Aside from the commute we're talking about here and your potential relationship issues, it's just a lot of... work. It's being thrown into situations you're completely unprepared for, and then getting in trouble when you handle it wrong. It's unrealistic deadlines that you have to make realistic by not wasting time sleeping, eating, or going to the bathroom. It might literally be sleeping on the floor of your office, because the commute to your five-minutes-away studio apartment makes going home not worth it. A friend of mine in BigLaw met his billables, met his bonus billables, and then told me he "almost never works on Saturdays. But I do Sundays" as a BRAG. With your work right now, do you even have to think about it when you go home? I get that you're looking to make more money, and yes, your salary is low in most markets, but I just don't know if the things you've said about yourself so far are conducive to BigLaw practice.
Again, I'm not saying any of this to be mean, but because I SO identify with you.
Thanks for your post. Sorry for my admittedly too long response, but I remember posting all those threads and following them much like I am following this one--constantly, neurotically, and just trying to figure out what is going on with me.
For better or worse, I stopped posting about my work after the "might get fired" thread because I realized venting wasn't helping any. But if you go and read the original posts in each of those threads, you'll see a common theme:
Absolutely No Motivation at Work and Not Sure How to Turn it Around:
I don't know what's gotten into me lately, but I just can't seem to get anything done at work over the last two weeks...
I'm not really sure why this is happening, but my guess is that a month or so ago, I emotionally readied myself to switch jobs. I'm in a small and undesirable market doing rather mundane legal work. It's simply not what I expected it to be and has been draining on me lately. Thus, I want to go to a bigger firm with more complex work.
...
I've only been out of school for less than a year and it scares the shit out of me that I'm already feeling like this. Maybe it's normal, maybe it's not. But I'm just not enjoying the work at my current job, the grass seems a lot greener elsewhere, and I just can't seem to keep my eyes on the here and now.
Attention to Detail at Work (Lawyer -- But All Are Welcome)
I am going on my third year as a lawyer at a civil litigation firm. Partners here do everything from divorce to foreclosure to employment to personal injury to basically everything.
As the junior associate, weird assignments from seemingly every area of law have been thrown my way. What I'm finding is that I become so obsessed with figuring out the law that I am missing important factual details--constantly.
...
Stumbled Upon a Corporate Memo Stating I Might Get Fired...Need Some Advice
I graduated from law school in 2014 and have been at a well-respected firm since September of 2014. I was hired so a partner could transfer his ERISA practice to me. To make a long story short, he can't delegate work to save his life. And then, because a lot of other attorneys assumed he was giving me work, work dried up for me at the end of last year and I had pretty low billable hours in 2015. This resulted in a "talking to" by the firm's board of directors at the end of last year.
The reason it sounds like I'm pushing towards leaving is because I just don't think I'm satisfied with work. I was hired with the impression that I would be doing labor and employment work, including ERISA, and that has not panned out. Instead, I'm doing everything--foreclosures, divorce research, will contests, tax litigation before the board of tax appeals, personal injury, bankruptcy proof of sales, on and on and on. My mind is constantly shifting and trying to learn entirely new areas of law.
That just does not fit my skill set. I'm great at narrowing things down and becoming an expert. Having to constantly re-orient myself to not just different files, but completely different areas of law, is what led to those threads--lack of motivation at work, missing minor things, and, as a result of those, eventually maybe getting fired.
Going back and reading my posts, though, I sound bipolar about work. It's like I know all the perks I have, but that's just not enough to keep me mentally engaged. I think the lack of motivation, the threat of being fired, the lack of attention to detail...it's all related to me not being emotionally or mentally "all in."
To have the opportunity to work in Pittsburgh in the firm's labor and employment practice would be AMAZING. Like, I still listen to labor and employment podcasts even though I hardly do any work in L&E. I just like that area of law, it makes sense to me, I know what I'm looking for, etc.
I know the demands are higher, but at this current time--with only a couple clients, with me being young, with me not having kids yet--I just can't help but think making this decision will make me more motivated and goal-oriented at work.
I should have just spilled this all out there in my OP, but threads have a way of making you find your inner reasons for doing things. And I can say after days and days of introspection, my number one thing isn't the increased compensation, it's the ability to work in a practice area that I find engaging, interesting, and fulfilling.
I just received a great PM, and the premise of it was not to view this as a yes or no decision--there are alternatives. I'm wondering whether I could ever have an L&E practice in my small market. I honestly don't know.
But for right now, given where I'm at in life, going to work at a big firm might lead to some future opportunities that will make it all worth it.
That's where I'm at. Others may disagree, but hell, I don't even have an offer yet, which makes it all the more insane of me to be spending this much time worrying about a hypothetical decision I might have to make. Oh well. Cheers.