Lately, I've gotten the ?stupid? idea that maybe I should go back to a law firm. I like my work here, and it's less stressful than being at a big firm, but I also wish I could develop a broader range of transactional/corporate expertise than I'm getting here. So, I started sending out feelers. One of these was to have lunch with a partner friend at my former firm with the intent to ask if he knew of anyone hiring.
Imagine my thoughts when he instead offered me a job to come back. My first thought was, "Isn't this like dating your ex-wife?" He made a decent pitch that they are trying to increase their corporate practice and that I could be a big part of it. However, my due diligence with other members of the firm has revealed that the actual work available right now is little changed from when I was there. So, I doubt I'll take it, but I have agreed to meet with them. The issue is that they are a decent firm, but their practice is mostly litigation, so I don't know that I'd achieve my goals by going there. I could end up with more work, more stress, worse work, and either worse housing or a longer commute. Where do I sign up? ;-)
At the same time, I've tried to set up meetings with other firms, with a little success. So, my schedule for today looks like this:
12:30 meet with the head of the corporate and tax section at another large firm in the area
1:30 meet with the board and maybe other members at my old firm
3:00 meet with a friend at a big regional firm and hopefully get introduced to some of their corporate people. Also, this firm has an opening for an IP associate of the kind of stuff I've been doing--licensing, trademark, copyright--and I'll get my friend's take on that, since he's an IP lawyer. The one (big) catch is that the job is in the Northwest--a beautiful area, sure, but I don't know that it's the right time for us to relocate out of state. Mostly I'm hoping for more contacts for corporate work in my own market.
4:30 walk through a house for sale in the city to get a better handle on what is available in the market for someone who doesn't want to go back to long commutes.
~5:00 nightmarish commute back home in rush hour traffic.
So, there you have it. If anyone gets this message and wants to say a prayer for me, I wouldn't be upset in the least. If none of this works out, my boss is pushing hard to get me a promotion by the end of the fiscal year in a few months, so the worst-case scenario is not that I stay here, but that I fail to understand or follow revelation, give this up, and make a disastrous career mistake.
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5 comments:
I won't say a prayer, but I'll scatter some chicken entrails. That seems more appropriate to the madness you're contemplating. ;)
Seriously, I wouldn't look at a long commute, not with gas prices the way they are and the horrific state of traffic along that route. When you add in the stress of billable, occasionally long hours, I don't think that's worth any sum of additional money or experience.
More reasonable would be to consider a move closer to work or the out of state idea, but both of those would be tough. From personal experience I think that a move across town is about 70% of the effort of a cross-country move, so it's not as bad as it looks, but it's no picnic either.
That's my two cents, which continues to erode in value on a daily basis.
"...the worst-case scenario is not that I stay here, but that I fail to understand or follow revelation, give this up, and make a disastrous career mistake."
One other comment. I don't think one needs to be a skeptic or a true believer to recognize that maybe this isn't a case where revelation needs to be at play.
Let's be honest, you have wander lust. In the last 10+ years you've lived in Utah, Colorado, Connecticut, London, Chile, Indiana, back to Utah, moved locations within Utah and are now contemplating another move. God isn't moving you and your family, you are.
I can say this in part because I have some of the same affliction. I'm not unhappy where I am or where I've been, but every couple of years I find myself wanting a change largely for the sake of change.
This isn't necessarily a bad thing, however it's important to keep the needs of our respective families in mind. No change will come to any good if it means less time and attention for our wives and children. As someone once wisely said, "No success can compensate for failure in the home."
This comes across maybe as more hectoring than I mean it to. I'll support and be interested in hearing about whatever change or non-change you do, but I thought I'd add a couple of secular points to consider.
Some wise comments from M but I hope that you move to the area just the same. Please let us know how it goes. Sounds like it has been a very long day.
No, I don't want a long commute. That's why if we move back to the city, we'll probably be living as close as we can afford given our self-imposed minimum of 2500 sf and 4 br, with some sort of acceptable condition of repair. I definitely won't commute from here to there every day, with or without a Prius.
On your other comment, I can't win the point with you, as you're starting from the premise that revelation isn't being dispensed on this or any other subject. So, I'll just concede that yes, I do have wanderlust. I don't believe that those moves have all been solely the result of my own decision-making, though.
As for this move, it would have to be something that I thought furthered my long-term career goals and also allowed me to maintain some balance in my life--hence the move close to work if something happens. But I'll try my best to be content for a while if nothing works out now.
Well, like I said, you don't need to come down on either side of the issue to look at the evidence.
And I'm the last person to be telling you to settle down, given that I'm on the other side of the country from where I grew up and I travel internationally roughly twice a year.
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