Associate Advice, pls hndle thx

Pls Hndle Thx: Get Back to Where You Once Belonged

By  
on

[Ed Note: Do you have a question for next week? Send it in to advice@abovethelaw.com]

ATL –

I’m a corporate attorney, dealing with an unhappy circumstance. I’ve worked in corporate law for ~2 yrs. Due to the slowdown in corporate, I was shifted to do banking litigation. It keeps me busy, a little more job security, etc., billing 200 hrs/mo, but I want to do corporate. Should I accept another position with another firm doing banking/bankruptcy because it’s a job – even though I hate it? Try to hope that corporate picks up? How easy would it be to switch back from banking/bankruptcy law to corporate when the economy recovers again?

Switcheroo

Dear Switcheroo,

Sometimes in life we have do things we hate because it’s good for us. You’ve got a job – a JOB – in bankruptcy, but you’d prefer to do corporate. Great, well I’d rather work on my tan than work at all but I have to suck it up until I marry rich the economy picks up. And you need to suck it up too and do the work you’re given without a peep. Also, I have no idea why you’d consider switching firms to do the same bankruptcy work you’re doing now. That’s redundant.

Trying to go from bankruptcy back to corporate is called a “re-tool” in recruiter parlance, because you’d be going from being a Bankruptcy Tool to a Corporate Tool. And if Tool Academy has taught us anything, it’s that there are specific breeds of Tools with very little crossover (See supra, “Cold-Hearted Tool,” “Party Tool,” and “Greek Tool“). My lawyer dad (and probably your lawyer dad) said that a law degree would “opens doors “and would qualify me (or you) to do “anything.” While that may have been true during the glorious reign of the Medici, these days the terrifying truth is that a law degree qualifies you to work in law exclusively, and then only in the area of your primary practice: i.e., bankruptcy litigation.

When I’ve mentioned to recruiters that I would be open to “re-tooling” myself from ERISA Tool to Party Tool Bankruptcy Tool, they hung up on me quicker than I’d hang up on a telemarketer calling during The Bachelor. So yes – switching back to corporate may prove difficult. But lack of complete control over your career and elimination ceremonies are par for the course at a law firm.

Your friend,

Sponsored

Marin

Elie accepts his Tool Badge after the jump.

There’s no easy way out.

There’s no shortcut home.

Sure, you can listen to Adrian over there. She’s yelling at you from the top of the stairs telling you “you can’t win!” Don’t listen to her shrill emasculation.

You’re staring at Drago right now, and I’m telling you “he’s not a machine, he’s a man. He can be hurt.”

It’s not going to be easy, you are going to have to do all of the work of an employed bankruptcy attorney and do all of the work of a bored corporate attorney sitting around right now waiting to be fired. You heard me right, Rock. I think you need to do everything you can to hold onto your job right now. But also put in all the time to schmooze and keep your skills current so that you could do any corporate assignment that you’re able to get from a benevolent partner.

And this you can do. Because when the economy does turn, all those corporate people will remember your desperation for an opportunity, while all the bankruptcy people will think highly of your work ethic in difficult circumstances. You climb that mountain, Rock, you climb it!

Go to the body,

Duke

While a reference to The Wrestler would have been more timely, I agree that you should by all means attempt to get corporate work. But practically speaking, when this whole recession nightmare is over, you’ll be a bankruptcy associate and your firm will continue to staff you as such. The path back to corporate will be a road to perdition, but just as death could not truly part a father from his son, no bad economy, no switch to litigation, can truly divide a corporate associate from his or her purchase agreements.

Sponsored

Topics