I feel funny posting stuff like this for myself, but I always enjoy reading about my friends' good fortunes here, so in the interest of sharing good news (and unloading a certain amount of stress I've been carrying for the last two years), here goes:

I had been at the same job - doing work I am an expert in - from early 2015 through June 2022. My employer had hired me to bring outside counsel work in-house and so I was given the opportunity and freedom to create my position from the ground up. I hired my own paralegal, who was with me throughout. We were rock stars. It was akin to being self-employed without the back-end responsibility. Those would be the best seven years of my career and I had every intention of retiring from that position in another 30 or so.

All good things must come to an end, however. We got a new boss in June 2021 - hired from outside. Seems her sole mission was to chase us all out. She was flagrantly dishonest, manipulative, and turned a well-oiled machine into a toxic environment which we all decided to flee. She lost all five attorneys in the office as well as support staff. I was one of the last ones out in February 2022. (I was being choosier than most.)

The firm which gave me the opportunity to exit that situation does work within the realm of my area of practice, but not exactly what I'm awesome at. I was happy to stay in the same general field, they've paid me well, and it's a very relaxed environment. I have no complaints at all about this firm. It's just that I went from doing work I loved every day to going to a job I only like. Also, it's an outside counsel gig, which means billing. I hate living life 6 minutes at a time. I've done it before and I didn't like it then, either. It's just not my cup of coffee.

I have not been actively looking to get back in my old game, but it's a very small sandbox that I played in (there are only about 300 of us statewide that do what we do) and we not only all know each other well, but for the most part, we're all friends. I kept those lines of communication open and every now and then, I'd get a tip about an opening here or there which would let me return.

This past April, I thought I had hit paydirt. In-house counsel (no billing) running a litigation program within my specialty. Great money, good benefits, etc. I was on the short-short list and... came in runner up. Of course, I know the guy who got the job - left a partnership at an outside counsel firm (he didn't like billing and chasing accounts either). No hard feelings, but it stung a bit. I stopped thinking about it after a couple of weeks.

Fast forward to last month. I see a job posting one morning (in a regular feed from Indeed.com) for a position that reads like my resume. Checks all of my boxes, so what the hell... I apply. Recruiter calls that afternoon and it's even better than I thought. Not just an in-house Sr. Trial Attorney position doing what I have 15+ years of experience in, but it's a takeover from panel (outside) counsel. In other words - building an office from the ground up, which is exactly what I did at the job I was chased out of. She was concerned I wouldn't be interested. Wrong! I let her know (as calmly as possible) that I happen to have experience doing just that and was more interested that I was when I applied.

Interviewed with the national legal manager in CA the next day. We were speaking the same language. Interviewed with the regional legal manager, the claims manager, and one of the senior adjusters back to back a few days later. It felt like I was back home again already.

Waited a LONG couple of weeks (over the holiday, which didn't help any) without hearing anything. Then I got the offer. Every penny I asked for, plus bonuses, and overall better benefits that anywhere except government. 20% pay increase, much better benefits, 100% remote, and I get to work with all of my friends again.

I start on 8/7. Back to doing primarily what I love, but I'll be their only staff attorney in Maryland, so I'll pick up some other kinds of cases as well, which is fine with me. It's also an excellent position to be in as they consider bringing other panel work in-house.

(TL;DR: Forced out of long-term job I intended to retire from, spent a year and a half doing different work, now getting back in the game I love.)

-Rob

That's awesome, congratulations!

We often read why bad things happen to good people, so it's nice to see good things happen to good people for a change. Congratulations!

Congrats Rob.

This is a great post to read first thing in the morning. Congratulations!

Any plans to celebrate the achievement?

Congratulations on the new job! Glad it worked out for you like this.

Your story sounds almost exactly what happened to me a few years back with a bad boss brought in from the outside who turned out to be a toxic POS and was driving everyone out. Fortunately he bailed after one year just before I was about to bail from the company I’ll hit 20 years with this fall.

Congratulations, Rob!

quote:

Originally posted by Edmond:
This is a great post to read first thing in the morning. Congratulations!
<snip>

It surely is! We’re happy for you!

Congratulations, thanks for sharing, it's really good for us to read these posts.

Hell yeah! Good for you, sounds like a perfect match!

Excellent, out of adversity comes opportunity!

Congrats


I love it when a plan comes together

Congratulations!!!

Congratulations.
Nice waking up to a job you look forward to every day.
Makes it almost like it's not work.

Congratulations! Thanks for sharing.

It’s always pleasant to hear of good people experiencing good fortune. Congratulations.

Good for you!

Waiting for Marzy to update us on his situation.

That is wonderful! So pleased for you!

That is outstanding Rob!

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
Congratulations.
Nice waking up to a job you look forward to every day.
Makes it almost like it's not work.

That's exactly what I had for 7 years. Made it that much worse when I had to bail.

I'm so happy.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
Waiting for Marzy to update us on his situation.

No kidding. Something was supposed to happen yesterday, wasn't it?

-Rob