Big Sis Briefing: Should You Leave Private Practice for an In-House Legal Role?
So, you're wondering whether the move in-house is right for you. Maybe the billable hour is slowly eroding your will to live (lol, hard relate). Maybe you’ve hit the four-ish-year post-admission mark and you’re starting to feel like you’re not sure what’s next. Or maybe you’ve seen the TikToks and LinkedIn posts about flexible hours and cross-functional collaboration and you’re wondering... should I make the leap?
Before you fire off ten cover letters and tell your supervising partner you’ve found inner peace post-billables, let’s break this down… properly.
Private Practice vs In-House: What Really Changes
Moving from private practice to in-house is a real shift. It’s not just a change of scenery. It’s a completely different role, rhythm and relationship to your work.
The shift from private practice to in-house isn’t just about location or dress code. It’s a meaningful change in how you work, think and add value.
Private Practice:
Focused on specific areas of law
Reactive and client-led
Billable hours and fee pressure
Clear promotion structures
Prestige, structure and sharp suits 💅
In-House:
Broader generalist role across multiple legal areas (usually)
Proactive and embedded in the business
Budget awareness and stakeholder pressure
Flatter hierarchy with fewer formal promotions
Ambiguity, autonomy and business casual energy
If you love precision, black-letter law and working in a clear structure with defined lanes, private practice can be a great fit.
If you're craving real-world context, commercial strategy and the chance to work closely with other professionals outside the law, in-house might be the career pivot you've been waiting for.
Common Myths About Going In-House
Let’s clear a few things up before you submit your resignation.
Myth 1: In-house lawyers have cruisy 9 to 5 jobs
Hahahahaha…..Not quite.
You may lose the billable hour but you pick up urgent BAU support, executive fire drills and the emotional labour of translating legal advice into business action. It’s a different kind of intensity. Sometimes more manageable, sometimes more chaotic.
Myth 2: In-house is where lawyers go to slow down
In-house isn’t the career “quiet zone.” It’s where legal teams are lean, stakes are high and resourcing is rarely perfect. If you’re not ready to back yourself with incomplete information or thrive in ambiguity, it can be a hard landing.
Myth 3: You don’t need to market yourself anymore
The reality is that visibility matters. You still need to influence, present your work clearly and advocate for legal as a value-add, not a cost centre. The political and relational side of in-house work is real. You don’t have the firm brand behind you anymore. You are the brand.
Myth 4: You’ll take a huge pay cut
Let’s talk numbers. Early on, yes, in-house roles might offer less than private practice. But that’s not the whole picture. At the junior to mid-level, especially in tech and financial services, comp is becoming more competitive. Bonuses, equity and real flexibility often shift the value equation. As you progress, the pay gap closes. At the senior level, it can flip. What’s changing is the narrative. Ten years ago, in-house was seen as a step down. Now it’s a valid power move with growing market demand.
Myth 5: Your BigLaw team will think you’ve sold out
They won’t. Or at least the smart ones won’t. Your firm colleagues know how demanding in-house life is. Most have done secondments and have seen what it’s like up close. If you leave on good terms, keep in touch and act with integrity, you are not burning bridges. You’re becoming a future client. A referral source. A potential return hire event. Some of your colleagues might feel like you’re leaving a tight-knit cult. You’re not. You’re expanding your network and building new muscles. They are probably just jealous tbh.
The Mindset Shift You Need to Make
Private practice trains you to advise. In-house success comes from learning how to decide.
You’ll be expected to make calls quickly, weigh commercial realities and understand risk appetite in real time. You will sit in meetings with product, marketing and sales teams who care about outcomes, not perfect legal theory. Your role shifts from legal expert to business partner with legal judgment.
That takes confidence. It takes a deep understanding of the business. It takes the ability to say, “This is what I’d do, and here’s why” instead of writing a memo with three options and a disclaimer and moving onto the next client.
What Makes You “Ready” to Go In-House
There is no perfect point in your career to move in-house.
But there are a few signs that you might be ready:
You’re curious about how businesses run
You’re craving more context behind the legal work
You can work without a safety net or detailed precedent
You want to own matters end-to-end
You don’t need constant feedback to stay motivated
You can hold your own in a room full of other professionals
You have the emotional intelligence to influence without authority
If that list makes you nod, you might already be halfway there.
Don’t Sleep on Secondments
Secondments are one of the most powerful ways to try in-house without fully leaving private practice. You get hands-on experience in a client’s legal team, learn how to manage internal stakeholders and build relationships beyond the law. It’s often the gateway to a full-time in-house role. It was for me!
If you’re at a firm that offers secondments, express interest. Say yes when the opportunity arises. These experiences are gold for building commercial confidence and demonstrating your value in a different context.
Recruiters Can Be Your Ally (If You’re Strategic)
A good legal recruiter can help you understand the market, refine your story and match you to in-house roles that actually suit your skill set and values. But they aren’t career coaches (like yours truly) or miracle workers. You still need to do the work to clarify what you want, what you bring and why in-house is the right move for you right now.
Build relationships with recruiters who specialise in legal placements. Keep your LinkedIn profile sharp. Be honest about your motivations and flexible in your expectations. In-house roles are competitive and timing matters.
If you need help refining your pitch, DM me!
Yes, You Might Need to Start Small
Especially in a tight market, your first in-house role might not be glamorous. You might take a step sideways or even back to get your foot in the door. That’s okay. The goal is to get in and build credibility fast.
The good news? There are more in-house opportunities now than when I made the leap over ten years ago. More smart companies are building legal teams earlier. Startups, scale-ups and mid-sized businesses are realising that legal needs to be in the room from day one. These teams are lean. You’ll wear many hats. That means accelerated learning.
Look for roles where you can learn from the best. Work under a GC who wants to mentor. Join a business that values legal. Say yes to the unsexy work early on because that’s where the trust gets built.
Final Thoughts from Your Big Sis
If you’re thinking about leaving private practice, don’t do it just because you’re burned out. Burnout travels with you. Do it because you’ve outgrown the model and you’re ready for something different. Something more embedded. More commercial. More complex in a new way.
In-house can be deeply fulfilling. It can also be frustrating. Like any career move, it depends on timing, mindset and how well you’ve prepared.
So before you jump, get clear. Use secondments. Talk to in-house lawyers. Speak to recruiters. Reflect on what success actually looks like for you.
You are allowed to evolve. You are allowed to change your mind. You are allowed to build a career that works for you.
That’s not quitting. That’s growing.
Want more tools to support your in-house pivot?
✨ Check out The Real Guide to Going In-House, my online course for early-career lawyers (coming soon I promise!!)
✨ Browse Career Big Sis resources for templates, scripts and checklists
✨ Listen to Counsel Podcast Episode 18 for behind-the-scenes insight into in-house life
