Adios, Big Law!

Yesterday was quite the day: I officially gave notice at work!

{source}

Now, before you get all excited, I won't be leaving for about a month.  I wanted to give everyone a good fair warning and have time to tell clients, reassign cases, etc.  Not to mention that while I don't find the work especially titillating, I do genuinely like and respect the people I work with.  I probably could have stayed longer, but if we're going to be buying a house in Austin in March or early April, I'll need to be able to fly down on a moment's notice for viewings, inspections, etc. And pack. Oh, packing.

The funny thing was that after the partners said they'd miss me and were sad to hear I was leaving, every single one of them told me how many good things they'd heard about Austin.  Seriously, each of them spent about half an hour talking about the times they'd visited or things they'd heard about the City or people they knew who lived there.  I was pleasantly surprised at their genuine excitement for us and willingness to make introductions/recommendations.

So... now I have to think about what I want to do in Austin, career-wise.  Luckily, I have as much time to look and think about it as I want.  I probably don't want to take on another Big Law firm job - as much as I like the folks I work with, I now have a good idea about what associates and partners actually DO in law firms, and it's not entirely my cup of tea.  The schedule is very unpredictable, and it's hard to tell whether I'm actually making anyone's life better {particularly working as defense counsel}.  The money is nice, but we'd be just fine if I took a big pay cut.

I feel very lucky, because this move means a second chance to think about what I want to do with my law degree.  True, I'll have to take the Texas bar exam, but heck: it can't be worse than California's!

If you had a second chance, what career path would you choose?