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The Grass Is Always Greener: Life As In-House Counsel

By Linda K. Schear
November 02, 2005

As a private practitioner, sitting at a paper-smothered desk getting rapid-fire e-mails and phone calls from multiple clients, each of whom needs something yesterday, filling out time sheets and reviewing mountains of billing, it is easy for those in private practice to envision life as an in-house attorney as the better ' or at least less stressful ' choice of career paths. This article reacts to that vision, highlights some of the different issues facing those in-house, and discusses the manner in which some of the same issues faced by all attorneys translate in an in-house environment.

Dangerous to Generalize

It is, of course, as inappropriate to generalize about “in-house practice” as it is about private practice. Just as with law firms, there are in-house legal departments ranging from one to hundreds of lawyers, with greatly varying levels of staffing, practice areas, responsibility and reporting. Many in-house attorneys are required to bill their time just like those in law firms in order for expenses associated with their employment to be allocated to the appropriate company division, transaction or other cost center ' while others do not have that burden or may only for isolated transactions.

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