"I ran a mostly unsuccessful solo practice for three years in Seattle. And this last January moved my family to a small town in central Washington, joined a small firm of eight lawyers. It was great for a couple of months, but then the anxiety about billable hour requirements, and as I started getting less work. I hate the job. I want a job that is nine to five, that I can leave at work. I'm considering quitting and being a hippie in a van. My wife is supportive of that, to indicate to you how bad it is. I'm having palpitations, setting to see a counselor, and really would like a different life. Are you guys able to help me?"
Yes. What I would recommend would be about, you're probably just not in the right type of firm for you. Sometimes people believe that they can fix the problem with the geographic location and move to another area, or they believe they can fix their problems by moving into a different type of firm. And to a great extent, most firms are the same. So you have to remember that most law firms are the same and there's not a lot of difference between law firms. The only thing that I can recommend to you is maybe you need a practice setting change- working for a company or working for the government. And there're lots of very good jobs for the government. You can make a lot of money working for the government, and there's a lot of employment stability there. And where you may be much happier.
And many times, people are unhappy just because they're in relationships. You can be unhappy because you're with the wrong person. And then you find the right person and all of a sudden you're happy. You may be unhappy because you're in the wrong practice setting or the wrong firm. All this is very important, and it doesn't mean you're not cut out to be a lawyer. It just means maybe you're in the wrong practice setting. And if you are not cut out to be a lawyer, that's okay too. There's no reason to be in a profession that you don't like, and you should think about what you're good at and what you've done well before and do that. And gravitate towards things that you like, like the person that asked a question and was interested in technology or hackathons and stuff. You need to do what's interesting to you.
