Hi All,
I’m a midlevel transactional associate at a large firm (primarily M&A, with a fair amount of commercial contracts experience) exploring in-house roles. I’m seeing three main paths: corporate/M&A roles, commercial counsel roles, and more generalist positions (often at smaller companies).
My goal is lower stress, but I don’t want to box myself into a dead-end path. A few quick questions to help guide the conversation, to the extent you have thoughts on any of them.
(1) Which in-house roles actually tend to be “lower stress”? Is that more true for commercial roles vs. M&A, or just company-dependent? (2) How “sticky” are these paths? If I start in a commercial role, can I realistically move to broader corporate work later? (3) Does taking an M&A-focused in-house role narrow future options? (4) How sticky is industry? If I think I want to be in tech long-term, is it worth holding out now? (5) Do generalist roles keep more doors open, or is that overstated?
Appreciate any insight from those who’ve made the jump.