I was a Public Defender for 12 years. A friend of mine lured me away to try civil litigation at her firm where she is a partner. After one year I can truthfully say I hate it and dread waking up and going to work every day. I hate the petty discovery disputes, I hate that every case has 1000 plus documents to review, I hate the back and forth of drafting documents with the opposing party, and I especially hate fighting over money and clients acting entitled because they are paying an arm and a leg.
I haven’t told my friend that, and have told her that it’s been a tough transition but I’m enjoying the challenge. She’s given me almost nothing but positive feedback.
Well, I made the decision that I don’t want to do this anymore. I’m mad all the time, my family doesn’t like how I am after work, hell, I don’t like who I am after work. Only time I’m happy is when I’m drinking which is a really bad sign.
So I reached out to my old boss at the PDs office and she offered me a spot as a courtroom lead to come back. It’s not nearly what I’m making now, but it’s more than I was making when I left and after crunching the numbers we can get by and still put some into saving if we cut back on frivolous expenses. I’ve never been more excited to say yes. We’re just working out the details but it’s basically a done deal.
My question is, what is the proper way to tell my friend I’m leaving and how much notice should I give? To say my calendar is full is an understatement. I have an arbitration in two weeks and basically every day between now and the end of May I have a hearing, a mediation, a deposition, or the arbitration. I obviously would not want to leave her in a bad spot and feel I have an ethical obligation to my clients to not leave them in a bad spot either. I fully intend to go to the arbitration and do my best.
But I also don’t want to stay for 6 more weeks. Me leaving is going to come out of left field for them. What’s the best way to handle this?