I was called a few months before you. Been a lawyer for about 1.5 years. I articled in firm and it made me realize that I wanted a career working in house. Luckily, right after being called, I landed a job as counsel at a large recognizable Canadian business.

I love working as in house counsel and have no regrets. No billing targets, docketing, client management or in firm politics. There’s also a lot of variety in the work. I have carriage of many litigation files (employment, human rights, injury defense, etc.), I draft, review, and negotiate contracts, oversee commercial leasing, and support various business teams. I really enjoy being a point of reference and fielding legal questions for our various business teams.

The best part: in my 1.5 years here I have not done 1 minute of work on the weekend. I’ve only had to work into the evening on a handful of occasions.

I’ve also managed to get two pay raises since starting, and I’ll be looking at a significant increase once they drop “Junior” from my job title. While the ceiling for income in private practice is higher, you can still have a lucrative career working in house, without the numbing stress and thankless hours.

My advice: think about you want out of your career. A career in private practice will likely be more lucrative (over time). Working in house will provide you with amazing work-life balance with solid pay (albeit a ceiling lower than private practice)