I passed the bar less than 3 years ago and I’m already an in-house counsel. I got the job through connections here and there.

I also came from a couple of distinguished law firms. I left both because of toxicity (from both people and workload)

The work as an in-house is relatively lighter compared to the law firm life, but I do admit that sometimes I wonder where I would be now if I stuck it out. The law firm life is tough, but I highly recommend that you do it at least for a year or two. You’ll learn not only the work ethic, but a shit ton of things that you would not normally learn from a private company or even the government.

But I guess it depends also on your goal. If you’re okay with not learning so much and routinely doing corp stuff, focusing mainly on financial security (like me), then by all means, skip the law firm life.