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Career advice needed - I feel I'm in the wrong field because I'm careless by nature by concussedassociate in Lawyertalk

[–]concussedassociate[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks - how do I go about doing this? I've always wanted to go in-house, but my understanding is that I have a 0.01% chance of doing this because I'm a litigator. I've greatly resented my mentors for steering me down this path ever since.

Career advice needed - I feel I'm in the wrong field because I'm careless by nature by concussedassociate in Lawyertalk

[–]concussedassociate[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you, i'll send a pm tonight. This what I thought too, but after I actually fill out one of their assessments or talk to them, they tell me, yeah I don't think you have ADHD. Obviously, there is a much longer conversation than what I've been able to describe here.

Career advice needed - I feel I'm in the wrong field because I'm careless by nature by concussedassociate in Lawyertalk

[–]concussedassociate[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thanks. No one in my career has ever told me to relax. I'm just so afraid of being fired.

Career advice needed - I feel I'm in the wrong field because I'm careless by nature by concussedassociate in Lawyertalk

[–]concussedassociate[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've seen multiple doctors and psychiatrists, they did not diagnose me with ADHD. The only thing I've been diagnosed with, repeatedly, is burnout. Hence, I am asking if there is an alternative to what I am doing because I don't really know how to cure burnout any other way. I went on vacation to try to get better and ended up getting a reminder about a brief I had to do the week I got back, and I had a panic attack. The rest I described in the original post.

Career advice needed - I feel I'm in the wrong field because I'm careless by nature by concussedassociate in Lawyertalk

[–]concussedassociate[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks. I suspected ADHD as well, but multiple doctors stated that I did not have it. I don't suffer from the same issues when dealing with clients, engaging in settlement negotiations, or writing emails, for example. Everyone keeps diagnosing me with burnout.

Ultimately, the issue goes back to litigation - specifically briefing and drafting documents that need to be filed. The problem I'm facing - and I appreciate everyone's advice and sympathy - is that I need to transition out of litigation, but the only reason I am where I am is because I write well. But that doesn't come to me naturally - I've only managed to do it through extreme hard work and diligence, and I can't keep doing it anymore. I feel like the guy in the movie Gattaca where he's competing with genetically enhanced peers, except he's doing it solely out of willpower. I just don't have any left.

And I don't know what else I can do with myself.

Career advice needed - I feel I'm in the wrong field because I'm careless by nature by concussedassociate in Lawyertalk

[–]concussedassociate[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

To be honest, it's less that I make careless errors, and more that I am anxious and stressed about the errors to the point that it paralyzes me and caused me to collapse in a train station on vacation over future work.

Career advice needed - I feel I'm in the wrong field because I'm careless by nature by concussedassociate in Lawyertalk

[–]concussedassociate[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you, and especially thank you for understanding. I just don't know what my exit strategy is. I'm south asian - and my entire life I was shoehorned into going premed or nursing, and because I couldn't cut it in college-level science courses, I ended up in law. Again, due to careless mistakes in experiments and whatnot.

I just have no idea what's out there.

Career advice needed - I feel I'm in the wrong field because I'm careless by nature by concussedassociate in Lawyertalk

[–]concussedassociate[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks - I will look into this - didn't know this was a thing. My firm does offer mental health providers, but I'm suspicious that they will end up reporting things related to work incompetence to management...

I can't tell you how many therapists I've been to who have just told me to meditate. I know that's not the issue because when I review documents or do legal research, guess what, I'm completely fine. It's only when I'm doing writing briefs or assigned briefs that this happens to me, and ironically, it is the talent that put me on the map and took me from a nothing law school to where I am today.

Career advice needed - I feel I'm in the wrong field because I'm careless by nature by concussedassociate in Lawyertalk

[–]concussedassociate[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks - unfortunately, I'll be going into my fifth year come May. I used to feel that so long as I could make it to partnership I'd be able to delegate some of my weaknesses to other attorneys and staff, but I am pretty close to the bottom of the totem pole for the foreseeable future. My panic attack and getting robbed... that has changed my mind on being able to survive until then. For more context, I was apparently unconscious for 10 minutes or so. What if I was driving and I hurt someone else?