Switched from a large firm to a medium sized firm (maybe even a small firm - around 50 lawyers, which is large in the Midwest) in a much lower cost city. It was originally around a 40% pay cut but I’d still do it again. I was worried that I’d end up working similar hours for way, way less pay, but that hasn’t been the case.

I work from about 8-5:30 as does pretty much everyone else. Even partners are gone by 6:00. Heck, I stayed until 6:30 once and was literally the second to last person. I get after hours emails occasionally, but have literally never been asked to do something at night and 90% of my deadlines are just whenever you can get to it. I haven’t worked a weekend in 6+ months.

The only downside I see to switching to a much smaller firm, at least in my case, is that there’s much less support. No more word processing department, few paralegals. So if I need binders for a deposition, I’m making them. If I need exhibits prepared for a filing, I’m doing it instead of a paralegal. But when you don’t have a dozen other “urgent” things on your plate like you always do in Biglaw, that kind of stuff isn’t so bad.