Failed Attorney getting back on his feet seeking advice

Alright, so, here's my sob story. Graduated top 20% from a top 20 law school. Not harvard summa cum laude shit, but, you know, pretty good.

Return home to Omaha, Nebraska. Get a job with a title insurance company. Job sucks, there's no guidance, nothing, I get canned in 6 months. Get another job with complex litigation firm. Get canned after 5 months. Get a job with insurance defense law firm, get fired day after my one year anniversary.

Throughout all this, there are some clear trends, and I take responsibility for them. I have ADHD pretty bad, I was diagnosed and placed on medication back in the mid 1990s as a first grader. It still isn't enough to completely resolve my symptoms, but it does enough. I coasted through school because everything was easy to me. Studied for maybe a few hours for the LSAT, got a 166 (on terrible sleep due to allergies). Studied maybe 1/4th what everyone else did in law school.

So my ADHD bit me in the ass when I started working. When I was on, I did just fine as an attorney. But often, I found myself distracted as all hell. Social media, getting lost in assignments, hell, even just staring into space. Not to mention I despise litigation. Yet, those were the only jobs I could get.

I go through a year and a half doing social security disability hearings on a contract basis. Lots of travel on my dime, just getting by. Got a job as sole inhouse counsel for a small company, did really well (turns out transactional work suits me well), but got let go because they realized they had about 1/10th the annual revenue that normally would justify in-house counsel.

Realized my adhd was destroying my life. Talked to doc, got meds fixed

Got basically a chance to interview with Goldman Sachs for operations. Had an interview today with the state government to be a procurement attorney. Pay would be 70k starting there. I rocked the interview, I would be shocked to not get an offer. Also have a thing going well with a company to be the second corporate counsel in their company. Problem is, that job is out in bumfuck Idaho. Beautiful area and a college town, but, I'm very close to my family here in Nebraska so leaving for anything but a place I know I can make connections in is not ideal. If they throw enough money at me, of course, I will.

I know the government job would probably be the most secure. My desires are for stability, good pay, and career advancement. Would the Goldman Sachs thing even be worth considering, or should I just stick to the other options?

2 Comments
 

Former lawyer here. Do you like law and if so, what practice area? Personally, I despise all of it but can see how some like aspects of litigation. 

 

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