The firm laptop started its automatic shutdown process because it logs off automatically when it gets too late. I canceled out of the process.
What was I doing at this godforsaken hour? There are people out there getting ready to go to the gym at this time!
The in-house counsel wanted all these revisions to the documents. I started making them.
Someone involved in the project gave feedback. Then the in-house counsel changed their mind about the things I had already spent hours on.
But the things I was now supposed to write about didn’t fully make sense. Language barrier. Translation issues.
I had already written a streamlined version of the concept in my initial draft, but the in-house counsel wanted the concept to be included as disclosed. Good point. As a patent attorney, it’s probably malpractice not to do so.
So there I was, burning the midnight oil, trying to parse through the document, trying to make sense of it with my zombified brain. It was due the next day because of a statutory bar date that I hadn’t known about until a few days ago.
Finally hitting SEND at 2:40 AM to let future me deal with any further revisions that needed to be made.
In the meantime, a client I had on the side sent me an absolutely wonderful heartfelt message earlier that day. It made me wonder what it would look like to take my side business full time. My side business helps law students prepare for and pass the bar exam. My job pays the bills, while my business pays the heart.
Was it worth the drain, the constant confusion, the coddling of clients? To maintain this “prestige”? Did I make the wrong decision to jump ship from my old job that paid more? I had already made more with my side business than my current job’s minimum salary.
I ran a poll with my friends to see if it was hypocritical of me to stop being an attorney to teach people to become one. Some said YES. Most said NO.
But I’ve had my job and my side business in parallel since 2014. I JUST started this job 3 months ago. It’s going to take time to just leave a firm that was trying to train me.
What’s stopping me from walking away? Is it my attachment to my identity as a patent attorney? My sense of responsibility? Wanting a “safe” stable job in this uncertain economy? Disappointing the partners?
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