It depends on your company and your role. My in-house roles have been with private equity and venture capital backed tech companies, so my teams tend to be lean and mean and have a lot on our plates, from commercial to HR to privacy and security. Things move fast, and with customers and employees worldwide, sometimes outside business hours. I don't even know if I would say I work fewer hours, but the pressure I feel is different than when I worked for a firm; the goal of an in-house lawyer is to get things done and move on, especially if you are a solo counsel or have a small team. I feel a lot more freedom and flexibility as an in-house lawyer. My client doesn't care when work gets done, meaning I am in charge of timelines and priorities for the vast majority of my work. And I find the work itself more satisfying, maybe because there is so much variety and my role requires a lot of creative problem-solving.
It depends on your company and your role. My in-house roles have been with private equity and venture capital backed tech companies, so my teams tend to be lean and mean and have a lot on our plates, from commercial to HR to privacy and security. Things move fast, and with customers and employees worldwide, sometimes outside business hours. I don't even know if I would say I work fewer hours, but the pressure I feel is different than when I worked for a firm; the goal of an in-house lawyer is to get things done and move on, especially if you are a solo counsel or have a small team. I feel a lot more freedom and flexibility as an in-house lawyer. My client doesn't care when work gets done, meaning I am in charge of timelines and priorities for the vast majority of my work. And I find the work itself more satisfying, maybe because there is so much variety and my role requires a lot of creative problem-solving.