When you start your career at a law firm, you’re joining as a junior associate. No matter how much experience or development you make at the firm, some senior associates and partners may never see you as more than that.
Perspective is everything. While you may still be thought of as the junior associate at your own firm, once you send your resume and deal sheet around, attorneys at other firms will see you for who you actually are….
A rockstar candidate with partner potential.
Your personality will be fresh and you may offer a unique set of skills to this new firm.
Just because you’re not on the partner track at one firm, it does not mean you wouldn’t make partner at another one.
Your mindset is a very powerful thing. You’re perceived the same way as you think of yourself. You can change your mindset if you change your environment. My advice is not to just leave your firm because of the reasons I outlined above, but to be mindful of the way you’re perceived.
And you’re smart. Read the writing on the wall.
If you get the sense that you’ll never be on the partner track at your current firm, it’s best to move on and “reinvent yourself” at a new firm. The fresh perspective brings new opportunities for growth and oftentimes, partnership.
Let me know what you think about the idea of partner mindset. Do you have it?