ChristineW Posted May 24, 2011 Share Posted May 24, 2011 DH works at a midsized firm. Yesterday, he was approached by the head of Professional Development b/c his boss had been complaining about DH poaching referral sources--this never happened. Dh and boss went to dinner with a referral source; referral source said that for small cases the partner was too expensive and asked for permission to contact DH directly for help on smaller matters. Boss said "of course" and then got mad when the source referred a client to DH. This is not the first time that boss has sabotaged DH. Boss has complained that when DH has brought in his own clients and if DH gets any work from other partners in the practice area. We basically have three options: 1) Be a slave to mean boss and hope to make partner. Though boss' service partners are basically slaves still--they cc boss on every email and make no moves without his permission. Mean boss is not well and may have to retire soon (probably why he's so mean--earlier this spring before boss had secret surgery, we thought he might be developing dementia--chewed out DH and department head for conspiring against him), DH would likely step into his shoes and we'd be very well off. Dh would hate it though--he looked so sad last night that I wanted to beat mean boss up. Mean boss did this while boss was away so that DH couldn't confront him. 2. Transition to other partners in the group and slowly stop working for mean boss. Department head adores DH and has been trying to steal him from mean boss since Day 1. Dh is covering for different partner who likes taking three month vacations to places like Katmandu and Peru--Dh loves the freedom. Mean boss might retaliate in three years when DH is up for partner. We're not sure how much power mean boss has, but presume that mean boss could stop him from being partner. 3. Move back to LA --Former boss in LA still loves DH. Old boss is at new firm and could get DH hired pretty easily. Old boss was never threatened by Dh's success; in fact, he pushed him to do more rainmaking.Or go back to old firm to rebuild dept--pretty much everyone left w/in six months of DH leaving. Big firm has tons of clients in LA and partners are tired of traveling to California all the time. Drawbacks--DH's family is here (we really aren't that close to them except for DH's mom but she'd just resume visiting us every month). I think the Bay Area is more family-friendly, but I miss West LA so much. I love our church and the green hills here, and the air quality is awesome. DH could bike to work several days a week (both job prospects are in Santa Monica), and we're fairly addicted to the weather. I also worry about how DH would feel going back to LA after leaving 18 months ago. Boss is mean, but DH has bigger and more varied work assignments here. DH is more worried about having a fallback plan and not uprooting the kids again if things don't work out. There are lots more legal jobs in LA than here. We just bought a house--but we bought it at below market and could sell it tomorrow and break even with all the costs. We could probably make 50-100k if we made some minor upgrades. (We aren't being overly optimistic either--the house was assessed in 2009 at 300k more than we paid and the market has rebounded some since then). We'd probably rent the house out (we know a fabulous property manager) and rent in LA. It's not up to me, but I'd like to hear everyone's thoughts. Thanks for reading so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted May 24, 2011 Share Posted May 24, 2011 #3 would get my vote just from the information you gave here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoughCollie Posted May 24, 2011 Share Posted May 24, 2011 Option 2, since mean boss is ill, and will probably have to retire before the 3 years are up. If that doesn't work out in 3 years, reconsider your options then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barb_ Posted May 24, 2011 Share Posted May 24, 2011 #3. We've fallen victim to this type of situation twice. Evil bosses will make your family's life a living hell eventually. It looks like the writing is on the wall :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LostSurprise Posted May 24, 2011 Share Posted May 24, 2011 2 or 3. Only you can decide if a move back is worth it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 #2 or #3----- Even in a mid-sized firm, jerky partners typically have a reputation that everyone knows about. It's really a guess about how much power he has in the firm: is his a single vote or a vote based on %? Can he block putting him up for partner? I'd be inclined to go to #2 but keep an ear out for #3. In our local legal market, there has been a TON of consolidation with layoffs as well as associates who were supposedly on partner track but then are once they make partner don't get paychecks because the firm isn't doing well OR they are let go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lollie010 Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 So sorry. My heart is racing just reading all the details. Brings back some really bad memories for me. My #3 was to walk away from it all and homeschool my kiddos. Just today I was starting to miss it, but reading your post reminds me why I left. I know he really appreciates your support. I agree with RoughCollie on riding it out with #2 while keeping #3 in mind for the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChristineW Posted May 26, 2011 Author Share Posted May 26, 2011 Just wanted to update. Yesterday and today have been much better. The partner DH was helping is back in town and he was very impressed. He wants DH to work with him more and is giving him some referral sources. This partner wants to help DH build his own book of business. Right now it looks like DH will be shifting his focus away from mean boss and shifting to working for the other partners. The department head has also reassured DH that they want to keep him--mean boss screams at her and undermines her as well. I'm relieved that the department sees the problem as mean boss rather than my husband. We are preparing an exit strategy, however. The first partnership vote will be in two years (not three--I keep forgetting that he was a first year on his first day of work). We're going back to a law school budget so that we can walk away from the rat race if mean boss blocks him. Christine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trailofsparks Posted May 26, 2011 Share Posted May 26, 2011 Just wanted to update. Yesterday and today have been much better. The partner DH was helping is back in town and he was very impressed. He wants DH to work with him more and is giving him some referral sources. This partner wants to help DH build his own book of business. Right now it looks like DH will be shifting his focus away from mean boss and shifting to working for the other partners. The department head has also reassured DH that they want to keep him--mean boss screams at her and undermines her as well. I'm relieved that the department sees the problem as mean boss rather than my husband. We are preparing an exit strategy, however. The first partnership vote will be in two years (not three--I keep forgetting that he was a first year on his first day of work). We're going back to a law school budget so that we can walk away from the rat race if mean boss blocks him. Christine Sounds like a wise plan. I was just getting ready to post, when your 2nd one came through. I was going to say, there really is no "going back". So, that's an option I wouldn't entertain at all. Just my experience. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barb_ Posted May 26, 2011 Share Posted May 26, 2011 Great news, thanks for the update. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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