In-House Counsel

A recent study found "There was a 50/50 split between those [law departments] choosing to retain the volume-based work and those choosing to send out the volume work and retain the more complex work in-house," reports Legal Strat. Rev., Summer 2009 at III.

Your typical in-house attorney wants good work that is interesting, but not work that scares them with its complexity, burns them out with boredom, or crushes them with enormity. Few people would look forward to constant challenge (See my post of post of Dec. 5, 2005: rocket science and of commodity work.). Nor do lawyers want the dispiriting chill of assembly-line work, over and over, without variety or respite.

The sweet spot of not too hot, not too cold work, at the right volume and level of professional interest, is the porridge sought (See my post of Aug. 21, 2008: sweet spot.). The Goldilocks happy medium is a hard bear to find.