If you are considering a job opportunity outside of Big Law, you may be questioning whether the new salary can support your current lifestyle.  Let's face it, moving away from Big Law will likely involve a pay cut, whether you go in-house, to a boutique firm or the Government, or decide to leave the law profession altogether. There are practical steps that you can take to ensure that (1) you will feel confident enough to step away from your current position and (2) you won't need to come back because you cannot afford your lifestyle.  In other words, how can you remove the infamous "golden handcuffs"?

Here are some tips that I've learned from my wife's own transition away from Big Law:

1. Dive into your spending and make cuts where necessary.

The first tip is to take a deep dive into your expenses by creating a budget and cutting unnecessary expenses.  This may be an obvious tip, but it's harder said than done.  For starters, not all Big Law attorneys live a lavish lifestyle.  However, when you work sixty plus hours per week, it's natural to opt for convenience and hire people to do the daily tasks that you don't have time to do.  If you start adding all those expenses together (housekeeping, lawn service, pool service, eating out multiple nights per week, nanny service, etc.), a good chunk of your salary ends up going to convenience.