Honestly, being a partner is great. Here are a few thoughts: 1. The average billable hours of big law associates is way lower than most associates realize. If you’re averaging 170 hours a month the economics work out great. There are a lot of AmLaw 50 firms that will pay you the same for less work. But, I also expect that your firm does not expect 230+ hours. Everyone knows that’s not sustainable and associate retention is a much bigger deal than people realize. It takes a long time and a lot of effort to train associates. I would try to make it to your third year at your current firm, and then if it still sucks, switch to a different firm. Take a month off between. 2. Being a junior associate sucks. It ebbs and flows as you take on more responsibility, but I genuinely enjoy being a partner. I think it was worth the difficult climb. I was more miserable for a while there than my friends who went in house, but now I work a little more and make a few multiples of what most of those peers make. 3. I think of work life balance over a longer horizon. I did not have work life balance for a number of years, but now my work life balance is fantastic. 4. In some ways you should think of yourself similar to an athlete. To push your brain that hard you need to take care of it. You have to sleep. Massages, exercise etc. are small costs to keep yourself sharp. Feel free to BM me, happy to share more thoughts and advice.