A friend of mine just left a Fortune 500 law department in the aftermath of a power struggle.  Often, the next step for someone in my friend’s shoes is an in-house position elsewhere. Her choice: an AmLaw 100 law firm. And that option has become readily available to many in-house attorneys.

The law firm business model used to be “up or out.” Associates were leveraged, and they either made partner or were gently pushed out the door. The unwritten rule was that later-in-career attorneys could not return to a law firm. Now, returning to law firm land is common. So common, in fact, that many attorney bios now look like a revolving door … moving back and forth between law firm affiliations and in-house positions.