<p>Agree completely Sally. I'm not sure why anyone would try to say that chances for in house decrease at 4 yrs. out unless it comes from a website that is trying to get young associates to sign up for its services as early in the career as possible. Hmmm... If I could find an in house job for all of the candidates I have that want them, I could retire next month. When I decided to leave my "biglaw" job after only 3 years, the headhunter I contacted practically laughed at the big decision I had made to go in house. The market is extremely competitive and it is often necessary to be flexible geographically in order to get the job. I serve the Baltimore/Washington area and the numbers of locally based companies continues to shrink year and year. It is certainly true that in house jobs are not a panacea. When you are an attorney with a firm, you are part of the profit center for that firm. When you go in house, you are not the money maker, and I have spoken with in house lawyers who can't accept the fact that they are the last people the decision makers want to see walk into their offices. They don't like having to be the ones always telling the business side why they can't do things. That is certainly not always the case, but it is something to consider.</p>