I reached this conclusion in 2000 and left my Big Firm after three years:
Legal recruiter Cynthia Sitcov has been asking associates the same question since she started in the business in the mid-1980s: "Do you want to make partner?"
And the quizzical look they give her in response has been the same, but for dramatically different reasons. Fifteen years ago, the answer was a resounding yes. But today "they look at me like I'm crazy," she says. "They say, 'I never want to be partner.' "
This 180-degree change in attitude signals a generational shift in the goals of new lawyers.
Today's associates are less interested in the brass ring of partnership, which appears to them not just unattainable but increasingly undesirable, and are more focused on using their time at law firms to gain valuable work experience and earn money, without the expectation of long-term employment.
My favorite quotation is that making partner is like winning "a pie-eating contest where the prize is more pie." Details here from Law.com.