Absolutely this. I only started my LLM several months after i joined a European firm as regional counsel. The time in-between helps you decide (1) if you see yourself staying in-house long (2) if you really need the llm (3) what kind of llm or are other certificates more worthwhile? (eg PDPA/AML related) (4) which institution (just like Singaporean bosses prefer NUS grads, European firms with European bosses prefer European LLMs).

I was also pure-liti 3+ pqe. Learnt everything corp-commercial related otj. 2 man team, 12 jurisdictions, 52 legal entities. Dunno how i survived. heh.

I started off at a really low pay with this company. I jumped after 2 years and that's when my LLM really came in handy. It opened doors for me to higher paid regional positions with mncs (I would say on par with junior partner pay at big4).