Litigation adds extra steps (as compared to a corporate practice) if you want to go in-house.

Only stick with litigation if you want to continue litigation. The end goal is obviously higher value and higher profile disputes cases, becoming known in the market as a star litigator, and possibly eventually Senior Counsel (1 in a 1000 odds maybe?) or Supreme Court Judicial Officer (1 in 10,000 maybe).

This lack of exit options is particularly acute for general commercial litigation. Even if you're working in a top tier liti/arbi team, the reward of being the top dog here, is simply more litigation.

Ironically, it is the specialist-focused disputes teams (i.e. the ones that service a particular industry & don't routinely take on the highest profile commercial disputes) that have better in-house options, because such litigators transition naturally to an in-house role in that particular industry. What I'm talking about are insurance, marine, restructuring & insolvency, criminal (defence & prosecution), employment and intellectual property etc. Specialist litigators in these areas are routinely hired by ex-clients and players in these industries.