How Short a Stint at a Job is OK?

This past week UK’s Prime Minister Liz Truss resigned, making her the shortest serving PM in British history, which got me thinking of how short a lawyer can stay at a job without raising eyebrows. A few thoughts:

1. If your company was just acquired, a short stint is very understandable. It’s standard knowledge an acquisition target will not keep all of its legal team.
2. If your company was clearly impacted by the economy or regulatory change and you were the last person hired on your team, then most prospective employers understand if you were let go soon after you were hired.
3. If your executive team has publicly turned over, then employers, if they know the situation, will get your desire to go.
4. If your work environment is known to be toxic, employers understand short tenures there. That said, not that many legal departments are known to be dumpster fires, and it’s not like you can say that out loud in an interview or explain that on your resume. (The best you can do is allude to high turnover or nationally known articles chronicling your employer’s culture, or have a trusted mutual acquaintance explain.)
5. The longer the tenure at prior jobs the more leeway you have. For example if you worked at two employers over 10 years and the first was for 9 years, then employers will be more understanding and not see you as a flight risk.