Being a LAWYER is SO STRESSFUL!

Graduate School Law School
1

<p>Okay yeah we've all heard that one before. And honestly, it frustrates me.
Everyone here talks about how you have to have a near perfect gpa + LSAT score to get in to a t14 and even then are dubious about how worth law school is in the end, AND TO TOP IT OFF go on to warn/complain (idk which) about how stressful it is to be a lawyer.</p>

<p>Okay I'm seriously considering becoming a lawyer/lobbyist/working in DC after I graduate law school and I want to hear some input from people who ARE lawyers/lobbyists/have parents, friends, or know of older people who are lawyers and how they are liking their job.</p>

<p>What if you LIKE debating and arguing for something or a good cause or whatever? What if you WANT to go to law school and better the world through rhetoric? Is there no positive outlook on being a lawyer at all? Is everyone in the right and am I just being optimistic about what I want to do and that I can be happy with my career when I grow up?</p>

2

<p>Most of what lawyers do does not involve debating. Most of what lawyers do only “betters the world” in a very abstract way. You can be happy being a lawyer, but most people get their idea of what a lawyer does from TV. TV is a bad thing on which to base your life.</p>

3

<p>I am fortunate enough to have had a long and successful career as a lawyer. I didn’t go to a T14, and have seen T14 lawyers selected for lay-off instead of me on several occasions. On the other hand, my career started in a very different professional world where there weren’t as many law schools and being a lawyer was still a pretty big deal. </p>

<p>I have handled legal projects that have made international news, had Billion $+ value, and which have affected national interests. I’ve had this career as a result of several very lucky breaks, and always working harder and longer than anyone else. I never said no or gave less than 150% to mind-numbing work, which sometimes led to being able to work on the more interesting stuff. I worked hard on developing my business network and maintaining social connections, so that executives wanted me on their teams. As I am nearing retirement, I can look back and see how X led to Y in each step of my career. </p>

<p>I can’t think of many legal jobs where enjoying rhetoric is a big deal…perhaps appellate counsel. In my world, a lawyer who likes to debate finds himself or herself alone in the room very quickly.</p>

<p>I am honored to be able to say that I have worked on projects that have made a positive difference to others. I have some interesting stories about famous people and projects, although most of them are privileged and confidential LOL. Being a lawyer gave me the opportunity to have these experiences, and to make enough money to support my family.</p>

<p>Stress has been part of the job. I know other lawyers working in other jobs such as contracts managers or insurance counsel who are in less stressful jobs. In my view, those jobs are also less professionally rewarding. I also know some government lawyers in Washington DC, who tell me that they hate their jobs and are underpaid but have accepted it in exchange for a lower level of stress. Stress levels are going to vary signficantly depending on the job and the lawyer’s personality. Someone may perceive a project as being highly stressful, while a more tightly wired lawyer may view a project as being ordinary. Employability adds a whole different layer of stress, but you didn’t ask about that.</p>

<p>In my situation, I am finding that being an advocate and always being at the top of my game is exhausting. Frankly, I find the optimism and enthusiasm of young lawyers and law students to be adorable. It’s so naive, but it’s also part of the cycle of life. Someone has to be the next Attorney General, CEO of a Fortune 50, etc. Stay enthusiastic and optimistic as long as possible. Good for you, and go for it!</p>

4

<p>Most lawyers I know have made incredible, positive, life-changing contributions to other people. In many cases, that is called pro bono work and is required for bar admissions.</p>

5

<p>I practiced law for 25 years. I practiced corporate/real estate law and was never a lobbyist or a litigator, so there wasn’t a lot of debating or bettering the world involved. I went to a T14, worked in Big Law, made partner and was financially successful. I also worked some ridiculously long hours over the years, and there was sometimes stress involved (although I wouldn’t say most of my days were overly stressful). My husband is still a big firm partner and still works ridiculously long hours, but he loves what he does. For the most part I found the work interesting and challenging; even as a new associate I rarely got mind-numbingly dull assignments. Practicing law was not what I expected - it was nothing like what you see lawyers do on TV, which was my only real exposure to lawyers before I became one. The only time I saw the inside of a courtroom was to be sworn in. That was good for me, because I had no interest in litigation and loved the business aspect of my practice. My friends who went into law for the debate/litigation/world-saving aspect of it were sorely disappointed. For me, it was a great career. However, I’ve watched the profession change, and honestly, I would be unlikely to recommend law school to my kids.</p>

6

<p>Why does it frustrate you that being a lawyer is stressful? Just about all jobs are stressful; I’ve got a friend who is a social worker. She handles child abuse/neglect cases, is called on to testify all the time, and is basically responsible at times for a child she’s never met before. She gets paid peanuts. That’s a stressful job. And I wouldn’t want to be the man or woman who sunk their life savings into the newest “can’t miss” franchise opportunity.
What makes being a lawyer so stressful is the fact that on top of the usual job pressures, our much lauded adversarial system means that as a lawyer, you’re looking at a lot of conflict which is part of the system. Everybody can get his own lawyer, and often those lawyers spend a lot of time making life difficult for each other-all in the name of zealous representation, of course.
You’ve also got a very unrealistic view of the profession. Nobody-not even #1 from HLS is going to fall into a lobbyist job in DC. It just isn’t going to happen. You might get hired to write the papers for the ex-politico bigwig who is the lobbyist, but you won’t be a lobbyist.
And the actual practice involves very little “debating and arguing”, even appellate practice. If you want to go to law school, go. But you’d be well-advised to get a clearer picture of what lawyers do before embracing 200K in law school debt.</p>

7

<p>I know a few people with law degrees who are DC lobbyists. All worked as congressional staffers before moving into lobbying. That gave them the insight into how the political system works from the inside.</p>

8

<p>The problem with law is the business model. The billings are all based on hours worked as a way to generate fees. Thus leaving lawyers to work ridiculous hours to justify ridiculous billings. Only become a lawyer if you really are a workaholic and want to work all the time. There are so many other ways to earn a living without incurring the cost/time of a law degree and having to sacrifice so much of your life to the billable hour and the firm.</p>

9

<p>There are many more ways to practice law than succumbing to the billable hour rat race of medium to large firms. I have practiced in boutique firms and as a sole practitioner for over 25 years. Some years are better than others, and some cases more satisfying than others. I largely represented the under-class of society feeling I make a meaningful contribution to society most days. Work, any type of work, is what you make of it.</p>

10

<p>I graduated from a T14 law school nearly thirty years ago, with little debt, but during a deep recession. I interviewed with big law firms for a summer job following my second year, at a time when the unemployment rate had reached double figures, and I completely struck out. I took a job after graduation with a small firm that paid (after I passed the bar) about two thirds of what big firms were paying at the time; the hours were substantially shorter than what big firms were requiring if young associates. I had much more responsibility than my friends at big firms, but less training. I was serving lead counsel on an absurd variety of cases within weeks of passing the bar: criminal cases (felony and misdemeanor), landlord-tenant cases, divorces, immigration cases, personal injury cases, and a bankruptcy. It was extremely stressful, as I really didn’t know what I was doing. (Legal ethics rules prohibit attorneys from accepting employment in areas in which they do not have expertise unless they are prepared to develop that expertise. My boss had unrealistic expectations.)</p>

<p>I left that firm after two years to form a partnership, and narrowed the focus of my practice to personal injury and landlord tenant cases. I grew tired of litigation after a dozen years; litigation is often contentious, and I never slept well the night before a court appearance. (Making oral arguments in law and motion matters bears the most resemblance to debate of any of the tasks I have performed as a lawyer.) I was also weary of the feast-or-famine nature of working on contingency.</p>

<p>I closed my private practice after accepting a contract management position with the procurement department of a large corporation. The friend who recruited me suggested that after two years there, I could transition to an in-house legal department, which turned out to be pretty prescient of him. (I made the move after two years and two months). </p>

<p>I have now worked in-house for most of my career, for the most part very contentedly. The pace of work can be frenetic at times, but I really like what I do, and am treated very well by my employers. (A good boss can be the principal difference between a great job and a terrible job.) The stress level is significant, but bearable.</p>

11

<p>A basic thing you must understand about being a lawyer is that a lawyer’s work is dictated by his/her client. It is the client’s interests, desires, decisions that govern. And remember, law being a business, you don’t always have the freedom to choose your clients. A lawyer advises, but at the end of the day it is a lawyers job to do what the client wants to this best of his/her ability. Even lawyers working for the government or public interest groups or corporations have “clients” – someone else deciding what the lawyer’s “mission” is.</p>

<p>Think long and hard about this - will you be satisfied using rhetoric to change the world, if your client wants it changed in a way you don’t agree with? If not, think realistically about your employment prospects if you will only want to work for clients (causes) you are personally passionate about. And even if you are lucky enough to get a job championing a cause that is dear to you, what happens when on a particular agenda point, the client wants to go a different way than you do? </p>

<p>It is one thing to be passionate and like to debate when YOU get to choose the agenda. It is quite another when you are expected to bring that same level of passion to an agenda dictated to you by you client. </p>

<p>One more thing to consider – if you view the law as a good field because you like to debate and argue, realize that you will likely be working with other lawyers who felt the same way. It can be VERY stressful to work with people who tend to debate as their usual course of dialogue. People you work with and are on the “same side” as you – they still discuss things by debating - you present a viewpoint, they challenge you on it. Personally, I found this to be one of the more distasteful aspects of being a lawyer – not dealing with “adversaries,” but just dealing with the other people in my firm who couldn’t make a group lunch order without it being a subject for debate ;)! Seriously – think about this. </p>

<p>I am not saying that you therefore shouldn’t become a lawyer. I am just saying you should understand what you would be getting into.</p>

12

<p>There is a vast oversupply of lawyers.</p>

<p>The law of supply and demand tends to make life miserable for lawyers.</p>

<p>I am an attorney, and have worked in major law firms.</p>

<p>70 hours a week.</p>

<p>Exploitative treatment.</p>

<p>And I think that things are even WORSE today.</p>

<p>In general, I would advise most people not to go that route.</p>

<p>This advice is not based just on my own experience, but also on the experiences of countless friends and co-workers I have met over the years.</p>

<p>I was given that same advice 30 years ago, and didn’t follow it, to my detriment.</p>

<p>Consider yourself warned.</p>

13

<p>just consider what type of career prospects you will have if you refuse clients you ‘disagree’ with. consider how senior lawyers will regard a new lawyer telling them they don’t agree with a client and don’t want to work for them. consider what career opportunities will be open to a young inexperienced lawyer who wants the freedom to turn down clients they disagree with. (and i emphasize, i am not talking about situations where the lawyer doesn’t want to do something unethical or illegal - yes those are lines that should never be crossed.) then also consider the size of that new lawyer’s monthly student loan repayment. </p>

<p>if someone does not want their professional career directed by the interests of their clients, i cannot imagine why that person would choose law as a career. it is a lawyers’ job to represent clients. </p>

<p>its nice to envision that one will end up working for a public interest group (or some other client) whose interests will align with one’s own and allow one the chance to change the world in the way one feels it ought to be changed. its another thing to actually find such a job. especially as a new lawyer. especially in the current job market.</p>

<p>at some point in a successful lawyer’s career, they may have greater freedom over the clients they accept. but you have to get there first. and even then, think long and hard as to whether you can truly make a career of only representing clients you ALWAYS agree with.</p>

14

<p>I’m a 16 year lawyer who now does appellate work. Agree most lawyers have no interest in debating. Blech. </p>

<p>I have done work I believe in. Mostly voting rights. But the vast majority I have no interest in/it’s not inherently interesting and when young I worked in litigation for big firm for a tobacco company. We made great money but the things I saw have bothered me ever since. I did not have a choice to work on that client or not unless I’d rather be delivering summons. If you don’t have to worry about paying debt maybe you could follow your heart…otherwise doubtful. </p>

<p>Most of my “environmental” law student friends went to work for big companies defending the polluters.</p>

15

<p>

Nothing wrong with wanting to make the world better through rhetoric, except (1) almost no one ever really changes things through rhetoric, what you may see in Hollywood movies aside; and (2) you’re not going to do that as a lawyer.</p>

<p>I know people who have worked on incredible cases and projects that have created actual change. Now, even they aren’t doing it through rhetoric: it’s often the long, slow slog through the legal system. More importantly, they have done it pro bono, or, in two notable situations that I remember, at the personal cost (or cost to the group) of hundreds of thousands of dollars. No one pays you gobs of money to save the world: every single dollar in your pocket is a dollar less that is going to the cause, or a dollar less in the pocket of your benefactor.</p>

16

<p>My advice is to not waste your time on going to law school. Instead, beef up on your science and math skills and go graduate school to get your PhD in a science or engineering field. </p>

<p>Think about what lawyers do in real life, on a daily basis. It’s pretty boring stuff.</p>

17

<p>Get an externship/job/shadow at a lawyer’s office. Not on court days.</p>

18

<p>Yeah I agree, being an Lawyer is really very stressful. Well being an [commercial</a> lawyers](<a href=“http://www.aussielawyerdirectory.com.au/lawyers/commercial-lawyers/]commercial”>Commercial Lawyers Adelaide • Aussie Lawyer Directory) is good option to go for.</p>

19

<p>i am a lawyer and have what many would consider a boring job. it is far less stressful than most lawyer jobs and I like it. My advice to u is that if you know you want to be a lawyer, go for it. The good thing about this profession is that there is a lot of diversity and there are many different directions u can go. If u have decided the cost is worth it cause this is what u know u want to do, by all means go for it. Shadowing lawyers or if you can shadow someone in DC is a great idea.</p>

20

<p>Left this thread so that it could gather some more replies an totally got sucked into school & haven’t visited it since! Wow, thank you guys so much for your replies. At this time, I’ve finished applying to schools & am waiting to hear back from all of them, have taken gov/econ courses that opened my eyes to some aspects of the legal/politcal world and looking back on this, I realize I wrote this as a rather spur of the moment, impulsive post.</p>

<p>Well, I originally latched onto the idea of being a lawyer because I’m good at writing & analysis, speech & debate. It seemed the most logical route to me. But because literally every single one of you are so adamantly opposing the prospect of law school, what would you suggest in place of it given my skill set? I’m actually completely at a loss of what to do, and I’m not the type of person who likes that.</p>

<p>(Also, I know I said I’m into writing, but I don’t intend to go into fiction writing as a career so please no one advise that route to me, thank you!)</p>