I am okay with taking a huge paycut for improved QOL. But if I do that, we probably would need parents help paying some bills, at least if we stay in a big city. The hiring process takes forever though, so I’m hearing back from corporations much earlier. I’m debating whether to hold out for non-corporate jobs. I think it’s probably worth it in the long term. It would help if government moved faster than 6 months to a year for hiring though…
Remember Biglaw, you have only one life to live and only you can decide what is more important to you. I worked in “midlaw” for years (thirty men firm) until I finally went out on my own, so I know where you are coming from. The Prestige/Status thing is very important for many people, especially the type of people who post on College Confidential. If Status/Prestige is important to you, than you will never be happy unless you have a job where you feel you have that Prestige to make your life more meaningful. Selling furniture from your own business just may not cut it for you no matter how much money you make. On the other hand, I disagree with Happy Alumnus. Practicing Law is not rocket science and the intellectual stimulation will not be greater in the future. Your responsibilities and tasks might well be more challenging and more interesting however. In my firm, all litigation, we were thrown into the pot immediately and were taking deposition and trying cases within months of employment. You either sank or swam in that environment. But sooner or later, it becomes rote. The biggest thing about seniority is more contact with clients. So what??? Analyzing case law can be done by anybody who has reasonable intelligence. Its not like trying to understand Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. Practicing Law is NOT intellectually demanding imho. It is however stressful and long hours at times.
That all being said, it has been said that Working in Big Law is like a Pie eating contest. If you win, you get more pie to eat. And the Prestige thing in my opinion is false. Nobody but you gives a damn what you do with your life, and perhaps your parents can proudly say “my son the lawyer”. Big deal. Happiness and satisfaction are very difficult things to find in our society, which is why perhaps Denmark and other countries beat us out on the happiness scale by significant margins. All I can say is that, as a somebody close to getting ready for retirement with a few million in my retirement accounts, I am no happier now than I was when I was poor . . before law school. Probably not as happy. There is nothing like being young, healthy and unburdened with the obligations one accumulates over life as one gets married, obtains a mortgage, gets more responsibility at work, etc. Don’t be in a rush to be a super success. Your youth will be gone before you know it. I often wonder why people do to themselves in this country what so many do. One word of advice, no matter what path you finally choose, take care of your health first. I am very fit for my age, still at my college weight. It takes nothing more than eating properly most of the time and making exercise every day a priority. You don’t have to get fat and slothful like so many people in our country become over the years. Do not fool yourself into believing getting to office early and working long hours at the sacrifice of your body and health is worth it no matter how much you earn. Its not.
@ Rumpled2222
Before I started law school, I cared more about “prestige” although not too much. Now I don’t think “prestige” means anything. Nobody cares what I do (except maybe my immediate family) and I am the one who has to live my life, not other people. Most people don’t give a crap about anyone else or what they do with their lives. Having “prestige” doesn’t get you anything.
What does matter to me is having money, because having money can buy me a lot of freedom (from working for other people). I don’t think I’m really on the path to becoming rich though, at least not without sacrificing at least 10+ years of my life through indentured servitude. So my options are to take it easier while working for someone else and make less money or to strive out on my own and start a business and take a greater risk/higher reward. Either option seems better to me at this point than working terrible hours to make someone else rich.
Also, after accruing student loans in law school and having to pay them off, I have decided never to have a mortgage. I don’t really want all of the responsibilities that most people think you “should” have at certain periods of life.
I think what I’ve taken out of my experience is a greater self-understanding of what is important to me, and also a cynicism about people generally. Many people seem to be blindly following a path for the “gold at the end of the rainbow” without stopping to think whether it’s worth it and what we are sacrificing. Life is too short to keep sacrificing for the (possibility of having a) future.
Re: Health. After I told my mom how many late nights I was pulling, she told me I should find another job because she also told me that my health is the most important thing and that no job is worth sacrificing health. She also said that the young take for granted their health, and that without it, you have absolutely nothing.
OP you don’t seem to take any suggestion without having an excuse why it doesn’t suit your lifestyle or interests. You seem overly obsessed with living a life of comfort without having to work for it, and no one on this thread can help you there.
My husband who has been doing his line of work for 37 years, works 12 hours a day plus more paperwork after he gets home. My son works 11 hours a day and more during some periods,plus working out from home during the weekend. My son-in-law works more than the OP. No one has spoken of quitting his job.
I think the OP doesn’t like being a lawyer.
And there’s nothing wrong with that.
He needs to have a backup job before quitting. That’s the mature way of handling the matter.
@ spayurpets So wanting an average suburban life in an easy job or owning my business is wanting a “life of comfort without having to work for it”?
I work on average 12 to 18 hour days…hardly lazy bum.
Wait a minute - you know what? I assume you’re just mad cause I posted that I turned down HYPS in that other thread and talked about legacies being rampant at the Ivies. Probably something to do with your D. Sorry that your ego had to take a hit. I forget how many “prestige” obsessed people are on this forum.
You are really funny. All I read were numerous people over 5 pages of posts trying to offer sound and sincere advice and you kept on dismissing the advice as too boring, too corporate, too much of a grind, too meaningless and on and on why you can’t do it. And no one pointed out, until I did, how you sound talking about the size of bank accounts, the number of friends you have who are millionaires, how many houses your family has and the laughable fact that you are anticipating a multimillion dollar inheritance when your in-laws die.
Closing thread since it has degenerated into useless name-calling.