is being a lawyer losing its appeal compared to tech or finance for high achieving students?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Big law wife here. DH busted his ass and we sacrificed early on, but it has paid huge dividends. There was no shortcut and I’m extremely proud of how hard he has worked to provide for our family.

You mean HE sacrificed. What did you do?

you've never heard the term law firm widow? she basically raised the kids by herself and handled everything. i remember the year my husband (big firm partner) was away for 6 months straight (home just on weekends) and started referring to his corporate apartment in another state as "home" and his trek from said apartment to the client site as "my commute." My kids were preschoolers and toddlers. I was basically a single parent.

That poster is ignorant. Your sacrifices are steep, but far from the worst. The amount of divorce and substance abuse among corporate lawyers is staggering.

I assume by corporate lawyers you mean big law partners at top firms. If so the divorce rate is tiny and substance abuse is also minimal. Rich people rarely get divorced. Above 750k the divorce rate is lower than 25%

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Probably important to consider how you become BigLaw equity partner if you want that $$$. Likely starts with high LSAT score and GPA, then top grades at law school, then presentable enough to get hired (or know someone), but what about after that? Everyone is smart at that point, but what does it take to get to equity partner, when you have convinced the others that firm profits should be shared with you, potentially watering down their own shares? Can you do that? Will you do that? What qualities do you add to the firm? Why should you get a piece of the pie rather than increase their profits?

Very few people who start at biglaw get to equity partner. Part of is is skill, hard work, people skills, etc. But part of it is also luck. Whether you can develop (or inherit) a book of business. And also more than you know is based on internal firm factors that are totally out of your control.

Agree with this but it all comes down to problem solving. That is the key. Someone who can solve problems does not have to be the smartest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lawyer here and I would say yes.

First off there's just a ton of $ in tech, startups, the opportunity to make it really big.

Beyond that, the "elite" fields for lawyers (appellate advocacy, govt policy, etc) are just feeling very pointless. The Supreme Court is just making up whatever it wants (abortion was a constitutionally protected right for 25 yrs and now it's not?) and it's clear the exec branch can do whatever it wants as well. The whole "nation of laws" thing is feeling like a big depressing eyeroll in these circles.

Generational, life changing money. Big law partners retire well but it’s not setup to make
Your grandchildren rich and protected from a life of toil and pain (basically the life of a big law attorney). Joining a successful start up or ten years at FAANG can get you there.

The life of a big law partner is not toil and pain. It is quite a good life if managed which can be done. What I hope is that my grandchildren work hard at something. In all likelihood there will be plenty there to help but life without working hard at something is just dumb.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Big law wife here. DH busted his ass and we sacrificed early on, but it has paid huge dividends. There was no shortcut and I’m extremely proud of how hard he has worked to provide for our family.

You mean HE sacrificed. What did you do?

Back off, hater. I’m sure she settled for domestic wine once in a while to keep expenses under control.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lawyer here and I would say yes.

First off there's just a ton of $ in tech, startups, the opportunity to make it really big.

Beyond that, the "elite" fields for lawyers (appellate advocacy, govt policy, etc) are just feeling very pointless. The Supreme Court is just making up whatever it wants (abortion was a constitutionally protected right for 25 yrs and now it's not?) and it's clear the exec branch can do whatever it wants as well. The whole "nation of laws" thing is feeling like a big depressing eyeroll in these circles.

Generational, life changing money. Big law partners retire well but it’s not setup to make
Your grandchildren rich and protected from a life of toil and pain (basically the life of a big law attorney). Joining a successful start up or ten years at FAANG can get you there.

The life of a big law partner is not toil and pain. It is quite a good life if managed which can be done. What I hope is that my grandchildren work hard at something. In all likelihood there will be plenty there to help but life without working hard at something is just dumb.

I want my grandkids to live off the S&P and paint and play tennis and pursue their hobbies rather than service sociopathic overweight law partners with wives they hate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Probably important to consider how you become BigLaw equity partner if you want that $$$. Likely starts with high LSAT score and GPA, then top grades at law school, then presentable enough to get hired (or know someone), but what about after that? Everyone is smart at that point, but what does it take to get to equity partner, when you have convinced the others that firm profits should be shared with you, potentially watering down their own shares? Can you do that? Will you do that? What qualities do you add to the firm? Why should you get a piece of the pie rather than increase their profits?

Very few people who start at biglaw get to equity partner. Part of is is skill, hard work, people skills, etc. But part of it is also luck. Whether you can develop (or inherit) a book of business. And also more than you know is based on internal firm factors that are totally out of your control.

Agree with this but it all comes down to problem solving. That is the key. Someone who can solve problems does not have to be the smartest.

There is little problem solving in big law. There is a lot of redlining Word documents. It is very easy for an Ivy/Nescac English major

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Big law wife here. DH busted his ass and we sacrificed early on, but it has paid huge dividends. There was no shortcut and I’m extremely proud of how hard he has worked to provide for our family.

You mean HE sacrificed. What did you do?

you've never heard the term law firm widow? she basically raised the kids by herself and handled everything. i remember the year my husband (big firm partner) was away for 6 months straight (home just on weekends) and started referring to his corporate apartment in another state as "home" and his trek from said apartment to the client site as "my commute." My kids were preschoolers and toddlers. I was basically a single parent.

That poster is ignorant. Your sacrifices are steep, but far from the worst. The amount of divorce and substance abuse among corporate lawyers is staggering.

I assume by corporate lawyers you mean big law partners at top firms. If so the divorce rate is tiny and substance abuse is also minimal. Rich people rarely get divorced. Above 750k the divorce rate is lower than 25%

lol at the divorce rate being tiny in big law. Next thing you’ll tell me that no one in big law suffers from suicidal ideation or actually goes through with it. Find a corporate attorney in a non-sober moment and you can play emergency therapist for the day

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Big law wife here. DH busted his ass and we sacrificed early on, but it has paid huge dividends. There was no shortcut and I’m extremely proud of how hard he has worked to provide for our family.

You mean HE sacrificed. What did you do?

you've never heard the term law firm widow? she basically raised the kids by herself and handled everything. i remember the year my husband (big firm partner) was away for 6 months straight (home just on weekends) and started referring to his corporate apartment in another state as "home" and his trek from said apartment to the client site as "my commute." My kids were preschoolers and toddlers. I was basically a single parent.

That poster is ignorant. Your sacrifices are steep, but far from the worst. The amount of divorce and substance abuse among corporate lawyers is staggering. [/quote]


Nevertheless, the social and economic mobility that a law degree from a T14 offers is unbeatable in American professional education. For three years work, you enter the NY market at $215-225K. You work a few years, pay off your loans, move to smaller firms, in-house, government, corporations, teaching, writing, publications, lobbying, the list goes on and on.

Specialized medicine provides higher pay and stability than T14 law. In house, government, teaching, publications, these are all crap pay. If you want to be a lobbyist go work on the Hill and get paid out of college rather than taking on debt. Corporation? Go study business and enter corporate development. Law ruins young talent in so many ways and is a fake ticket to success

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Probably important to consider how you become BigLaw equity partner if you want that $$$. Likely starts with high LSAT score and GPA, then top grades at law school, then presentable enough to get hired (or know someone), but what about after that? Everyone is smart at that point, but what does it take to get to equity partner, when you have convinced the others that firm profits should be shared with you, potentially watering down their own shares? Can you do that? Will you do that? What qualities do you add to the firm? Why should you get a piece of the pie rather than increase their profits?

Answers to would be attorneys: you can’t do that. You won’t do that. You add no unique qualities. You should only get a piece of the pie when a relationship partner dies.

Utterly false - T3 grad, big firm

Hey, feel free to call me when you want to practice your pitch to JPM’s GC to win their business! Best of luck!