is this a sign of a not-so-successful lawyer?
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Anonymous
| I knew a personal injury lawyer who was building himself a sweet second home in Colorado ski country - I guess he did alright. |
Anonymous
Just curious, then what is the pull of biglaw? If you have to sign your life away and bill an insane amount of hours, wondering why more people just don't do practice law on their own? Especially all the ex-biglaw SAHMs who quit because of the horrendous hours. |
Anonymous
It is really hard to start to your own practice but there is the potential to be very successful. When you start out (especially if you start on your own right out of law school), you have to take any kind of business that comes your way whether you know about that area or not -- lots of work to get up to speed on different areas of the law and lots of pressure. Also, you have all of the overhead: rent, phone, malpractice insurance,etc. before anyone pays you a dime. There is the potential to do better than big law but big law guarantees you a large salary right out of school and you don't have to worry about the overhead (of course, there are other tradeoffs). Also, when you are on your own you are responsible for all of the rainmaking -- if you don't bring in clients, you won't be paying the rent. Big law firms (at least when I was there - and I know it has changed the last few years) tend to have a few institutional clients who always generate work. So, although you have to bring in business to make partner, that pressure isn't there when you are a first or second year attorney right out of school. Other factors include the lack of mentors or more established attorneys to learn from when you are on your own. But I wouldn't automatically assume that someone who is on his/her own isn't successful. I actually think it is a pretty impressive accomplishment to start and maintain your own firm. |
Anonymous
I'd guess that it's a quirk of DC (& other East Coast & probably other large cities). In a smaller town, someone who brings in $150K annually can be among the highest earners in town, whereas here (or at least on these boards) that's considered nothing special. |
Anonymous
| It just sounds like she wants to continue to judge or rate him so she and her friend can continue to call him a loser. |
Anonymous
It's guaranteed money over many years (biglaw) vs. eat what you kill w/ the potential to make a windfall of serious $. Biglaw folks will always be comfortable, but not incredibly wealthy like some of these PI attys. But, the ones who can make that kind of $ in PI law are few and far between. Personally, I like stability - hence, I will never be a Plaintiff's atty. |
Anonymous
I also know a workers comp attorney who makes as much as some BigLaw partners. He is very smart, finished near the top in HS, college and LS. He went to a lower tiered LS for the free ride. |
Anonymous
|
Oh good lord. Go to martindale.com and read his bio and see if he's peer reviewed. If he's got a good peer review, it's a good bet he's very successful.
Btw, you should use martindale whenever you're thinking of hiring a lawyer. |
Anonymous
| I am lawyer. I have had my own small practice for several years. I consider myself successful. I have all the flexibility I want and I make over six figures per year basically working about 30 hours/week. Frankly, a good PI attorney would make way more money than I do. |
Anonymous
| also, big law firms do not do every type of law, and not all lawyers are interested in the types of law practiced in big law firms, or the types of clients they serve. |
Anonymous
| I used to do personal injury, but on the defense side, in-house at an insurance company. There is historically a bit of stigma attached to personal injury law -- the old "ambulance chaser" stereotype. But in real life, there are many PI attorneys who make serious bank. It's also fun, exciting, and flexible in a way that other similarly lucrative areas of law rarely are. Plus there's an element of helping people in many cases. I think of a successful PI attorney as the scrappy guy who may not have graduated from the top of his class at Harvard, but works his ass off and knows how to deal with people and get things done. I'm not saying your high school friend is successful or not, but nothing you've said would tell me that one way or the other. |
Anonymous
| What a stupid post. Judge much? No way for anyone on here to know. You and your "friend," if the "friend" exists, should move on from high school. |
Anonymous
Exactly. It's like, "I think this guy was/is a jerk, so I really want to believe he doesn't have a decent career.". Why? OP, does it make you happy to think that this guy is not very successful? And conversely, you'd be disappointed to know he's doing well with his practice? You sound very petty. |
Anonymous
Oh please. We all do this. Some of us are at least honest enough to admit it. Others prefer to act holier-than-thou, which is of course just another form of the same judginess. |
Anonymous
| ITA with 20:57. Let it go, OP. He could either be super wealthy or not so much. Are you going to pursue him if he is the former? Is he going to even want you around? Probably not. He will likely smell gold digger! How can any guy NOT be offended by this? Or girl for that matter? Honestly, we should be teaching our daughters better than to sniff around. Yuck. |