Spin off: Lawyers do you have a passion for your line of work?
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
| I graduated from law school in 1997, and worked for DOJ and then a series of non-profits in my field -- I've never been in private practice. I love my work -- I represent the good guys, what I do is important, and it's really interesting. The flip side is I make shit money. As a senior attorney I make about half what a first-year associate at a BigLaw firm makes. Loan forgiveness notwithstanding, I still have law school debt. If I weren't married to someone who makes a lot more than I do, I couldn't do what I do. So yes, I have a passion for what I do, but if my dh got hit by a bus tomorrow, with three kids to support, I'd be unable to keep practicing the type of law I love. It's heartening and yet depressing to get all the eager beaver applicants for internships, fellowships, and the rare-as-hens'-teeth staff attorney positions that come open in my field -- there are way more people who want to save the world and make no money doing it than there are jobs for them. |
Anonymous
| I'm about 15 years out, and I've had passion most of my career. I loved my work as a clerk, thrived off the speed of being a litigation associate at a large firm until I had kids. Then it was treacherous and I moved to government doing very technical non-litigation work. At first that was kind of boring, but I started loving it after a few years and now I can really nerd out to it, but it doesn't consume my life. |
Anonymous
| DH hates law. But only a few can change mid-life to a new career. |
Anonymous
| I really like what I do -- appellate practice -- because it is a great fit for my personality and skill set. And I'm lucky to work at a great place and get paid pretty well. But, I'm an immigration lawyer and have almost no opinion on immigration politics and policy. So I would say that I'm not passionate about what I do because I am not one of the true believers, one way or the other (and there are a lot of true believers in immigration law, so it's pretty easy to spot the rest of us). |
Anonymous
I am very similar except I do employment law. Also an appellate practice, which is a great fit for me -- I love to write, I am interested in the issues but I don't want to deal with the people, I like that someone else does the sleuthing on the ground and I can come in afterwards and craft the brief. I enjoy my work very much but I am not passionate about it. Maybe that's not a bad thing. I don't really want to live to work; I have plenty of interests outside of work and I tend to be obsessive about the things that really interest me. Before kids I could easily stay at the office until 10 pm every night but it wasn't a wrench to cut back. If I lose a case, or if I encounter some really sad facts, it upsets me a bit but not a huge amount. If it were something I was really invested in, like reproductive rights, I would be terribly upset any time I had a setback. So, anyway, I'm pretty happy where I ended up. I don't love it as much as my first legal job -- a district court clerkship -- but it's paradise compared to my second, which was 3 years in biglaw. |
Anonymous
| Yes. But I work for a nonprofit and make $70K/yr, so I'd sure as hell better love it. |
Anonymous
You work for OIL, I take it. If so, you are not an immigration lawyer. Immigration lawyers try to help immigrants. You try to deport them. |
Anonymous
Next you'll be saying PP is an overpaid lazy fed. "Not an immigration lawyer"? Of course she is. |
Anonymous
| I do criminal appeals for the government, and it's great--interesting facts, intellectual stimulation, no pressure to make billable hours, and the ability to argue for what I think is right. Plenty of autonomy. |
Anonymous
| Employment lawyer here. I'm 10+ years out and still really like it. It's a field that's constantly expanding (and often salacious!). |
Anonymous
| I'm a third generation lawyer. I really like the intellectual challenge and the client service. But I wouldn't say I have a passion for it, not like I have for my children or my hobbies. Career is just work. |
Anonymous
| I have had jobs that I liked intellectually but was not committed to, but currently I work at a federal agency where I am working on interesting, important issues (albeit at half the pay I got in BigLaw) and I do like being a lawyer (turned down a promotion to manager) so I would say I am fairly passionate about it. |
Anonymous
|
No, I do not. And that might be because I feel like the only way that I can work as a lawyer and still make my home life my first priority (which is how I want it) is to work in a boring, insignificant practice area. So, here I am. Still, I'm a pretty smart person and a pretty good lawyer, and I could really be doing something meaningful with my life. Hopefully I will still be able to once I'm done having babies.
To the PP who SAHM and does occasional pro bono, you are who I want to be! To the first year, good for you puppy dog! I hope you feel the same way after your second or third ruined (or straight up cancelled) vacation! |
Anonymous
This was me for the first couple of years too. Fast forward 30 years and I've changed careers and so has my fellow lawyer DH. IMO law is intellectually rewarding and (sometimes) financially rewarding, but I needed a job with emotional rewards too. I have that now and have never looked back. |
Anonymous
|
I'm 10 years out and doing tax law, and i qiute like it but wouldn't say i'm passionate about it. But i don't think i would ever be "passionate" about work. I like having a job (I spent a couple years part time working from home after DS was born and was not satisfied), i like the intellectual stimulation, I like the money it affords me to enjoy the rest of my life and not lose sleep about finances. Tax lawyers often have good hours - I currently work part time, and negotiated that schedule on changing jobs. It is niche enough that I had good bargaining power, which I like. I did non-legal jobs before law school, where i made peanuts doing typical DC feel good jobs. I disliked my day to day, even if my job made for good cocktail party conversation. I was dead broke. I also felt like 90% of those jobs and/or organizations accomplish nothing in the big picture. Like, i worked for a think tank - so it's not like i was changing the world. i think a lot of my friends who are "passionate" about their jobs and brag about the difference they make in the world, don't actrually make any difference in the world. The reality is that most people i know aren't passionate though, legal or not. What i think matters more is how happy you are with the big picture of your life. I am very happy with the big picture.
I also think the myth of "you need to be passionate about your work" is harmful to women, who particularly buy into the myth and choose lower paying careers, which they quickly find unsatisfying - and drop out of the workforce as soon as they have kids. |