Any severely underemployed lawyers out there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's the difference between underemployed and unemployed?

NP. I'm underemployed. I have a job that requires bar admittance, but I should have a much better, more challenging, higher paying position given my credentials (T3 law school with honors, federal clerkship, law journal, firm and govt. experience, etc.) Does that make sense? So I'm not unemployed, but I'm underemployed. My former position required a lot of travel, so I "mommy-tracked" myself into this position when I had kids. I really need to move on, though, before I find that I can't.

I don't agree with your assessment. If you had those credentials and you kept on track but still ended up in your job doing what you are doing, then I would agree that you are underemployed. However, in your case, you chose the track you ended up in. I think what happened is that you made a choice to go into a track with less stress, less time commitment and less travel. Once you've chosen that track, it can be hard to get back on the fast track. There has been an overabundance of lawyers coming out of law schools for the last couple of decades and all those other top school graduates are looking for the fast track jobs. There are more heavily credentialed graduates than there are fast track jobs available and some are going to have to fall off or be pushed off the track. In your case, you chose to get off the track. Think of it like an MLB player who gets injured but instead of immediately getting back into training, opts to do something else for a while, like go back to school and get a prestigious degree. Four years later, he tries to get back into baseball but gets recruited to a minor league team and never gets back into the majors. Is that underemployed? Maybe if he never gave it up. But he did and he did something else and there was a host of talented young players coming out and he wasn't the hot start with potential anymore.

I think it's great that you chose to prioritize your family. You made a sacrifice to do so. But, the consequence is that you can't just jump back in where you left off and you have to work your way back to it. To do that, you have to be willing to make sacrifices for your family again and going back to a high stress, high time commitment and high travel position is not an easy decision when you have kids. Even if you kids are tweens or teens, you still don't want to check out of raising your family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is your legal career over/never began?

I’m in ediscovery, need I say more?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's the difference between underemployed and unemployed?

NP. I'm underemployed. I have a job that requires bar admittance, but I should have a much better, more challenging, higher paying position given my credentials (T3 law school with honors, federal clerkship, law journal, firm and govt. experience, etc.) Does that make sense? So I'm not unemployed, but I'm underemployed. My former position required a lot of travel, so I "mommy-tracked" myself into this position when I had kids. I really need to move on, though, before I find that I can't.

Ah, okay. That's how I feel about my gov't position.

I’m the OP and I’d have killed to have had any attorney job. I never got one. Didn’t go to a good school but was top 5%, law review editor, etc

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is your legal career over/never began?

I’m in ediscovery, need I say more?

Yes. What is that?

[Anonymous]

I work in corporate and our in house counsel is a bunch of ex big law people. I seriously don't understand how they come to work every day. reviewing contracts and the such has to be mind numbing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is your legal career over/never began?

I’m in ediscovery, need I say more?

Yes. What is that?

It’s not practicing law. It is clicking a mouse

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is going back to school in one’s 40s a realistic option? My legal career isn’t an option it is over, never began

Is this OP? I wouldn't take on more student debt at this point (in '40's). Do you have any law school debt? What is your family's financial picture like? If your family doesn't rely on your ediscovery salary, you might as well intern or start at the bottom of the barrel somewhere in an industry that you'll enjoy. That's what I would do, at least.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I work in corporate and our in house counsel is a bunch of ex big law people. I seriously don't understand how they come to work every day. reviewing contracts and the such has to be mind numbing.

I’m in biglaw, you hiring

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I work in corporate and our in house counsel is a bunch of ex big law people. I seriously don't understand how they come to work every day. reviewing contracts and the such has to be mind numbing.

I work in-house and it is boring but it pays well and hours are reasonable. Have a nice office overlooking the Potomac river and can work remotely. Ideal for attorneys with kids at any age.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I work in corporate and our in house counsel is a bunch of ex big law people. I seriously don't understand how they come to work every day. reviewing contracts and the such has to be mind numbing.

corporate in-house counsel is pretty much the holy grail of law.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is going back to school in one’s 40s a realistic option? My legal career isn’t an option it is over, never began

Is this OP? I wouldn't take on more student debt at this point (in '40's). Do you have any law school debt? What is your family's financial picture like? If your family doesn't rely on your ediscovery salary, you might as well intern or start at the bottom of the barrel somewhere in an industry that you'll enjoy. That's what I would do, at least.

I still owe money, not married no kids. I couldn’t get any interviews for any entry level stuff in any field. I think school would show I sincerely want a new careeer

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is going back to school in one’s 40s a realistic option? My legal career isn’t an option it is over, never began

Is this OP? I wouldn't take on more student debt at this point (in '40's). Do you have any law school debt? What is your family's financial picture like? If your family doesn't rely on your ediscovery salary, you might as well intern or start at the bottom of the barrel somewhere in an industry that you'll enjoy. That's what I would do, at least.

I still owe money, not married no kids. I couldn’t get any interviews for any entry level stuff in any field. I think school would show I sincerely want a new careeer

Have you posted about this before, OP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's the difference between underemployed and unemployed?

NP. I'm underemployed. I have a job that requires bar admittance, but I should have a much better, more challenging, higher paying position given my credentials (T3 law school with honors, federal clerkship, law journal, firm and govt. experience, etc.) Does that make sense? So I'm not unemployed, but I'm underemployed. My former position required a lot of travel, so I "mommy-tracked" myself into this position when I had kids. I really need to move on, though, before I find that I can't.

I don't agree with your assessment. If you had those credentials and you kept on track but still ended up in your job doing what you are doing, then I would agree that you are underemployed. However, in your case, you chose the track you ended up in. I think what happened is that you made a choice to go into a track with less stress, less time commitment and less travel. Once you've chosen that track, it can be hard to get back on the fast track. There has been an overabundance of lawyers coming out of law schools for the last couple of decades and all those other top school graduates are looking for the fast track jobs. There are more heavily credentialed graduates than there are fast track jobs available and some are going to have to fall off or be pushed off the track. In your case, you chose to get off the track. Think of it like an MLB player who gets injured but instead of immediately getting back into training, opts to do something else for a while, like go back to school and get a prestigious degree. Four years later, he tries to get back into baseball but gets recruited to a minor league team and never gets back into the majors. Is that underemployed? Maybe if he never gave it up. But he did and he did something else and there was a host of talented young players coming out and he wasn't the hot start with potential anymore.

I think it's great that you chose to prioritize your family. You made a sacrifice to do so. But, the consequence is that you can't just jump back in where you left off and you have to work your way back to it. To do that, you have to be willing to make sacrifices for your family again and going back to a high stress, high time commitment and high travel position is not an easy decision when you have kids. Even if you kids are tweens or teens, you still don't want to check out of raising your family.

I'm not PP but none of this negates the fact that she's underemployed. You're saying she's there as a consequence of her choices, which I'm sure she wouldn't disagree with, but it doesn't change the fact that she's underemployed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DH was. Found a niche and moved up in it. No longer underemployed. Don't be a generalist.

Does he like that niche? Or did he just grab a niche and stick with it? Bc some of the niche practices that are relevant right now are so freaking boring that 30 yrs of it sounds miserable. The niche practice I love isn't hot right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH was. Found a niche and moved up in it. No longer underemployed. Don't be a generalist.

Does he like that niche? Or did he just grab a niche and stick with it? Bc some of the niche practices that are relevant right now are so freaking boring that 30 yrs of it sounds miserable. The niche practice I love isn't hot right now.

He likes it fine - as much as most people like their jobs. It has relevance to real life - think IT / real estate / employment law - so not crazy boring. He sort of fell into it but then it was a combo of actively pursuing it and it being the only place he was sought after. Now he couldn't get a general in-house job most likely but is actively recruited in this one area.