Least stressful jobs for lawyers

[Anonymous]

I have been at boutique law firm since being a mid-level associate. We generally hire out of the regulatory agency in our practice area or competing practice groups at big law firms. The pay is better than the Federal agency but certainly less than big law.

[Anonymous]

I am a litigation partner in a small firm (10 partners) and I love it. I do employment law so most of my work is counseling because I don't do insurance defense (EPLI type work) so the litigation is minimal. It's great. I will bring in around 300 next year and I bill 100 hours a month.

[Anonymous]

+1 for rulemaking

[Anonymous]

Within BIGLAW itself, I'd have to say tax. I work with a lot of these guys and they're pretty chill for the most part. More than some wicked-smart as well!

[Anonymous]

Real Estate law. I had a friend who worked in that as there are not many crisis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Within BIGLAW itself, I'd have to say tax. I work with a lot of these guys and they're pretty chill for the most part. More than some wicked-smart as well!

YMMV. The lawyers doing corporate tax at V50 are billing 2600-3000. My closest law school friend is one. I enjoy my 1800 hours for $400k while he does 3000 for $750k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rulemaking in a smaller government agency.

I do this at a large agency, and it is great although the high profile projects are stressful. But, we don't hire litigators. If OP can handle the paycut she should try to get into an agency litigation office. They support DOJ but typically don't appear in court.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Within BIGLAW itself, I'd have to say tax. I work with a lot of these guys and they're pretty chill for the most part. More than some wicked-smart as well!

YMMV. The lawyers doing corporate tax at V50 are billing 2600-3000. My closest law school friend is one. I enjoy my 1800 hours for $400k while he does 3000 for $750k.

There are corporate lawyers who bill that much because deals just bill constantly but IME it’s very hard for most tax lawyers to bill that much because it’s more advisory/counseling.

[Anonymous]

I'm a tax associate and most of my work originates from other attorneys in the firm doing transactions. Low stress for me not to have to go out and hump for business, but on the other hand, that means reduced partnership prospects. A trade-off I'm able to live with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have been at boutique law firm since being a mid-level associate. We generally hire out of the regulatory agency in our practice area or competing practice groups at big law firms. The pay is better than the Federal agency but certainly less than big law.

How much does your boutique law firm pay?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Regulatory/compliance counseling at boutique law firm. Some deal work, but usually not too high stress. Generally work 10-6, no weekends. Made around $400,000 last year. Honestly, it is pretty easy, although I have been doing it a long time.

What regulatory area? I’d love to leave FDA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In house, transactional. Do you really need to be told this?

I found transactional work to be highly stressful. Negotiations are all about arguing, and there are as many demands from the in-house clients as they were from the outside ones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In house, transactional. Do you really need to be told this?

I found transactional work to be highly stressful. Negotiations are all about arguing, and there are as many demands from the in-house clients as they were from the outside ones.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rulemaking in a smaller government agency.

I do this at a large agency, and it is great although the high profile projects are stressful. But, we don't hire litigators. If OP can handle the paycut she should try to get into an agency litigation office. They support DOJ but typically don't appear in court.

This is the correct answer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In house, transactional. Do you really need to be told this?

Your mileage may vary on this rec. Our in house transactional folks have a stressful job. Of course, the transactions they handle are in the hundreds of millions to several billion dollar range. Not chump change.