Reply to How badly do you regret having gone to law school ?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]This is a toughie.

I came from nothing and went to law school because I didn't know what else to do with a liberal arts degree.  I had a terrible LSAT score (being too unsophisticated and poor to even know about the existence of prep courses) but very high grades from a decent but not great college.  I got into a school at the bottom of the top 20-25 at a time when tuition wasn't as crazy as it is now, so I went.  I somehow ended up at the very top of the class, got a great clerkship, and from there landed a job with a top firm in Biglaw.  It took a while, but eventually I made equity partner, made a lot of money (low by Biglaw partner standards but still very good), -- and walked away completely in my early 50s.

I hated every minute of my time with Biglaw.  My colleagues were zero fun at their best and total a$$holes at their worst.  The clients were only slightly better, and of course mostly evil.  The hours themselves weren't always killer, but you never really could be comfortably off the clock and that brings a lot of stress even when you're not working.  You constantly felt yourself being "evaluated" in one way or another, and it didn't stop once you made partner.

I remember having lunch with other partners in the firm cafeteria and listening to them talk proudly of how their kids were at T-14 law schools and joinging biglaw - and feeling really sorry both for them and the kids.

I stayed in the law for one reason alone:  money.  I had a big family and big families require money.  It's also very hard to walk away from that kind of money when you come from none, especially when you have a famiiy.  You feel like it's crazy or even selfish to give it up.  But give it up I did, almost the second my youngest graduated college.

So, to sum it all of, the law gave me a real leg up on providing very well for a great family and enabling me to retire very early and very comfortably, and I'm grateful for all of that.  But it sure sucked the whole time I was doing it.        [/quote]

+1. Great answer. [/quote]

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