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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]One thing I'm always surprised about in these golden handcuff discussions is what the lawyers plan to do in the far more likely scenario of getting pushed out of big law?

I mean, if you look at the summer associate class you started with, probably half of them are out of biglaw within 5 years.  Fifteen years later, maybe 20% are still in biglaw?  And then the jump to equity partner you lose probably half of those people.  Some people leave voluntarily, but a lot of the times people are pushed out or it's "mutual" (as in, writing on the wall that there aren't promotion opportunities, or you don't have a supporting partner, or whatever).

So when people say that in year 6 or 8 or 12 that their spending habits are such that they don't know how they can leave biglaw, I always think: why would you have done that?? Ignore the fact that you're statistically likely to hate it.  Just moreso, you're statistically unlikely to be able to stay in biglaw for 25 years.  So buying the $4m house and beach house, what's your plan when you're told you're not making equity partner?  This isn't some long shot odds; it's really reasonable or even likely to assume you're going to lose your job.   [/quote]

This. I learned this the hard way (no $4m house etc) but had I been really honest with myself about the odds I would have used my $100k bonuses to buy rentals or invest rather than whatever stupid thing I spent them on. It turned out ok but sometimes I wish I could do a redo on those years. I actually left maybe 1-2 years before I really would have been pushed out but that’s the thing also—you don’t want to be trying to make moves under pressure or need to leave during a fed hiring freeze etc. Plus employers can smell the desperation. After I was told that I was “valued” but not making partner or counsel it felt like some clock had started. [/quote]

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