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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What kinds of lifestyle are you expecting?  What kind of family money or other incomes do you have?  I think you have to think all that.

GS 15 is impressive, but it is hardly an upper middle class lifestyle that we associate with lawyers.  And it is hard to get to that level.

I am not a lawyer.  I know plenty of lawyers in government.  They do NOT live in Georgetown or CC, but very far out.  Their kids go to daycare or public/Catholic schools, not nannies shuttling the kids back and forth from Sidwell.  You need to understand that.  Being a non-Big Law attorney is not that glamorous.[/quote]

I never knew being a big law attorney was considered glamorous. [/quote]

It's not if you know what you're talking about.  They're glorified high-paid (gross, not by the hour) wage slaves.[/quote]

Nobody said the job was glamorous. But it certainly can afford one a glamorous lifestyle. [/quote]

I was a partner at a big firm and left for a government job and I live in Chevy Chase.  So you can do one and then the other.
I have been practicing for 20 years, and I have yet to meet someone who made the decision to permanently leave working for a big law firm and has regretted the decision.  You have to like the business of law to succeed at a big law firm for the long term.

At this time, I would not recommend going to law school unless you are going to go to a top ten school.  The practice of law has changed.  Technology has reduced the need for a large number of junior associates, so there are less entry level positions.  At my firm, there were 20 people in my starting class, but 7 years later there were only 2 of us left when it came time to make partner.  That was the model.  there was a lot of junior lawyer work to be done and firms needed the bodies.  I bet the size of the starting class at this point is closer to 10 than 20 and I know the partnership track is now closer to 9 than 7.[/quote]

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