Child prodigies are rarely the high performers in adulthood.

Anonymous wrote:Seems like a waste of a law degree and a huge income loss?

Usually early burnout leads people to jobs with work-life balance or even SAHP. Intellectuals are often more sensitive than average people.

My legal professor was a law librarian, then went to law school (passed California bar easily the first time), then stayed with her library job because she enjoyed it more (and she was really good at research).

She is one of the smartest people I've met, but she is better as a research academic. She's very well respected in her field.

Anonymous wrote:Why TF would I want to be “challenged” lmao. I spent a decade doing some of the hardest legal work on this earth. I’m tired, I have kids, and I don’t need the money.

100% this. I genuinely think OP hasn't spent much time around many lawyers if s/he has to ask this question.

Anonymous wrote:Seems like a waste of a law degree and a huge income loss?

Because people hate lawyers and not librarians?

Why TF would I want to be “challenged” lmao. I spent a decade doing some of the hardest legal work on this earth. I’m tired, I have kids, and I don’t need the money.

Tuition discount for their children?

I knew a male law librarian who didn't go to law school and he did very well, good work life balance and reasonable hours and could buy a house in a major city.

Anonymous wrote:Seems like a waste of a law degree and a huge income loss?

Being a lawyer sucks.

I worked at our suburban county's law library in college. The head law librarian was a lawyer and made like a GS 14, and would do research. There was an assistant with a library masters who would be about an 11, a 5 admin, and a few hourly desk/circulation workers.

Anonymous wrote:I don’t mean to rude, but I’ve never met a male law librarian and assume it’s something women do when they want to scale back professionally and have a partner bringing in more money.

I know a male law librarian. He was kind of timid and shy and socially awkward.

high pay and job security

chill

what's not to like?

Loves research and desires work/life balance, and maybe wants to live in a college town or other area where practicing is harder.

But it's not an easy switch - most law librarians have a specialized masters degree.

Anonymous wrote:I don’t mean to rude, but I’ve never met a male law librarian and assume it’s something women do when they want to scale back professionally and have a partner bringing in more money.

I am a law librarian and while it is a female dominated field (library science in general is female dominated), I have known many male law librarians. I'd say it's 20-30% of the industry.

To answer OP's question, it can actually be more interesting than a lot of lawyer jobs. As a lawyer you are generally going to specialize in a particular area, and some areas are very dull. Do you want to spend 30 years drafting wills or doing a broad variety of both legal and practical research? Sure it's not as interesting as being a litigator or certain other specialties (IP, political law) but it's much better hours and lower stress than those too.

As for pay, of course it's less than being a Big Law attorney but it isn't much less than working as a lawyer at a lot of small firms. It's comparable to some public defender or government lawyer jobs, at least if you are working at a big firm. Also there are a lot of law librarian positions within federal and state government (working for LOC or for agency libraries) and they pay reasonably well while, again, having better quality of life than a lot of lawyer positions.

Anonymous wrote:No more billable hours, more predictable schedule - a guess.

This.

Plus many lawyers make $60-90k, so the income difference may not be as high as you’re imagining.