Anonymous wrote:I'm a government attorney and we've hired doc review refugees. They did also do things to show a demonstrated interest in our field however, like specialized CLE. So it's not impossible to get out of doc review you A) have to set your sights reasonably and b) give us a reason to hire you.

Anonymous wrote:Big regrets, but it's complicated wishing away a decision like that.

The bad: I did not wind up practicing law and paying back my loans is taking forever. I graduated debt free from undergrad and really wish I had just entered the workforce then. I've made more money with a law degree than I would have without it, but not enough to justify the money I borrowed and it has really narrowed my career options in an unpleasant way (I like my current job well enough but it's not what I'd choose to do if I did it again, and I've had a number of truly terrible jobs that I took for the money and because they allowed me to use my degree). If I were to advise anyone now, I would say go work for at least 3-4 years between undergrad and law school and then see if you still want to go. But I actually got that advice before I went, from a person I didn't like, and I should have taken it. It's hard to tell a 22 year old anything.

The good: I likely would not have ended up in the city where I now live without that a degree. I would not have made the friends I did, who are still my closest friends today. I would not have met my husband and thus would not have had my daughter. I have zero regrets about any of that and find the idea of not having those things pretty devastating.

But yeah, if there were a way to just erase that degree and the loans from my life, and chalk those three years up to a lesson learned, I'd take it in a heartbeat.

Anonymous wrote:
“I retired from law in my early fifties and actually switched fields to something way more interesting. It takes about a year of decompression to realize just how much that 27 years of law sucked so bad. I can’t even imagine wanting to kick ass either!”

That’s great. But it’s not really retirement, right? You made a career change. Still, it took guts. Congrats.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

do you actually not work at all now? what do you do with your time? maybe I’m a weirdo but if I were in your position I would have so much fun doing pro bono cases and kicking *ss.

I no longer do any kid of work at all. I have no interest in "kicking ass" in the legal field, even doing pro bono. I let my law license expire years ago and no longer even consider myself a lawyer. Before Covid, I traveled internationally a lot and otherwise just hung out with family and friends. When Covid hit, I bought a country house with a pool and hunkered down. It's been great. Who knows what's next -- after we get past the Delta variant, that is!

How much money did you have when you retired? Im a lawyer, late forties, with six millions saved and no kids to put through college and am trying to decide if that’s enough.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

do you actually not work at all now? what do you do with your time? maybe I’m a weirdo but if I were in your position I would have so much fun doing pro bono cases and kicking *ss.

I no longer do any kid of work at all. I have no interest in "kicking ass" in the legal field, even doing pro bono. I let my law license expire years ago and no longer even consider myself a lawyer. Before Covid, I traveled internationally a lot and otherwise just hung out with family and friends. When Covid hit, I bought a country house with a pool and hunkered down. It's been great. Who knows what's next -- after we get past the Delta variant, that is!