Shit law discussion thread: Collections or Personal Injury? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Mulling 2 job offers

Job A
Big collections firm
Lot of litigation experience
Bad reviews working there

Job B
Big personal injury firm
Same base salary (75). Chance to earn alot more through bonuses
bad reviews working there
Not as much litigation experience starting out

I really want to get out of collections but what do you guys think?

[sflyr2016]

PI firm. It's a more noble living.

[lavarman84]

I'd take the PI firm. But both having bad reviews would make me want to keep looking. Does the PI firm do plaintiff's side work or defense work?

[loh]

Please. Dont degrade your JD doing collections work

[nealric]

Mulling 2 job offers

Job A
Big collections firm
Lot of litigation experience
Bad reviews working there

Job B
Big personal injury firm
Same base salary (75). Chance to earn alot more through bonuses
bad reviews working there
Not as much litigation experience starting out

I really want to get out of collections but what do you guys think?

At least the personal injury gives you the potential for big upside down the line if you get the proverbial lottery ticket case. You may also be able to parlay the experience into other types of litigation. Debt collections sounds like a never ending slog of misery. At least in PI, you are going after the deep pockets. In debt collections, you are trying to get blood from stone.

[Anonymous User]

"Collections" or "debt collection" is really too broad to give you good advice. I think when most posters hear this, they assume you will just be in a mill with endless credit card/medical consumer debtors. If that is in fact the case, that is likely a dead-end and I would avoid. You will not be doing too much real litigating here. But since you said it will give you the opportunity to do some, and the base salary is pretty decent, I assume this is not the case.

When you get to commercial collections, it is quite different. There are actual defenses and cases at issue. Plus, you're generally dealing with much more sophisticated creditors and debtors, and the volume is much lower and the stakes are much higher. When you sue someone for 6 figures, they are generally not going to roll over and just let you have at it like the lower-end consumer collection business is.

With personal injury, your clients are going to be every-day Joes that you will need to meet and sympathize with; for collections, your clients are going to be banks, lenders, and collection agencies that you will probably never have to see in person and just send them a monthly e-mail udpate.

The one good thing with both is that you are likely not going to have any minimal billable hours seeing as you will be on the plaintiff's side. I wonder if either has some kind of requirement about collecting so much money or other goals to hit. It would be interesting to see the attorney turnover at both.

Since they are both the same base and you have the opportunity to earn more through bonuses, I would lean PI here, but it is somewhat personal preference.