Anonymous User wrote:UVA2B wrote:Why did a discussion about dealing with addiction in the legal profession turn into a discussion on saving money on six figure incomes and lifestyle choices?
Why do all discussions about anything dealing with the suck of the legal profession turn into a discussion on saving money on six figure incomes and lifestyle choices?
A person died due to the stresses of this job and a substance abuse/addiction problem. Stop worrying about how much money he could've saved and gotten out, and stop arguing how to best get out of the career alive with money to do what everyone really wanted to do.
Sometimes TLS really is the worst.
Think it was brought on by the (*gasp* slightly optimistic) notion that if you can plan intelligently, live frugally, think long-term, save up, invest wisely and grind it out for a *mere* 7 years or so in biglaw, then you will be in really good shape financially, which may relieve some of the anxiety around the "biglaw is a never-ending shit factory that causes people to get depressed, abuse drugs and die" mentality that is being expressed on this thread. Get in, do your time, do it wisely, get out, do something else. 30 year olds making 300k a year need to deal with it in the short term and maximize it for the long term. Period, the end.
That was an interesting stream of consciousness, but again, it's not in any way relevant to this discussion.
We're talking about the pressures experienced by working in this environment and how people with a litany of problems can succumb to those pressures in unhealthy and destructive ways. It's about a culture which relies on people being squeezed out through forced attrition that everyone is simultaneously aware of while not directly talking about because talking about that open secret could lead to reduced productivity. It's about the way in which the profession does little to nothing to support people in need, and far too often sees people seeking the help they need as a sign of weakness that should be distanced from the firm. It's about the things people do to themselves to maintain some forward momentum of success, simply because they think that's what they're supposed to do. It's about the people worried so deeply about their family and what their family thinks of them that they would rather hide the destructive behavior than rely on that family for support.
I get that you have zero sympathy for these people who are struggling, but to make this story and discussion about how to plan financially for the future so you can get what you need from Biglaw before getting out is at best insensitive, and at worst openly adding to the open secret that the Biglaw firm model doesn't care about its people, its culture, and most importantly, the physical and psychological health of its members.