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I moved to New York City recently and it wasn’t what I thought it would be. I would love to move to San Francisco, California later this year when my lease is up. My goal was to become a corporate lawyer in NYC, so everyone likely will agree NYC is the better option.

Still, the climate appeals to me lately perhaps more than it should factor in. My goal was landing a big law role and eventually working as assistant general counsel at an investment bank like Goldman Sachs or Merrill lynch.

IB lawyers in nyc don’t really seem to be apart of Wall Street and given there are Goldman and Merrill offices in San Francisco is ending up at one as assistant general counsel in California really no different then same role in nyc?

As I get older, prestige seems exponentially sillier. Focus on what sort of lifestyle you'll be able to afford yourself (and those that depend on you) and whether you'll like the work and location. Other than that, everything else is a waste of your time, and it won't fill whatever void/insecurity you have.

Do you even want to be a lawyer?

SV and NYC are prestigious for different things. NYC for finance/banking, and SV for tech. West coast and east coast also have a completely different vibe (its generally more laid-back in California).

You've been posting all over this forum recently and I just need to say, jumping through all of the hoops necessary to get to your end goal (AGC at Goldman Sachs or Merrill Lynch....you mean BofA?) while not seeming like a total climber will be near impossible.

Why do you care about prestige in the first place? Is it just social validation? Is there some other job you want besides a boring AGC role that you think it will matter for?

On a purely aesthetic level, the answer is no. Sand Hill road looks like any other strip mall/office park in America. Stanford Shopping Center is pretty prestigious, tho.

Sackboy wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 04, 2024 9:21 pm

As I get older, prestige seems exponentially sillier. Focus on what sort of lifestyle you'll be able to afford yourself (and those that depend on you) and whether you'll like the work and location. Other than that, everything else is a waste of your time, and it won't fill whatever void/insecurity you have.

+1000

When I was younger, I collected as many shinny medals as I could - JD, joint MBA from top school, federal trial wins, appellate oral arguments, etc.

Now, I could care less who's impressed by my resume. (In retrospect, probably nobody thought enough about my resume to be impressed by it.) Today, I'm concerned mainly with providing a nice life for my shorties and spending as much time with them as possible.

I'm at least grateful that I didn't cause any serious damage chasing those shinny medals.