NeedAnExit wrote:I worked in consulting prior to law school and still had a lot of difficulty with biglaw.
1. I suspect this is (or will be) true for many of you as well: I always viewed consulting as a temporary thing. I deferred law school to go, so I knew that my time there was limited, and that I was moving onto something else that I wanted to do. I also didn't have any debt. In the difficult weeks I had in consulting, I always took solace in the fact that I could walk away and I'd be fine, both financially and career-wise. I felt very trapped in biglaw because I have lots of debt and it seems very difficult (at least in litigation) and time consuming to get a new, non-biglaw job.
2. I don't actually know what the payoff is, vis-a-vis not going to law school at all. Yes, I get paid a lot, but I still have -90k net worth. In addition, related to (1) I don't know when, if ever, I would have exit options that I would enjoy.
I recognize that (1) and (2) are not specific to the job, but they are specific to the situation that leads you to biglaw. For me, these two have been the two greatest added sources of stress.
3. In consulting, I was always working on one engagement at a time, and worked full-time on that engagement. Even though I had multiple bosses on that engagement, they communicated regularly and knew what I was doing, and appreciated that I couldn't get their task done because I was there until 1am doing something for another part of the project. Now, I'm staffed on 5-6 matters at a time, and sometimes, they all blow up. You can communicate to the partners that you have these deadlines (as they expect you to do), but they really don't care. Their appreciation of the fact that you have other stuff to do is merely theoretical.
4. Related to (3), I used to have end dates. I might be working hard for 5-6 weeks, but then I'd get a week or two of downtime before the next thing. Here, I have only taken Christmas and New Years off since early December. I've averaged 8 hours billed a day since then, and it's only going to stop when I quit.
5. The people really are worse, especially at handling stress and remaining professional in times of stress. I don't know why, but it is definitely true.
6. It's more solitary than my previous job. There's very little sense of camaraderie.
It's not that I ever thought that it would be pleasant. I just thought that it may be worth it. After being in it for half a year, and understanding better both the lifestyle as well as the payoff, I no longer think this.
+1.
I had 9 years W/E in white collar, service work. I would add one thing
In my prior career, during really busy times, my own efficiencies gave me control over my life. During a particularly busy time, I could crank out 60 hours worth of work in about 55 hours. If I knew I needed/wanted to leave early on a Friday because my undergrad happened to be playing in the NCAA tournament just 300 miles away, I worked harder (not necessarily longer) during the week. Can't do that in biglaw. Only way to bill the hours is to bill the hours. Maybe others don't think this is that big of a deal, but I do. I miss the days when I could get a full week's work done in about 32 hours of actual work.
