Quinn Emanuel Partner Warns Don't Go To Law School Forum

[Ron Howard]

http://abovethelaw.com/2015/08/quinn-em ... aw-school/

I do not necessarily endorse everything that is argued in the above article--and I do think that law school is an appropriate choice for many individuals--but I also think 0Ls should become acquainted with differing views on the matter. Law school is extremely expensive, and the job prospects out of many schools are, to say the least, not great. At other schools, job prospects are excellent. But with massive debt (the expected debt financing cost of Columbia, for example, is now $315,000) and the nature of big law positions, the result may still be less than optimal for many students.

[bearsfan23]

It's not bad advice, but Quinn Emanuel is an awful place.

Probably the worst hours in BigLaw and below market bonuses, not to mention their cheap and now have eliminated their summer program.

Plus, that's typical boomer BS: Her generation has made law school so ridiculously expensive, so screw her

[Desert Fox]

[Johann]

I was saying that shit months ago. It's not boomer at all.

From the worklife balance side - I don't know a single nonlawyer that works close to the hours I work. My buddies just set up a fantasy football draft for 7 fucking 30 because I told them I work late - like really really late some nights. Fuckers leave the office at 4 -430 most Fridays and 5pm everyday. And the crazy part, I don't even work that much compared to the people in my office and other lawyers. I bill 20% less than the average of the lawyers I know. My buddies with kids get more sleep than me. I'm one of few that even have a device where the office can get in touch with me once I leave. They can't even fathom working on a weekend. They never do anything on vacation and take twice as much vacation as me. When prodded about how much actual work they do throughout the day, the ambitious ones are around 50% while the slackers are at 20-30%. Almost everyone I know can do everything they need to get done in an 8 hour day in 2.5 hours.

From the financial side - 5-7 years removed from undergrad graduation I am the only one with a negative net worth out of all my nonlaw friends. Almost everyone has a solid house at this point that is top of the line for where they live (300k is about the average in small shitsville places though one couple has 2 500k+ houses now and another has a 500-600k house on a fucking lake 3k square feet place). I live in a big ass city where like 2% of my law school friends own property several years after graduation including big law lawyers and this place is laughably cheap compared to where most lawyers start - NYC. The 2 people that own property, neither went biglaw: 1 married rich and the other joined a firm that hit it big and became partner because of language capabilities. Even aggressively saving and making money in a way cheaper place than NYC, I might be able to pass my friends net worth in 7 years. It's going to take several $300k + years. But it will probably take longer because I might have a baby and that shit needs a nanny because I work all the time etc etc. My brother who made $15 an hour in a joke job after college before riding out unemployment for a year plus, doing a respectably paid job for 2 years, and then deciding YOLO i want to make dogshit money and be a property manager aka be outside all day has 80k in cash. He is waiting for me to get my finances on par with him so we can start a real estate venture. Nursing friends makes almost as much as me as a 3rd year nurse in cheap COL place in northern California. Goes hiking and to the national parks or wine vineyards every other fucking weekend and is going to northern Europe for a 2 week vacation soon. Took out full tuition debt for nursing school and paid it off in 3 years.

From the like your job side - My one friend in science/academia can work hwoever much he wants. He puts in 100 hour weeks sometimes because he wants to and is kinda manic like that. Getting mad published and loves his job. Everyone else has jobs that are means to the ends and don't really love their jobs but none hate their jobs. I dont think they are necessarily fulfilled by their job but none of them ever worry about being laid off and none of them have jobs that really cause stress.

If you don't believe me, just look at the droves of "smart" people not joining law now by the high LSAT scores being left on the table. Don't you think there is a reason for that? It's not the debt scaring them off because I can guarantee no people are as risk-averse as TLS collectivism. It's the end game payout is not there. You get way more bang for your buck elsewhere and can actually have a life.