Biglawyers. Are any of you happy? Was this job better than others you've had? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Love my job. Work with people I like, doing shit that interests me, and work the same amount of hours as my peers pulling down similar salaries in other fields? I didn't start in law until late but sometimes I think the rest of you complainers about big law are just kids who never had a real job before - and I don't mean bagging groceries, I mean the kind of job where if you quit your kid is screwed. Trying working in some shitty corporate under a shitty boss knowing that if you bail, your family is screwed. Tyrannical senior associate will seem like a breath of fresh air after that.

What was your "real job" before? I was in my late 20s making more than entry BigLaw associates (various roles in finance and needed a break) before I went back to school - curious why you think everyone is some former 22 y/o grocery store bagger lol. I can virtually guarantee you I was working on more complex stuff then than you do now, law involves a very specific skill set (like investment banking), but there are jobs that demand a range of intellectual tools and despite the stress I miss some aspects of my old career.

[whysoseriousbiglaw]

I've read lots of TLS over the years, so I came into biglaw expecting the worst. Granted, I'm only three months in but I have found the job so far to be laughably easy. The cleaning lady who comes in every evening pulls 14-hour shifts six days a week. Compared to that, I don't think sitting and typing at my desk barely even counts as work. I think a lot of people who complain about biglaw are K-JDs who just haven't experienced "normal" working life and don't understand that many jobs that pay a fraction of theirs demand just as much if not more.

That said, I'll admit that my V50 in a secondary may not be typical in that it's not bill 2000 or you're out (it pays 160k starting but not DPW bonuses). Our billing software lets you snoop on how much others are billing and I see that most midlevels billed 1700/1800 hours this year (the least I saw was 1000 and the highest was 2700). I think everything boils down to your billable requirement -- I know that sounds extremely obvious, but the difference between 1800 and 2000 is huge and the difference between 2000 and 2200 is even bigger. Anything less than 2000 is comfy, and 1800 is ALMOST a 9 to 5:30 if you don't goof around too much.

Biglaw is also easy in the sense that I just show up to work and don't worry about anything except doing what someone tells me to do. When I sit in front of a screen, time goes by fast. I do corporate/M&A and the work at the junior level is basically so easy and non-intellectual a monkey could do it. The best way to describe how I feel is just "comfortable." I billed 50 hours this week and had to work on the weekend but it honestly didn't feel that bad. I'm sitting in a comfortable desk in a downtown high rise, the partners and associates are super nice and chill, and I get paid roughly four times the average US salary.

I just think of how hard the cleaning lady works and I'm just grateful for what I have.

Uh, that's because 50 hours a week isn't bad unless you are doing it every week. As a first year, I billed minimum 50 hours a week, every week and if you weren't billing 50 hours a week, you were staffed on more projects. A lot of my hours were irregular too, so it definitely wasn't a 9 to 8 job or whatever. I worked pretty much every single day for 6 months straight, including weekends, as well.

It sounds like you haven't had much of a biglaw experience yet, so I wouldn't be commenting on how "easy" it is.

The cleaning lady bills 70 hours a week. We have it easy.

Sarcasm? 70 hours a week of mindless work is pretty easy compared to expecting to be detail oriented after 16-20 hours in the office. Also my cleaning lady/guy works only 40 hours a week and makes more than public interest attorneys.

Maybe you just haven't had any real assignments yet. Once you have to start drafting contracts and have higher expectations on hours you may have a different story. It seems like your experience is not the norm. My first year was awful both hours and work wise.

[beepboopbeep]

I've read lots of TLS over the years, so I came into biglaw expecting the worst. Granted, I'm only three months in but I have found the job so far to be laughably easy. The cleaning lady who comes in every evening pulls 14-hour shifts six days a week. Compared to that, I don't think sitting and typing at my desk barely even counts as work. I think a lot of people who complain about biglaw are K-JDs who just haven't experienced "normal" working life and don't understand that many jobs that pay a fraction of theirs demand just as much if not more.

I don't think a lot of people went to LS to compare themselves to the cleaning lady and say, yea, ok I guess this is fine

Also cmon, 3 months in, still a stub-year, etc. Want me to provide riveting anecdotes based on my 3mos of being a summer associate?

[mvp99]

Love my job. Work with people I like, doing shit that interests me, and work the same amount of hours as my peers pulling down similar salaries in other fields? I didn't start in law until late but sometimes I think the rest of you complainers about big law are just kids who never had a real job before - and I don't mean bagging groceries, I mean the kind of job where if you quit your kid is screwed. Trying working in some shitty corporate under a shitty boss knowing that if you bail, your family is screwed. Tyrannical senior associate will seem like a breath of fresh air after that.

What was your "real job" before? I was in my late 20s making more than entry BigLaw associates (various roles in finance and needed a break) before I went back to school - curious why you think everyone is some former 22 y/o grocery store bagger lol. I can virtually guarantee you I was working on more complex stuff then than you do now, law involves a very specific skill set (like investment banking), but there are jobs that demand a range of intellectual tools and despite the stress I miss some aspects of my old career.

care to share what you did before LS? you're anon anyway...

[Anonymous User]

Love my job. Work with people I like, doing shit that interests me, and work the same amount of hours as my peers pulling down similar salaries in other fields? I didn't start in law until late but sometimes I think the rest of you complainers about big law are just kids who never had a real job before - and I don't mean bagging groceries, I mean the kind of job where if you quit your kid is screwed. Trying working in some shitty corporate under a shitty boss knowing that if you bail, your family is screwed. Tyrannical senior associate will seem like a breath of fresh air after that.

What was your "real job" before? I was in my late 20s making more than entry BigLaw associates (various roles in finance and needed a break) before I went back to school - curious why you think everyone is some former 22 y/o grocery store bagger lol. I can virtually guarantee you I was working on more complex stuff then than you do now, law involves a very specific skill set (like investment banking), but there are jobs that demand a range of intellectual tools and despite the stress I miss some aspects of my old career.

Worked in energy. Is your point that your old job was better or worse than law? Keep in mind, all I'm arguing is that law isnt tougher than gigs with similar comp / opportunity for advancement. I'm not saying it's roses and champagne, just that as high paying gigs go, it's pretty damn good.

[BigZuck]

Is the OP a 0L or like what's the deal there?

The second question in the title made me chuckle. Gotta put those whiny kids in their place once and for all, eh OP?

[Anonymous User]

care to share what you did before LS? you're anon anyway...

Sure, did a typical two-year stint at a bank and then joined a boutique consulting firm - could probably call it "financial services consulting" but I feel like it was probably a better experience and definitely better paid than comparable positions at Big 4 firms. Base salary was lower than BigLaw but variable comp was close to 100% (think of third-year IB analyst) and I had a lot of autonomy in my role...was on a pretty good trajectory but realized I wasn't passionate about a career in it, maybe not the best reason to go back to school but part of it was the "branding" aspect for me, since it seemed like so many people I worked with had advanced degrees of some sort.

[Anonymous User]

Love my job. Work with people I like, doing shit that interests me, and work the same amount of hours as my peers pulling down similar salaries in other fields? I didn't start in law until late but sometimes I think the rest of you complainers about big law are just kids who never had a real job before - and I don't mean bagging groceries, I mean the kind of job where if you quit your kid is screwed. Trying working in some shitty corporate under a shitty boss knowing that if you bail, your family is screwed. Tyrannical senior associate will seem like a breath of fresh air after that.

What was your "real job" before? I was in my late 20s making more than entry BigLaw associates (various roles in finance and needed a break) before I went back to school - curious why you think everyone is some former 22 y/o grocery store bagger lol. I can virtually guarantee you I was working on more complex stuff then than you do now, law involves a very specific skill set (like investment banking), but there are jobs that demand a range of intellectual tools and despite the stress I miss some aspects of my old career.

Worked in energy. Is your point that your old job was better or worse than law? Keep in mind, all I'm arguing is that law isnt tougher than gigs with similar comp / opportunity for advancement. I'm not saying it's roses and champagne, just that as high paying gigs go, it's pretty damn good.

Was more just a rebuttal to your point about everyone who complains about BigLaw being a kid with no other real experience. Although I can't attest to the part about having a family dependent upon me. I agree BigLaw has some cushy aspects, but including internships and a couple full-time positions I've worked in a variety of corporate jobs, and there is a ton of variability in the experience, but part of it is just whether your personality/aptitude makes you a good fit for the role since everything is a lot more enjoyable then.

[Desert Fox]

[Danger Zone]

not a fun as being an engineer for the first few years (engineering gets boring after a while though) but way more fun than milking cows and bagging groceries. pay is the best out of all of them. so on balance my happiness in biglaw is in balance.

I was way happier bagging groceries.

Yep

[TLSModBot]

not a fun as being an engineer for the first few years (engineering gets boring after a while though) but way more fun than milking cows and bagging groceries. pay is the best out of all of them. so on balance my happiness in biglaw is in balance.

I was way happier bagging groceries.

Yep

I really hated bagging groceries so this makes me sad.

[BaiAilian2013]

I've read lots of TLS over the years, so I came into biglaw expecting the worst. Granted, I'm only three months in but I have found the job so far to be laughably easy. The cleaning lady who comes in every evening pulls 14-hour shifts six days a week. Compared to that, I don't think sitting and typing at my desk barely even counts as work. I think a lot of people who complain about biglaw are K-JDs who just haven't experienced "normal" working life and don't understand that many jobs that pay a fraction of theirs demand just as much if not more.

That said, I'll admit that my V50 in a secondary may not be typical in that it's not bill 2000 or you're out (it pays 160k starting but not DPW bonuses). Our billing software lets you snoop on how much others are billing and I see that most midlevels billed 1700/1800 hours this year (the least I saw was 1000 and the highest was 2700). I think everything boils down to your billable requirement -- I know that sounds extremely obvious, but the difference between 1800 and 2000 is huge and the difference between 2000 and 2200 is even bigger. Anything less than 2000 is comfy, and 1800 is ALMOST a 9 to 5:30 if you don't goof around too much.

Biglaw is also easy in the sense that I just show up to work and don't worry about anything except doing what someone tells me to do. When I sit in front of a screen, time goes by fast. I do corporate/M&A and the work at the junior level is basically so easy and non-intellectual a monkey could do it. The best way to describe how I feel is just "comfortable." I billed 50 hours this week and had to work on the weekend but it honestly didn't feel that bad. I'm sitting in a comfortable desk in a downtown high rise, the partners and associates are super nice and chill, and I get paid roughly four times the average US salary.

I just think of how hard the cleaning lady works and I'm just grateful for what I have.

Uh, that's because 50 hours a week isn't bad unless you are doing it every week. As a first year, I billed minimum 50 hours a week, every week and if you weren't billing 50 hours a week, you were staffed on more projects. A lot of my hours were irregular too, so it definitely wasn't a 9 to 8 job or whatever. I worked pretty much every single day for 6 months straight, including weekends, as well.

It sounds like you haven't had much of a biglaw experience yet, so I wouldn't be commenting on how "easy" it is.

The cleaning lady bills 70 hours a week. We have it easy.

Sarcasm? 70 hours a week of mindless work is pretty easy compared to expecting to be detail oriented after 16-20 hours in the office. Also my cleaning lady/guy works only 40 hours a week and makes more than public interest attorneys.

Maybe you just haven't had any real assignments yet. Once you have to start drafting contracts and have higher expectations on hours you may have a different story. It seems like your experience is not the norm. My first year was awful both hours and work wise.

I'm a third year and can't second the cleaning lady comment enough. Mine works more than me because she needs two jobs because they both pay peanuts. And before throwing around words like 'easy', we should at least acknowledge that mindless work is frequently backbreaking.

Separately, I'm genuinely curious about the people saying they'd rather bag groceries. What about the boredom? The ceaseless, crushing boredom with no end in sight? I get that not everyone feels that way, but I guess I assumed that most people who were inclined to go to top law schools would. (I'm not sure if I think it correlates with cleverness or just with personality, but either way, I thought I wasn't alone.) For me, those jobs entailed literally constant psychological pain, and no matter what biglaw is throwing at me, I'm always so thankful I don't have to go back there. I thought that was normal among some set of people, but maybe I'm just a weirdo or a wuss or a whiner.

[Danger Zone]

Separately, I'm genuinely curious about the people saying they'd rather bag groceries. What about the boredom? The ceaseless, crushing boredom with no end in sight?

I sincerely have no idea whether you are talking about bagging groceries or big law. At least when I was bagging, I had interactions with real humans instead of lawyer-bots.

[TLSModBot]

Separately, I'm genuinely curious about the people saying they'd rather bag groceries. What about the boredom? The ceaseless, crushing boredom with no end in sight?

I sincerely have no idea whether you are talking about bagging groceries or big law. At least when I was bagging, I had interactions with real humans instead of lawyer-bots.

Real humans are kind of awful too, though.

[Anonymous User]

I did consulting before big law and can say that biglaw is drastically worse than my experience in consulting. In consulting, I was at the gym at 6 every night, drinking and eating dinner with partners and directors 3 days a week, earning skymiles and hotel points, talking to clients everyday and was treated like a respected adult who was good at my job. Every job I interviewed for a was able to land (including biglaw at a V15 firm with well below median grades) because I had confidence and was able to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

I've actually regressed from working in biglaw and find that people here are not "professionals", but are pretty much just sad drones who suckle at the tit of the partners, who suckle at the tit of their clients (and BTW, the clients are batshit crazy as well - multi millionaires who need more money). Every interview I go on has been after staying up till 4 am and I am so desperate to get out that even though my resume is solid, I feel like i'm begging for a job. Also, to people who think that those who can't hack it don't have the intelligence or the emotional capacity, I think you are really, really wrong. I've gotten nothing but stellar reviews and am a fairly quick learner, the problem comes from having ZERO life to yourself. The problem comes with being reemed by partners on Thanksgiving holidays for not responding to their emails for a few hours when the email is of no immediate importance. The problem comes with the fact that even though all my peers here make the exact same salary + bonus, people are competitive and talk about others behind their backs like its high school. After a year in NYC biglaw, I just think the whole profession is miserable and that life wasn't meant to be lived this way.

I don't know if its different elsewhere, so if it is, would love to hear.

[Anonymous User]

I did consulting before big law and can say that biglaw is drastically worse than my experience in consulting. In consulting, I was at the gym at 6 every night, drinking and eating dinner with partners and directors 3 days a week, earning skymiles and hotel points, talking to clients everyday and was treated like a respected adult who was good at my job. Every job I interviewed for a was able to land (including biglaw at a V15 firm with well below median grades) because I had confidence and was able to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

I've actually regressed from working in biglaw and find that people here are not "professionals", but are pretty much just sad drones who suckle at the tit of the partners, who suckle at the tit of their clients (and BTW, the clients are batshit crazy as well - multi millionaires who need more money). Every interview I go on has been after staying up till 4 am and I am so desperate to get out that even though my resume is solid, I feel like i'm begging for a job. Also, to people who think that those who can't hack it don't have the intelligence or the emotional capacity, I think you are really, really wrong. I've gotten nothing but stellar reviews and am a fairly quick learner, the problem comes from having ZERO life to yourself. The problem comes with being reemed by partners on Thanksgiving holidays for not responding to their emails for a few hours when the email is of no immediate importance. The problem comes with the fact that even though all my peers here make the exact same salary + bonus, people are competitive and talk about others behind their backs like its high school. After a year in NYC biglaw, I just think the whole profession is miserable and that life wasn't meant to be lived this way.

I don't know if its different elsewhere, so if it is, would love to hear.

How can you have stellar reviews after one year? Everyone gets good reviews in the first year unless they literally just don't do work that's been requested. Judging biglaw after one year is like deciding you're asexual as a 9 year old - you're assuming girls will have cooties forever.

FWIW, I only know 2 of the MBB consulting firms closely, but the notion that you're hitting the gym at 6PM with the ones I know is laughable. There may be minimal weekend work but it is grueling, 9-11PM work Mon-Thurs. And the travel is a bug, not a feature - $2000 in FF points is not enough comp to justify seeing your family 3 days a week. It's a better job in your 20s than in your 30s, sure, but that's one reason the attrition rate is vastly higher than law, which is freakin' saying something.

[OneMoreLawHopeful]

Doing it for three months lol. Your opinions is worth zero until 6 months after you get steady work.

This is bullshit and needs to go away.

My opinion of biglaw at 3 months was no different than 6 months, nine months, or even a year later.

Many of us can absolutely tell what it's like pretty quickly, and your subjective experience is no basis to claim otherwise.

[krads153]

I did consulting before big law and can say that biglaw is drastically worse than my experience in consulting. In consulting, I was at the gym at 6 every night, drinking and eating dinner with partners and directors 3 days a week, earning skymiles and hotel points, talking to clients everyday and was treated like a respected adult who was good at my job. Every job I interviewed for a was able to land (including biglaw at a V15 firm with well below median grades) because I had confidence and was able to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

I've actually regressed from working in biglaw and find that people here are not "professionals", but are pretty much just sad drones who suckle at the tit of the partners, who suckle at the tit of their clients (and BTW, the clients are batshit crazy as well - multi millionaires who need more money). Every interview I go on has been after staying up till 4 am and I am so desperate to get out that even though my resume is solid, I feel like i'm begging for a job. Also, to people who think that those who can't hack it don't have the intelligence or the emotional capacity, I think you are really, really wrong. I've gotten nothing but stellar reviews and am a fairly quick learner, the problem comes from having ZERO life to yourself. The problem comes with being reemed by partners on Thanksgiving holidays for not responding to their emails for a few hours when the email is of no immediate importance. The problem comes with the fact that even though all my peers here make the exact same salary + bonus, people are competitive and talk about others behind their backs like its high school. After a year in NYC biglaw, I just think the whole profession is miserable and that life wasn't meant to be lived this way.

I don't know if its different elsewhere, so if it is, would love to hear.

How can you have stellar reviews after one year? Everyone gets good reviews in the first year unless they literally just don't do work that's been requested. Judging biglaw after one year is like deciding you're asexual as a 9 year old - you're assuming girls will have cooties forever.

FWIW, I only know 2 of the MBB consulting firms closely, but the notion that you're hitting the gym at 6PM with the ones I know is laughable. There may be minimal weekend work but it is grueling, 9-11PM work Mon-Thurs. And the travel is a bug, not a feature - $2000 in FF points is not enough comp to justify seeing your family 3 days a week. It's a better job in your 20s than in your 30s, sure, but that's one reason the attrition rate is vastly higher than law, which is freakin' saying something.

Maybe anon was not at MBB?

I think biglaw experiences vary largely based on the people you work with, the practice group you in, the firm you're at, and how much work your practice group has.

But yeah, it can be awful - zero hours to yourself, working for crazies who are egotistical/mentally ill, etc. I think people are competitive and talk crap because they are insecure - whether because they have partner aspirations and/or have a lot of debt (more likely explanation) and are clinging onto these jobs for dear life. The "rich" kids I know don't seem to dabble in the high school mentality as much since they don't care as much about the job/the money. I will say that I grew up with a lot of spoiled, rich kids and I think biglawyers are more insufferable on average. It's the egotistical types that I can't stand (and for whatever reason I have met so many of these at various firms). We aren't doing rocket science people and we (for the most part) aren't millionaires - no need for the ego.

[nealric]

It was certainly a big step up from the relatively menial jobs I had before biglaw. My favorite thing was the level of autonomy I was given. About 50% of the work was interesting and challenging, the other half was a grind, but I didn't find that ratio too terrible. When I worked on too many interesting matters at once it got mentally exhausting. There was a pretty hefty workload, but my firm didn't care too much where or how I did the work as long as it got done. Biglaw would have been a dream job if it were 40 hours a week.

I do think think there's a huge range of experiences. I happened to work with some pretty great partners in a less high-strung practice area. My workload was also fairly steady as far as biglaw goes. I've certainly heard the horror stories of consecutive all-nighters and petty tyrants.

[Cogburn87]

Doing it for three months lol. Your opinions is worth zero until 6 months after you get steady work.

This is bullshit and needs to go away.

My opinion of biglaw at 3 months was no different than 6 months, nine months, or even a year later.

Many of us can absolutely tell what it's like pretty quickly, and your subjective experience is no basis to claim otherwise.

His point was that you have a poor basis to form your opinion at three months, not that your opinion will necessarily change. These kinds of distinctions matter to the work we do here. Please be more careful in the future. Thanks.

[OneMoreLawHopeful]

Doing it for three months lol. Your opinions is worth zero until 6 months after you get steady work.

This is bullshit and needs to go away.

My opinion of biglaw at 3 months was no different than 6 months, nine months, or even a year later.

Many of us can absolutely tell what it's like pretty quickly, and your subjective experience is no basis to claim otherwise.

His point was that you have a poor basis to form your opinion at three months, not that your opinion will necessarily change. These kinds of distinctions matter to the work we do here. Please be more careful in the future. Thanks.

You're missing the history here. DF and I had a huge fight about this last year and he claimed, unambiguously, that "everyone's" opinions of biglaw changed at 6 months.

A year later I know he's wrong, and that his claim was at best ill-informed.

[BigZuck]

Doing it for three months lol. Your opinions is worth zero until 6 months after you get steady work.

This is bullshit and needs to go away.

My opinion of biglaw at 3 months was no different than 6 months, nine months, or even a year later.

Many of us can absolutely tell what it's like pretty quickly, and your subjective experience is no basis to claim otherwise.

His point was that you have a poor basis to form your opinion at three months, not that your opinion will necessarily change. These kinds of distinctions matter to the work we do here. Please be more careful in the future. Thanks.

You're missing the history here. DF and I had a huge fight about this last year and he claimed, unambiguously, that "everyone's" opinions of biglaw changed at 6 months.

A year later I know he's wrong, and that his claim was at best ill-informed.

To be fair though you have huge fights with lots of people because you're a contrarian goober, not because they are wrong and you are right.

[OneMoreLawHopeful]

Doing it for three months lol. Your opinions is worth zero until 6 months after you get steady work.

This is bullshit and needs to go away.

My opinion of biglaw at 3 months was no different than 6 months, nine months, or even a year later.

Many of us can absolutely tell what it's like pretty quickly, and your subjective experience is no basis to claim otherwise.

His point was that you have a poor basis to form your opinion at three months, not that your opinion will necessarily change. These kinds of distinctions matter to the work we do here. Please be more careful in the future. Thanks.

You're missing the history here. DF and I had a huge fight about this last year and he claimed, unambiguously, that "everyone's" opinions of biglaw changed at 6 months.

A year later I know he's wrong, and that his claim was at best ill-informed.

To be fair though you have huge fights with lots of people because you're a contrarian goober, not because they are wrong and you are right.

I get it, because my experience on this narrow issue does not match the "conventional wisdom" of some guy on TLS, then I'm automatically a "contrarian goober."

[Anonymous User]

I did consulting before big law and can say that biglaw is drastically worse than my experience in consulting. In consulting, I was at the gym at 6 every night, drinking and eating dinner with partners and directors 3 days a week, earning skymiles and hotel points, talking to clients everyday and was treated like a respected adult who was good at my job. Every job I interviewed for a was able to land (including biglaw at a V15 firm with well below median grades) because I had confidence and was able to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

I've actually regressed from working in biglaw and find that people here are not "professionals", but are pretty much just sad drones who suckle at the tit of the partners, who suckle at the tit of their clients (and BTW, the clients are batshit crazy as well - multi millionaires who need more money). Every interview I go on has been after staying up till 4 am and I am so desperate to get out that even though my resume is solid, I feel like i'm begging for a job. Also, to people who think that those who can't hack it don't have the intelligence or the emotional capacity, I think you are really, really wrong. I've gotten nothing but stellar reviews and am a fairly quick learner, the problem comes from having ZERO life to yourself. The problem comes with being reemed by partners on Thanksgiving holidays for not responding to their emails for a few hours when the email is of no immediate importance. The problem comes with the fact that even though all my peers here make the exact same salary + bonus, people are competitive and talk about others behind their backs like its high school. After a year in NYC biglaw, I just think the whole profession is miserable and that life wasn't meant to be lived this way.

I don't know if its different elsewhere, so if it is, would love to hear.

How can you have stellar reviews after one year? Everyone gets good reviews in the first year unless they literally just don't do work that's been requested. Judging biglaw after one year is like deciding you're asexual as a 9 year old - you're assuming girls will have cooties forever.

FWIW, I only know 2 of the MBB consulting firms closely, but the notion that you're hitting the gym at 6PM with the ones I know is laughable. There may be minimal weekend work but it is grueling, 9-11PM work Mon-Thurs. And the travel is a bug, not a feature - $2000 in FF points is not enough comp to justify seeing your family 3 days a week. It's a better job in your 20s than in your 30s, sure, but that's one reason the attrition rate is vastly higher than law, which is freakin' saying something.

Maybe anon was not at MBB?

I think biglaw experiences vary largely based on the people you work with, the practice group you in, the firm you're at, and how much work your practice group has.

But yeah, it can be awful - zero hours to yourself, working for crazies who are egotistical/mentally ill, etc. I think people are competitive and talk crap because they are insecure - whether because they have partner aspirations and/or have a lot of debt (more likely explanation) and are clinging onto these jobs for dear life. The "rich" kids I know don't seem to dabble in the high school mentality as much since they don't care as much about the job/the money. I will say that I grew up with a lot of spoiled, rich kids and I think biglawyers are more insufferable on average. It's the egotistical types that I can't stand (and for whatever reason I have met so many of these at various firms). We aren't doing rocket science people and we (for the most part) aren't millionaires - no need for the ego.

To the guy above, you understand you said "How can you have stellar reviews after one year" and then immediately wrote "everyone has good reviews in their first year" .... so not sure what you are trying to get at there. Also, i'm pretty sure you know what a job is going to be like after working there for 1.25 years. Comparing it having not gone through puberty yet is sort of strange. I see the lives of mid-levels and senior associates, they seem absolutely freaking miserable. I mean, sure, they may enjoy it, but that live to work mentality is not something I have been ingrained with, especially when the work you do is literally the most meaningless bullshit on the planet.

Also, I never said I did MBB (there are more than three consulting firms in the USA) and yes, I left the client site at 5:30 pm every ... single ... day, unless there was some sort of fire drill. I worked past 11 pm in consulting maybe 5 times in a year. In biglaw, if you are relatively busy, that can be every single day. Also, the people .... the people were so much better. In different industries, you work with all types of people, in big law you work with (i) lawyers that are batshit crazy and (ii) lawyers that are slightly less batshit crazy.

But remember, this is just my opinion. Funny though, you came on here and tried to shit on every single one of my points I was making in a very aggressive manner .... I can assume you are a big law attorney that loves his job very much.

[patentlitigatrix]

Your experience will depend on who you work with. Some firms are tolerable. Some are unbearable.

Can't believe this post was ignored. This completely. I've been at two firms-one was absolutely horrible, and my current firm is great. The people and the kind of work you get to do make all the difference. And contrary to popular opinion on TLS, money isn't everything. Being at a firm that doesn't make me cry and want to quit everyday >>>>>>>>>>>> market bonus.