First year at a big firm; brutal hours; like the job. AMA. Forum

[Nickg415]

I also recommend getting a 5-pound tub of whey powder and a few shaker cups to keep around the office. This will telegraph to the male associates that you are alpha (essential, since you're not generally allowed to wear tank tops to work unless you're at Quinn) and will awaken in the female associates (or, if you're lucky, partners) a primal desire, deeply seeded by evolution itself, to carry your seed.

Best advice I have ever read on TLS. I feel that with this I am guaranteed to be on partner track.

[wiseowl]

Seriously Objection, wtf happened to you? You went from a pretty chill, fun, knowledgable person in the bar study thread last summer to an ugly, bitter misanthrope. It ain't flattering.

[84651846190]

This thread is now about this:

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[TatNurner]

^In a way it's consistent with what we've been discussing all along. Namely, how to find the best partners to work under.

[unc0mm0n1]

This thread is now about this:

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You're welcome

[Anonymous User]

Awesome thread, I really appreciate the hyper-busy associates coming here to school us.

I have a naive question. If you make 160k/yr (which let’s assume is 120/yr after taxes) and are living a Spartan lifestyle (simply because crazy hours), then it should only take a couple years to discharge a 150k debt?

1.) Let's not assume it's $120,000 after taxes. Let's assume it's more like $95,000-100,000. Depending on your city, you're going to want to flush another $24,000 down the toilet for housing (maybe more if we're talking NYC/DC/SF - be spartan all you want, but you don't want to come home to 3 roommates playing beer pong after 16 hours at work). I think that $50,000 a year is a really optimistic maximum. There are probably some who've done more, but I doubt it.

2.) That (bolded) word... I do not think it means what you think it means.

Sister is in Y3 of NYC BigLaw and is almost done paying off debt (and that's with sticker price + undergrad debt; albeit 2007-2010 sticker debt and not $200-$300k sticker debt). Doesn't live like a spartan either. Helps to live with a SO and work at a firm that pays top tier bonuses.

[Green Marbles]

Awesome thread, I really appreciate the hyper-busy associates coming here to school us.

I have a naive question. If you make 160k/yr (which let’s assume is 120/yr after taxes) and are living a Spartan lifestyle (simply because crazy hours), then it should only take a couple years to discharge a 150k debt?

1.) Let's not assume it's $120,000 after taxes. Let's assume it's more like $95,000-100,000. Depending on your city, you're going to want to flush another $24,000 down the toilet for housing (maybe more if we're talking NYC/DC/SF - be spartan all you want, but you don't want to come home to 3 roommates playing beer pong after 16 hours at work). I think that $50,000 a year is a really optimistic maximum. There are probably some who've done more, but I doubt it.

2.) That (bolded) word... I do not think it means what you think it means.

Sister is in Y3 of NYC BigLaw and is almost done paying off debt (and that's with sticker price + undergrad debt; albeit 2007-2010 sticker debt and not $200-$300k sticker debt). Doesn't live like a spartan either. Helps to live with a SO and work at a firm that pays top tier bonuses.

Ah, I can see how those considerations would make a difference. Thankfully I have repaid all my ugrad debt. Thank you for the info!

[09042014]

double post

[09042014]

180K means like 12K+ of interest only. So even if you pay 50K, you still have ~140K.

[thelawyler]

180K means like 12K+ of interest only. So even if you pay 50K, you still have ~140K.

Sucks brah.

[wert3813]

To the Big Law people ITT:

If you graduated debt free what job would you have taken (that you feasibly could have gotten)?

What job would you have taken that would have been tougher to get (thinking like DOJ Honors program or something, not GM of the Yankees)?

[Objection]

Seriously Objection, wtf happened to you? You went from a pretty chill, fun, knowledgable person in the bar study thread last summer to an ugly, bitter misanthrope. It ain't flattering.

Just being honest about big law.

Hard to do that without sounding bitter.

[005618502]

180K means like 12K+ of interest only. So even if you pay 50K, you still have ~140K.

Yeah this sucks. I thought my debt would be low now that I got 12 weeks of 1L SA in a market with no state income tax. But nooooooo after taxes I will see about 30-31,000 of the 39,000 and looking at my interest accrued from one semester....not going to help as much as I thought.

Interest really sucks.

Anyone know what take home is on 160 in Texas?

[Old Gregg]

180K means like 12K+ of interest only. So even if you pay 50K, you still have ~140K.

Yeah this sucks. I thought my debt would be low now that I got 12 weeks of 1L SA in a market with no state income tax. But nooooooo after taxes I will see about 30-31,000 of the 39,000 and looking at my interest accrued from one semester....not going to help as much as I thought.

Interest really sucks.

Anyone know what take home is on 160 in Texas?

First world problems.

[fluffythepenguin]

180K means like 12K+ of interest only. So even if you pay 50K, you still have ~140K.

Yeah this sucks. I thought my debt would be low now that I got 12 weeks of 1L SA in a market with no state income tax. But nooooooo after taxes I will see about 30-31,000 of the 39,000 and looking at my interest accrued from one semester....not going to help as much as I thought.

Interest really sucks.

Anyone know what take home is on 160 in Texas?

I think about 115k.

[005618502]

180K means like 12K+ of interest only. So even if you pay 50K, you still have ~140K.

Yeah this sucks. I thought my debt would be low now that I got 12 weeks of 1L SA in a market with no state income tax. But nooooooo after taxes I will see about 30-31,000 of the 39,000 and looking at my interest accrued from one semester....not going to help as much as I thought.

Interest really sucks.

Anyone know what take home is on 160 in Texas?

First world problems.

I guess having over 150k in debt at graduation plus about 20k in UG debt is first world problems...but it still sucks.

[Old Gregg]

...

[Old Gregg]

....

[005618502]

To the Big Law people ITT:

If you graduated debt free what job would you have taken (that you feasibly could have gotten)?

What job would you have taken that would have been tougher to get (thinking like DOJ Honors program or something, not GM of the Yankees)?

I have little to no debt and I work in biglaw, and I like it fine.

Hours can be tough and very unpredictable, but there's no profession where you get paid the big bucks and you're basically not on call.

I don't really know how long I see myself at the firm. I definitely think you can go to other firms and make the same for billing less, but I like my current firm because of job security and I am learning a lot.

To keep my hours somewhat more sane, I'm very careful about who I work for and the matters I take on. I also work from home during non office hours, but that's a trust thing. A lot of associates and partners like face time. I've earned the trust of my colleagues because whenever they ask me to do something, I do it (unless I have more pressing work).

Coworkers respect my holidays to the extent they can. I had a lovely break for Christmas and New Years. Thanksgiving kind of sucked, and I didn't get my birthday (but no one knew it was my bday and I think it's kind of dumb to refuse to do work because it is your birthday). I've gotten most of those one off holidays (like MLK), and yes even got Super Bowl Sunday (despite being on a billion dollar deal).

The people I work with are people who wouldn't give me something to do during a holiday or weekend unless they absolutely had to. And if you refuse to do it, they'll end up having to sacrifice their lives to do it, and that's not really fair to them. We are all in this together and the more you can help out the quicker you can get the whole deal over with.

What do you mean when you say job security? you in NYC?

[84651846190]

To the Big Law people ITT:

If you graduated debt free what job would you have taken (that you feasibly could have gotten)?

Biglaw.

What job would you have taken that would have been tougher to get (thinking like DOJ Honors program or something, not GM of the Yankees)?

Probably DOJ Honors, although it depends on the component. I didn't apply, so I don't know whether I would have gotten it or not.

[wert3813]

To the Big Law people ITT:

If you graduated debt free what job would you have taken (that you feasibly could have gotten)?

Biglaw.

What job would you have taken that would have been tougher to get (thinking like DOJ Honors program or something, not GM of the Yankees)?

Probably DOJ Honors, although it depends on the component. I didn't apply, so I don't know whether I would have gotten it or not.

Thanks to both of you. To those of you working in transactional, do you do almost exclusively M&A or bankruptcy, taxation, regulatory, etc.

[Anonymous User]

If I graduated with zero debt, I'd still do corporate work at a big firm. Unless I was independently wealthy, I'd do nothing different. If I was independently wealthy I would not have gone to law school. I'd probably be living in a third world country running my own charity.

[Anonymous User]

another anon firm grunt chiming in - i've got minimal debt, had near-perfect law school credentials, and chose to do biglaw.

amazing amount of mental freedom that comes with accumulating this much nest-egg this quickly.

as they say, you can do anything for a year...

[warandpeace]

When you meet chicks in bars, do you tell them that you make binders for a living?

lulz

[Objection]

If I had no debt, I probably would have went to a small p-side shop for a few years (if I could have landed such a gig) and then went solo.