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

[WhiteCollarBlueShirt]

I think I need a biglaw job.

You should get one - it will make you appreciate most other office jobs out there much more.

It makes me laugh that 0Ls still gun for biglaw....this year at my firm we had a bunch of first years leave already (after one year) and apparently a bunch of the new first years (only been here a couple of months) are looking for other jobs. You can't even stay for more than a couple of months? PUSSIES.

I didn't stay a year... not even close. The biglaw job was definitely worthwhile though, because I really appreciate the lifestyle my current job affords.

Biglaw is terrible... IBD is probably worse, but, by the time you're out of law school, those who were analysts/or even MBB consultants are now working fewer hours and making close to (sometimes more than) 2x your biglaw salary or vacationing in b-school. And they did it all debt free. Also the lifestyle of a biglaw partner for the non-rainmaker/chambers band 1 partner seems pretty miserable.

[zot1]

Well you probably won't have a tax bomb if you're on PLSF right?

I don't think most of us would've taken on the same amount of debt if we could redo life, but at least with non-profit/gov work, you don't have a tax bomb.

If that summer I was talking about stays in biglaw - he's going to owe like 700k or something ridiculous by the time his debt is "wiped out" and he will have to pay a tax bomb on that if he uses IBR. Alternative is him paying it off - it will take like 5-7 years to get to net worth zero.

I am, but there's always the risk that the program will go away somehow. This is something I think about constantly.

But yeah, a 700k debt is stupid. You can buy a business, maybe two, and a house with that.

[Anonymous User]

Phone was off for 20 hours due to a blackout. Missed an e-mail asking for a doc late last night, and replied >12 hours later. Is this a hugely shitty move? My friend had went to the bagel shop this morning to charge her phone, but I slept in so I could've navigated around of it but didn't expect the email.

did they ask for it right away? if not then not really a big deal

in biglaw, the default is ASAP, especially since this task requires very little work

Eh I f'd up pretty bad, but tried to fix it. Roads were closed so I borrowed a pitchforked from a maintenance guy, and pitchforked my way in. The shitty part is now I have to pitchfork my way back, and I probably look like Jason from Halloween walking through 40 inches of snow with a pitchfork. At least it's funny, and my rule of thumb is if it's something a bystander would laugh out then it's not all bad.

[whysoseriousbiglaw]

Phone was off for 20 hours due to a blackout. Missed an e-mail asking for a doc late last night, and replied >12 hours later. Is this a hugely shitty move? My friend had went to the bagel shop this morning to charge her phone, but I slept in so I could've navigated around of it but didn't expect the email.

did they ask for it right away? if not then not really a big deal

in biglaw, the default is ASAP, especially since this task requires very little work

Eh I f'd up pretty bad, but tried to fix it. Roads were closed so I borrowed a pitchforked from a maintenance guy, and pitchforked my way in. The shitty part is now I have to pitchfork my way back, and I probably look like Jason from Halloween walking through 40 inches of snow with a pitchfork. At least it's funny, and my rule of thumb is if it's something a bystander would laugh out then it's not all bad.

The more senior I get, the less I give a fuck. A lot of senior people in biglaw are crazy and mentally ill - just remember that. In the grand scheme of things, none of this shit will matter, even though a lot of your coworkers think it means life or death. Fuck them.

[El Pollito]

Phone was off for 20 hours due to a blackout. Missed an e-mail asking for a doc late last night, and replied >12 hours later. Is this a hugely shitty move? My friend had went to the bagel shop this morning to charge her phone, but I slept in so I could've navigated around of it but didn't expect the email.

did they ask for it right away? if not then not really a big deal

in biglaw, the default is ASAP, especially since this task requires very little work

i don't need a biglaw lesson, thanks pal.

[whysoseriousbiglaw]

Phone was off for 20 hours due to a blackout. Missed an e-mail asking for a doc late last night, and replied >12 hours later. Is this a hugely shitty move? My friend had went to the bagel shop this morning to charge her phone, but I slept in so I could've navigated around of it but didn't expect the email.

did they ask for it right away? if not then not really a big deal

in biglaw, the default is ASAP, especially since this task requires very little work

i don't need a biglaw lesson, thanks pal.

seems like you do bro if you don't realize everything is ASAP if they don't mention a deadline, esp if you are junior

[El Pollito]

Phone was off for 20 hours due to a blackout. Missed an e-mail asking for a doc late last night, and replied >12 hours later. Is this a hugely shitty move? My friend had went to the bagel shop this morning to charge her phone, but I slept in so I could've navigated around of it but didn't expect the email.

did they ask for it right away? if not then not really a big deal

in biglaw, the default is ASAP, especially since this task requires very little work

i don't need a biglaw lesson, thanks pal.

seems like you do bro if you don't realize everything is ASAP if they don't mention a deadline, esp if you are junior

i'm not, thanks pal!

[whysoseriousbiglaw]

Phone was off for 20 hours due to a blackout. Missed an e-mail asking for a doc late last night, and replied >12 hours later. Is this a hugely shitty move? My friend had went to the bagel shop this morning to charge her phone, but I slept in so I could've navigated around of it but didn't expect the email.

did they ask for it right away? if not then not really a big deal

in biglaw, the default is ASAP, especially since this task requires very little work

i don't need a biglaw lesson, thanks pal.

seems like you do bro if you don't realize everything is ASAP if they don't mention a deadline, esp if you are junior

i'm not, thanks pal!

isn't this guy a first year? i think first years are expected to respond to everything asap, whether that be right or wrong is another issue

[El Pollito]

i mean it's preferable but that's not the culture where i work. of course, if you're working on something time sensitive ducking out is a horrible look.

[Anonymous User]

I'm a third-year litigation associate at a V10, and although my first year was really rough, and I was close to quitting, I'm starting to love it. I've constantly gotten lots of responsibility, including assignments that are more typical for people 2-3 years more senior than I am, and I'm starting to get noticed by partners and senior associates. I love the work that I do (not in a substantive way, because who gives a shit about securities or M&A litigation), and I'm toying with the idea of staying on and gunning for partner. The one negative--and it's a big one--is that the hours are brutal, and I'm not sure I have the additional years of this in me, especially if I want any semblance of a life outside the office (which I have only on an intermittent basis as it is).

What does this mean then? I get that some people buy into the delusion of it being important because that helps them get through the day, but to actually love it yet not for substantive reasons? Generally wondering what you mean.

It means he doesn't like doing doc review and creating privilege logs, but he likes managing first years on those tasks because he thinks he's going to make partner for doing it.

I'm the first quoted poster. What I meant is that I don't really care, as a person, about the outcome of the cases I work on. My friends who, say, do civil liberties impact litigation or work as a public defender really care about the outcome of their cases and the role they play in the legal system. I have no such illusions, nor do I think I'd be very good at doing that type of work. What I do enjoy and think I'm reasonably good at is the mechanics of litigation: taking depositions, prepping expert witnesses, trials, and even doc review. Not caring about the outcome except to the extent that I am paid to do so frees me up to enjoy the game of high-stakes commercial litigation. If I got a bunch of evidence thrown out through a clever legal maneuver in a case where it meant that someone innocent might go to jail (not that I have a clue whether that could happen), I might not enjoy it. But do I enjoy working on a brief arguing for preclusion of some piece of evidence critical to the Fortune 500 company on the other side? You bet. I recognize that, for a lot of different reasons, what I do isn't for everyone, but I actually think it might be the right fit for me.

Fair enough. I'm corporate, so I guess I don't get it. Corporate is shit, pure shit, though.

[Anonymous User]

it seems ive made the wrong choice twice.. first accounting now law... on the other hand Ive only 2 friends, love money and have absolutely no hobbies. Will I make it past the first year?

Don't fucking do it. If you're about to start in the fall stay in accounting. If you're a 1L on your way to a summer associate position, bank that money this summer and drop out back to accounting.

I spent a couple years in public accounting and a couple years in house before law school, and jesus christ was law school an epic fuck up of a decision. Public accounting was on par with big law in how much it fucking sucks, but only because the pay is so much lower. If the pay were the same I'd much rather be at a big 4. In house financial analyst jobs are way better than anything a lawyer will ever do, and much easier to get.

[patentlitigatrix]

Phone was off for 20 hours due to a blackout. Missed an e-mail asking for a doc late last night, and replied >12 hours later. Is this a hugely shitty move? My friend had went to the bagel shop this morning to charge her phone, but I slept in so I could've navigated around of it but didn't expect the email.

did they ask for it right away? if not then not really a big deal

in biglaw, the default is ASAP, especially since this task requires very little work

i don't need a biglaw lesson, thanks pal.

seems like you do bro if you don't realize everything is ASAP if they don't mention a deadline, esp if you are junior

This has to be someone trolling.

[Desert Fox]

A bunch of house n words up in here.

[jkpolk]

A bunch of house n words up in here.

I'm not paid enough to work the hours that some people are proposing up in here. Not even close.

[Anonymous User]

it seems ive made the wrong choice twice.. first accounting now law... on the other hand Ive only 2 friends, love money and have absolutely no hobbies. Will I make it past the first year?

Don't fucking do it. If you're about to start in the fall stay in accounting. If you're a 1L on your way to a summer associate position, bank that money this summer and drop out back to accounting.

I spent a couple years in public accounting and a couple years in house before law school, and jesus christ was law school an epic fuck up of a decision. Public accounting was on par with big law in how much it fucking sucks, but only because the pay is so much lower. If the pay were the same I'd much rather be at a big 4. In house financial analyst jobs are way better than anything a lawyer will ever do, and much easier to get.

+1

Isn't QOL better at Big 4 on average? (And with much better exit options in general in terms of QOL, lots more in house jobs, etc.)

Are you going back to accounting?

[Anonymous User]

Biglaw - one of the few jobs to make you suicidal....FUCK THIS SHIT.

You guys should all drop out of law school. Save yourselves.

[zot1]

Not everyone goes to law school for biglaw...

[Anonymous User]

Not everyone goes to law school for biglaw...

Yet most people take out six figure loans, meaning they probably have to do biglaw...

Biglaw is awful in every possible way, and the pay isn't that good for what they make you give and do

[zot1]

Not everyone goes to law school for biglaw...

Yet most people take out six figure loans, meaning they probably have to do biglaw...

Biglaw is awful in every possible way, and the pay isn't that good for what they make you give and do

That's true--myself included. But I don't regret that.

[180kickflip]

...

[zot1]

Asking for a friend...

You can't go to law school assuming you will do well enough to get a big law job. Even if you're the most brilliant person ever, you can get really ill or maybe a close relative dies during 1L and then your plan is out the window.

I don't think the debt would be worth the raise at the job.

[Anonymous User]

Asking for a friend...

You can't go to law school assuming you will do well enough to get a big law job. Even if you're the most brilliant person ever, you can get really ill or maybe a close relative dies during 1L and then your plan is out the window.

I don't think the debt would be worth the raise at the job.

Thank you for the response. Definitely true that even at a t10, biglaw isn't any sort of guarantee

[zot1]

I mean, it's something that you could do, but you are removing yourself from the market for three years. That's a lot of wasted income specially for someone who enjoys what they do.

If you add the law school debt plus wasted income of three years (assuming worst case scenario that you have to go back to old job), how long will it take for the yearly increases to pay off your law school adventure? I'm willing to bet the answer is a little while.

[Desert Fox]

4-5k would take years to pay back 45k plus your lost earnings and career advancement.

If you actually love your career and its sustainable for a middle class or better lifestyle you would be insane to go to law school.

[krads153]

4-5k would take years to pay back 45k plus your lost earnings and career advancement.

If you actually love your career and its sustainable for a middle class or better lifestyle you would be insane to go to law school.

This - financially it doesn't make any sense if you went back to your old job, and who knows if you can last in biglaw to make it law financially worth it. Lots of biglaw lawyers leave biglaw for much lower paying jobs for lifestyle.......stop being mad greedy.