What are the positive aspects of Biglaw - besides salary? Forum

[BilkaAtty]

http://top-law-schools.com/forums/viewt ... 3&t=170603

http://top-law-schools.com/forums/viewt ... 3&t=170603

The irony of criticizing someone for one rule (0Ls) while violating that rule and another (anon).

Anyways, while it is a 0L-ish question, I do not believe OP is violating the rules so y'all can stop citing the rules.

OP here - 2L starting SA in May

[bk1]

For me, as a litigator, it's definitely attention to detail. I'm a much better writer now and I actually pay attention to small details that I would have blown through or cut corners in in they past. I want to be a trial lawyer, and even have been doing trial work in biglaw, but the habit of caring about the details has definitely made me a better lawyer.

My small experience as a judicial intern in a big city echoed this. Reading briefs from small firms or solo shops was hard because it would be full of typos and inconsistencies. Biglaw firm briefs were meticulously drafted, precise, logical and organized.

The biglaw firms definitely give you good substantive training on a litigation front I think.

Off subject, but that's a dangerous assumption. Plenty of small shops that produce good work product; plenty big law work isn't that great.

Sure. And it seems to be more a function of the client willing to pay several thousand dollars for proofreading alone. But in my experience biglaw work is way more polished overall.

I think the reality is that most lawyer work product is mediocre at best, if not actually shitty (just like the word product of most people in most jobs). People in general do just enough to get by; being a lawyer doesn't change that.

[OutCold]

After two clerkships, I will say that biglaw briefs are, on average, of a much higher quality than those from small and medium firms. That being said, it becomes clear pretty quickly that most lawyers are actually terrible at their jobs. Perks: Salary and exit options as others have said. Perhaps access to higher quality pro bono experiences. At the COA, the only pro bono arguments I encountered were being argued by biglaw firms.

[dailygrind]

It's kinda cool working on difficult matters and being surrounded by fairly intelligent (if neurotic) people. The pay and exit options are definitely what keeps me here, though.

[jkpolk]

My secretary is kinda cute and I have a door that locks

[bk1]

My secretary is kinda cute and I have a door that locks

I'm just going to assume that these are related.

[Abbie Doobie]

for me, one of the things i liked most about being in biglaw was having a cohort of similarly-aged like-minded people sharing the same biglaw experience as you. i don't know how it is at other firms, by at the firm i was at we functioned like a support group for each other when things got stressful. it was nice having people around that truly understood what you were going through because they were going through it too. you don't typically get these big entry-level class sizes in other fields or even in mid/small law, and not having that can leave you feeling a little disconnected/isolated.

[jkpolk]

My secretary is kinda cute and I have a door that locks

I'm just going to assume that these are related.

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