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

[Anonymous User]

well i thought that's part of the energizer bunny comes from - whenever im tired from school work as a 2L i just log on and read people complaining about how they are dying under pressure. I honestly love the tls rants, i look forward to the similar sufferings after graduation. If I'm not mistaken 90% of my peers who failed to get a biglaw want to be part of the people complaining about how they dont have a personal life. i don't have any loans, but I don't have a life either- might as well trying to be important going to work that takes about all my waking hours so I don't have to worry about what to do/ where to go for the rest of the day.

[Desert Fox]

well i thought that's part of the energizer bunny comes from - whenever im tired from school work as a 2L i just log on and read people complaining about how they are dying under pressure. I honestly love the tls rants, i look forward to the similar sufferings after graduation. If I'm not mistaken 90% of my peers who failed to get a biglaw want to be part of the people complaining about how they dont have a personal life. i don't have any loans, but I don't have a life either- might as well trying to be important going to work that takes about all my waking hours so I don't have to worry about what to do/ where to go for the rest of the day.

Well if you are just looking for something to waste the hours of your life until you die, biglaw is in fact for you.

[patentlitigatrix]

I think my job satisfaction is due to the firm I am at. I very rarely bill more than 175 hours in a month, and I take 4-6 weeks of vacation a year. It is not really in our culture to bill like crazy, and partners will actively help you manage your workload/offload to others when they can see you are slammed or you complain about it. I just aim to be about 50 hours above my admittedly modest, alternative billing target.

[Anonymous User]

I'm so interested in what alternatives of "wasting life in a firm that people recognize with" that my beloved DF can possibly come up with.

[Tls2016]

well i thought that's part of the energizer bunny comes from - whenever im tired from school work as a 2L i just log on and read people complaining about how they are dying under pressure. I honestly love the tls rants, i look forward to the similar sufferings after graduation. If I'm not mistaken 90% of my peers who failed to get a biglaw want to be part of the people complaining about how they dont have a personal life. i don't have any loans, but I don't have a life either- might as well trying to be important going to work that takes about all my waking hours so I don't have to worry about what to do/ where to go for the rest of the day.

Well if you are just looking for something to waste the hours of your life until you die, biglaw is in fact for you.

Don't be hasty. He or she hasn't even had an SA yet and 2L work tires him or her out. Also, typos. And no financial incentive.

[Desert Fox]

I think my job satisfaction is due to the firm I am at. I very rarely bill more than 175 hours in a month, and I take 4-6 weeks of vacation a year. It is not really in our culture to bill like crazy, and partners will actively help you manage your workload/offload to others when they can see you are slammed or you complain about it. I just aim to be about 50 hours above my admittedly modest, alternative billing target.

I thought I had exactly this until we got busy.

under 2k hours + 4-6 weeks of real vacay + supportive partners is like a unicorn biglaw gig.

[krads153]

well i thought that's part of the energizer bunny comes from - whenever im tired from school work as a 2L i just log on and read people complaining about how they are dying under pressure. I honestly love the tls rants, i look forward to the similar sufferings after graduation. If I'm not mistaken 90% of my peers who failed to get a biglaw want to be part of the people complaining about how they dont have a personal life. i don't have any loans, but I don't have a life either- might as well trying to be important going to work that takes about all my waking hours so I don't have to worry about what to do/ where to go for the rest of the day.

Well if you are just looking for something to waste the hours of your life until you die, biglaw is in fact for you.

Don't be hasty. He or she hasn't even had an SA yet and 2L work tires him or her out. Also, typos. And no financial incentive.

I think there's a big typo right here: using 2L and "work" together

I don't get people who say they have no life - don't you guys have any hobbies/interests/talents? if not, develop some. there's about a billion things you could be doing other than sitting in an office.

[krads153]

I think my job satisfaction is due to the firm I am at. I very rarely bill more than 175 hours in a month, and I take 4-6 weeks of vacation a year. It is not really in our culture to bill like crazy, and partners will actively help you manage your workload/offload to others when they can see you are slammed or you complain about it. I just aim to be about 50 hours above my admittedly modest, alternative billing target.

I thought I had exactly this until we got busy.

under 2k hours + 4-6 weeks of real vacay + supportive partners is like a unicorn biglaw gig.

plus not all billable hours are equal. i've had weeks where i billed 50-60 or so hours, which doesn't seem so bad except 30 of them have been on saturday/sunday. plus my firm has a face time requirement, so we're stuck here all day on the weekdays waiting around for work.

[Tls2016]

well i thought that's part of the energizer bunny comes from - whenever im tired from school work as a 2L i just log on and read people complaining about how they are dying under pressure. I honestly love the tls rants, i look forward to the similar sufferings after graduation. If I'm not mistaken 90% of my peers who failed to get a biglaw want to be part of the people complaining about how they dont have a personal life. i don't have any loans, but I don't have a life either- might as well trying to be important going to work that takes about all my waking hours so I don't have to worry about what to do/ where to go for the rest of the day.

Well if you are just looking for something to waste the hours of your life until you die, biglaw is in fact for you.

Don't be hasty. He or she hasn't even had an SA yet and 2L work tires him or her out. Also, typos. And no financial incentive.

I think there's a big typo right here: using 2L and "work" together

I don't get people who say they have no life - don't you guys have any hobbies/interests/talents? if not, develop some. there's about a billion things you could be doing other than sitting in an office.

+1
Though I didn't used to think so.

[A. Nony Mouse]

well i thought that's part of the energizer bunny comes from - whenever im tired from school work as a 2L i just log on and read people complaining about how they are dying under pressure. I honestly love the tls rants, i look forward to the similar sufferings after graduation. If I'm not mistaken 90% of my peers who failed to get a biglaw want to be part of the people complaining about how they dont have a personal life. i don't have any loans, but I don't have a life either- might as well trying to be important going to work that takes about all my waking hours so I don't have to worry about what to do/ where to go for the rest of the day.

Well if you are just looking for something to waste the hours of your life until you die, biglaw is in fact for you.

I'm so interested in what alternatives of "wasting life in a firm that people recognize with" that my beloved DF can possibly come up with.

Getting a life outside of work sounds like a good place to start.

[run26.2]

^One of my friends (who quit) was pulling literally 16-18 hour days every single day for a month straight (including weekends)...he was going to pull the trigger (either metaphorically or literally...) at the end of that month and he ended up quitting. My other friend got really ill after pulling a couple 250/300 hour months in a row. It's just not sustainable. Also, nobody cares that you are dying - the partners and seniors don't care. They just want money and their work done.

The sad thing is that some people do 250-300 month after month, year after year. When some partners see that (or they did that themselves), they expect everyone to do that.

[Anonymous User]

Prospective cheery idiotic big law 2L with a 4 year background as a D1 athlete here. Please burst my bubble.

Does anyone here have a athletic background? Or did anyone find the biglaw exhaustion experience related to anything they had ever done before? I feel slightly more prepared to do this job because most of my life has been dedicated to something that no one cares about is very tedious and physically exhausting. In addition I am quite used to being called any sort of name that has ever been created, I doubt any partner is scarier than my former coaches.

1. Could your coach fire you and leave you with no income with no notice except severance?

2. Did your coach email you as you were getting ready to leave at 5pm and tell you you need to work all weekend, starting tonight? Did your coach email or call you any time and expect a response? Did you have to cancel dinner plans or theater tickets as needed?

3.Did your coach throw you into a job with no training? Did you spend hours on detailed work requiring extreme focus day after day regardless of sleep?

Lmao. this is one of the funniest responses I have read.

1. Yes. Your scholarship is in no way guaranteed as an athlete, they can toss you off the team and all you get is a nice big fuck you and there goes your income/future/whatever you want. Coach could literally fuck your entire life up at the flip of a dime. Oh wait and there is your coach, your HEAD COACH, your strength coach, your conditioning coach, your school coach, their boss, their bosses boss and the athletic director, OH and don't drink, do drugs and pee in this cup or let me take a hair sample whenever we think you have been taking drugs.

2. Yes. Coach can email call text you any time of day telling you have 3 practices saturday or 3 practices sunday. Coach>God. Yes! actually you get to cancel dinner, spring break, winter break, summer break all of it!

3. Coach expected me to be very good at what I did every day no matter what! Muscle memory is one thing, but competing at a high level is another.

Also Re: Stress. Perhaps the person who responded that working out reduces stress should try to compete to make a team and get actual reps. It is a lot more fucking stressful than using an elliptical machine or flexing a 25 lb weigh at yourself at the local 24/hr fitness.

[lurklaw]

Prospective cheery idiotic big law 2L with a 4 year background as a D1 athlete here. Please burst my bubble.

Does anyone here have a athletic background? Or did anyone find the biglaw exhaustion experience related to anything they had ever done before? I feel slightly more prepared to do this job because most of my life has been dedicated to something that no one cares about is very tedious and physically exhausting. In addition I am quite used to being called any sort of name that has ever been created, I doubt any partner is scarier than my former coaches.

1. Could your coach fire you and leave you with no income with no notice except severance?

2. Did your coach email you as you were getting ready to leave at 5pm and tell you you need to work all weekend, starting tonight? Did your coach email or call you any time and expect a response? Did you have to cancel dinner plans or theater tickets as needed?

3.Did your coach throw you into a job with no training? Did you spend hours on detailed work requiring extreme focus day after day regardless of sleep?

Lmao. this is one of the funniest responses I have read.

1. Yes. Your scholarship is in no way guaranteed as an athlete, they can toss you off the team and all you get is a nice big fuck you and there goes your income/future/whatever you want. Coach could literally fuck your entire life up at the flip of a dime. Oh wait and there is your coach, your HEAD COACH, your strength coach, your conditioning coach, your school coach, their boss, their bosses boss and the athletic director, OH and don't drink, do drugs and pee in this cup or let me take a hair sample whenever we think you have been taking drugs.

2. Yes. Coach can email call text you any time of day telling you have 3 practices saturday or 3 practices sunday. Coach>God. Yes! actually you get to cancel dinner, spring break, winter break, summer break all of it!

3. Coach expected me to be very good at what I did every day no matter what! Muscle memory is one thing, but competing at a high level is another.

Also Re: Stress. Perhaps the person who responded that working out reduces stress should try to compete to make a team and get actual reps. It is a lot more fucking stressful than using an elliptical machine or flexing a 25 lb weigh at yourself at the local 24/hr fitness.

Bro biglaw is way worse than playing college ball. It's like 5 am runs for the rest of your life, but you only get less healthy and it's not the meritocracy you're used to -- the team players who put their neck out to get shit done lose to the selfish players who slink work on others.

[BigZuck]

Someone should just tell that person that playing a sport is way harder than big law so they'll shut up

[lurklaw]

Someone should just tell that person that playing a sport is way harder than big law so they'll shut up

You're probably right.

"Yeah bro it's just like lifting. All the posters bemoaning biglaw are just pussies."

[Anonymous User]

well i thought that's part of the energizer bunny comes from - whenever im tired from school work as a 2L i just log on and read people complaining about how they are dying under pressure. I honestly love the tls rants, i look forward to the similar sufferings after graduation. If I'm not mistaken 90% of my peers who failed to get a biglaw want to be part of the people complaining about how they dont have a personal life. i don't have any loans, but I don't have a life either- might as well trying to be important going to work that takes about all my waking hours so I don't have to worry about what to do/ where to go for the rest of the day.

Well if you are just looking for something to waste the hours of your life until you die, biglaw is in fact for you.

I'm so interested in what alternatives of "wasting life in a firm that people recognize with" that my beloved DF can possibly come up with.

Getting a life outside of work sounds like a good place to start.

To be fair, I'm not sure if any next person has more of a life than me: I have a spouse; have perfectly normal hobbies; was in a band. I claim that I like certain extreme sports so that no one can really corroborate with that. I live in the neighborhood where all city entertainment is within reach. But apparently activities alike deserve more time for me to waste. Experienced lawyers, what kind of life you really want instead.

[Tls2016]

Prospective cheery idiotic big law 2L with a 4 year background as a D1 athlete here. Please burst my bubble.

Does anyone here have a athletic background? Or did anyone find the biglaw exhaustion experience related to anything they had ever done before? I feel slightly more prepared to do this job because most of my life has been dedicated to something that no one cares about is very tedious and physically exhausting. In addition I am quite used to being called any sort of name that has ever been created, I doubt any partner is scarier than my former coaches.

1. Could your coach fire you and leave you with no income with no notice except severance?

2. Did your coach email you as you were getting ready to leave at 5pm and tell you you need to work all weekend, starting tonight? Did your coach email or call you any time and expect a response? Did you have to cancel dinner plans or theater tickets as needed?

3.Did your coach throw you into a job with no training? Did you spend hours on detailed work requiring extreme focus day after day regardless of sleep?

Lmao. this is one of the funniest responses I have read.

1. Yes. Your scholarship is in no way guaranteed as an athlete, they can toss you off the team and all you get is a nice big fuck you and there goes your income/future/whatever you want. Coach could literally fuck your entire life up at the flip of a dime. Oh wait and there is your coach, your HEAD COACH, your strength coach, your conditioning coach, your school coach, their boss, their bosses boss and the athletic director, OH and don't drink, do drugs and pee in this cup or let me take a hair sample whenever we think you have been taking drugs.

2. Yes. Coach can email call text you any time of day telling you have 3 practices saturday or 3 practices sunday. Coach>God. Yes! actually you get to cancel dinner, spring break, winter break, summer break all of it!

3. Coach expected me to be very good at what I did every day no matter what! Muscle memory is one thing, but competing at a high level is another.

Also Re: Stress. Perhaps the person who responded that working out reduces stress should try to compete to make a team and get actual reps. It is a lot more fucking stressful than using an elliptical machine or flexing a 25 lb weigh at yourself at the local 24/hr fitness.

You completely don't understand. Muscle memory has nothing to do with drafting flawless documents or memos under time pressure.

You asked for people to prove you wrong, but you really just wanted to dismiss my experience of biglaw (and I am a person who liked biglaw) You just want to prove some point that you have done so much with college sports and college that you are more prepared for biglaw than the people posting here who have done the job.

I didn't expect you to take my points seriously because no 2L with your attitude ever does. I thought I would give it a shot though.

You must be right. I'm sure that staying up all night getting documents together for the morning is exactly like playing sports and going to college. I'm sure having to cancel dinner because you have an extra practice is just like being accessible to multiple people 24/7. I'm sure the risk of being cut from a college team is just like being fired from biglaw and having no income. Just ask the kids that got laid off at that Schiff firm last week, I'm sure they would agree.

[Anonymous User]

well i thought that's part of the energizer bunny comes from - whenever im tired from school work as a 2L i just log on and read people complaining about how they are dying under pressure. I honestly love the tls rants, i look forward to the similar sufferings after graduation. If I'm not mistaken 90% of my peers who failed to get a biglaw want to be part of the people complaining about how they dont have a personal life. i don't have any loans, but I don't have a life either- might as well trying to be important going to work that takes about all my waking hours so I don't have to worry about what to do/ where to go for the rest of the day.

The difference is you can half ass through law school, and do well because entirely different things are being rewarded. I've gotten through life almost entirely by being able to get my act together for 2 weeks a year, and I'm getting my ass handed to me. Trying to get mental stamina just like that is as hard as trying to go from the couch to running a 26-mile marathon. Although it may just be my firm, almost everyone who is senior has excellent people skills, which I imagine might be a significant factor in why many of them are unhappy if we assume the statistics on happiness and substance abuse are indicative of most firms.

[Anonymous User]

. I've gotten through life almost entirely by being able to get my act together for 2 weeks a year, and I'm getting my ass handed to me. Trying to get mental stamina just like that is as hard as trying to go from the couch to running a 26-mile marathon..

That is my greatest fear. Any advice?

[Anonymous User]

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.

You really have to wait and see how the performance review goes. I've also found it to be easier than almost most 9-5 jobs at times, but that has me worried every single Friday. If there isn't enough work to make it hard that's probably not great.

[jkpolk]

. I've gotten through life almost entirely by being able to get my act together for 2 weeks a year, and I'm getting my ass handed to me. Trying to get mental stamina just like that is as hard as trying to go from the couch to running a 26-mile marathon..

That is my greatest fear. Any advice?

[krads153]

. I've gotten through life almost entirely by being able to get my act together for 2 weeks a year, and I'm getting my ass handed to me. Trying to get mental stamina just like that is as hard as trying to go from the couch to running a 26-mile marathon..

That is my greatest fear. Any advice?

Suck it up and do the work - but let me tell you, biglaw is like 5 billion times more work than laws school. I pretty much did nothing in LS, then crammed for 3 weeks at the end of the semester and did fine (not great, but good enough to get honors at a T-14).

There is no slacking in biglaw.

There was one point where I was considering going back to med school because I missed school so much....as far as I can tell from my buddies in med school, med school (dunno about residency, but med school seems okay) >>>>>>> working in biglaw.

School is awesome.

[Tiago Splitter]

plus my firm has a face time requirement, so we're stuck here all day on the weekdays waiting around for work.

Do any firms not have a facetime requirement? Everyone says theirs doesn't just like mine did but no one here feels like they can just peace out at any time.

[Torts Illustrated]

. I've gotten through life almost entirely by being able to get my act together for 2 weeks a year, and I'm getting my ass handed to me. Trying to get mental stamina just like that is as hard as trying to go from the couch to running a 26-mile marathon..

That is my greatest fear. Any advice?

In all seriousness, look for another job. I'm kind of like you: I'd prefer to give 200% sometimes and 50% the rest of the time, rather than consistently give 125%. Biglaw doesn't reward this approach at all. At all. But there are legal jobs that do, so I encourage you to find one of them and get out of Biglaw as quickly as you can.

Otherwise, just suck it up and force yourself to do what you need to do. It really sucks, but it's probably not as bad as you think it's going to be.

[Danger Zone]

plus my firm has a face time requirement, so we're stuck here all day on the weekdays waiting around for work.

Do any firms not have a facetime requirement? Everyone says theirs doesn't just like mine did but no one here feels like they can just peace out at any time.

call in