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Lol anything outside of academia?Cavalier wrote:Law Professor
Good point. Big firm litigation attorneys work more and with less flexibility on average, from what I gather.JOThompson wrote:Transactional law, according to a litigation lawyer I know.
Interesting. Thanks!Aeroplane wrote:If you're purely concerned w/QOL and fairly indifferent to pay/prestige, there's always:
contract work
law school admissions or career services
legal recruiting
lexis/westlaw
adjunct professor
compliance rep
and lots of other jobs where you're not really practicing law and may/may not require a JD, but employers often hire JD's and you're still involved with the legal world.
Got it.disco_barred wrote:QoL (roughly speaking based on #of hours required, flexibility of hours, and compensation)
1) Law professors (there's still stress, and it's insanely hard to achieve + requires a lot of self starting, but has unpresedented benefits and freedom with 6 figure pay)
2) Federal government lawyers, in-house lawyers (some variation, but usually solid pay and hours that more closely mimic a 9-5. But don't expect it to be 9-5, because little in the professional world is)
3) Non-mega-firm: there are tons of firms that pick up laterals from mega firms, smaller boutique operations, etc.
4) Mega firms - see most of the vault 100
5) Mega Mega Firms - see Cravath, Wachtell, and a few others - where hours worked are signifigantly higher than the rest of the 'most prestigious' firms.
I'm not sure where public interest jobs fit in...
I meant QOL in that you can have some control over hours, take off for a few months & come back, etc. It's not a job that makes career-type demands and stresses people out. It seems similar in nature to data entry, transcription, etc. Some people prefer that kind of stuff, even if you don't.nealric wrote:I wouldn't put Contract work under high QOL.
Being locked in a basement clicking "responsive" or "non-responsive" all day is not my idea of a good quality of life.
Public interest is probably the most rewarding and potentially the least stressful.
Not necessarily. Transactional work can be more unpredictable. There may be weeks where you are not working a ton, but then if a client calls and needs a deal done, you could be working 24 hours a day for two weeks. I haven't heard too many transactional attorneys say they work a lot less, just that their schedules can be different. Otherwise 1) they probably wouldn't be paid the same, and 2) more people would choose transactional.disco_barred wrote:Good point. Big firm litigation attorneys work more and with less flexibility on average, from what I gather.JOThompson wrote:Transactional law, according to a litigation lawyer I know.
You tend to be at the whim of temp agencies. ITE, you can't just decide to work whenever you want- you have to wait by the phone hoping the agency will call you up. So you don't actually have control over the hours.I meant QOL in that you can have some control over hours, take off for a few months & come back, etc. It's not a job that makes career-type demands and stresses people out. It seems similar in nature to data entry, transcription, etc. Some people prefer that kind of stuff, even if you don't.
You do to the extent you're willing to take the risk. And when work is available, at least from what I've heard in my area, you don't have to work a full time schedule if you don't want to. I've heard of people choosing it as a more family-friendly option as compared to a full time salaried position. I just mentioned it as one thing to think about, out of many. Of course, everyone should examine their own preferences, market, and other relevant circumstances. A sole earner for a spouse and three kids, would definitely want something more stable.nealric wrote:You tend to be at the whim of temp agencies. ITE, you can't just decide to work whenever you want- you have to wait by the phone hoping the agency will call you up. So you don't actually have control over the hours.I meant QOL in that you can have some control over hours, take off for a few months & come back, etc. It's not a job that makes career-type demands and stresses people out. It seems similar in nature to data entry, transcription, etc. Some people prefer that kind of stuff, even if you don't.
This.thedogship wrote:
Not necessarily. Transactional work can be more unpredictable. There may be weeks where you are not working a ton, but then if a client calls and needs a deal done, you could be working 24 hours a day for two weeks. I haven't heard too many transactional attorneys say they work a lot less, just that their schedules can be different. Otherwise 1) they probably wouldn't be paid the same, and 2) more people would choose transactional.
What type(s) of PI?nealric wrote:I wouldn't put Contract work under high QOL.
Being locked in a basement clicking "responsive" or "non-responsive" all day is not my idea of a good quality of life.
Public interest is probably the most rewarding and potentially the least stressful.
Interesting. This is turning into a pretty informative discussion. Anyone else have any input?lakerfanimal wrote:This is from my experience at a legal department for a company who treats its employers extremely well, so I don't know if this is a typical example. Having said that, from the place I worked at and hearing about legal departments at other companies as well, I think working as in-house counsel or part of a company's legal team might be better QOL wise than jobs at some big law firms. The hours/week are still around 60, but the environment is a lot more calm/friendly/team-oriented, you don't take as much work home, and they seem to care about you as a person. I've never worked in a big law firm so maybe some of them treat their employees well too, but not from what I've heard.
Lol!nealric wrote:In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king