Least miserable legal career? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Just wondering what people view as the most exciting/least torturous legal career. Thanks!

[puppylaw]

Federal judge.

[hephaestus]

Federal judge.

Probably this due to lifetime tenure and almost 0% chance of impeachment. You may get better answers if you elaborate, anonymous.

[Anonymous User]

Federal judge.

Probably this due to lifetime tenure and almost 0% chance of impeachment. You may get better answers if you elaborate, anonymous.

Plus your clerks do all of the work.

ETA: Crap. Didn't mean to anon this.

[guano]

Federal judge.

Came here to say this

[smaug_]

Tenured law prof. at an elite school.

[IAFG]

If you have to ask this question, maybe you don't want to be a lawyer.

[mr. wednesday]

Tenured law prof. at an elite school.

this is pretty common as an answer but I don't know. it's the best paid per hour worked, but I wouldn't want to lecture at law students multiple hours a week, deal with them ignoring lectures or gunning, or writing/grading exams. Probably the easiest money but idk about most exciting or pleasant.

[Tanicius]

Tenured law prof. at a school next to an elitecoastal big city with nice weather.

FTFY. Apparently a school like Cordozo is more desired by top law professor candidates and professors looking to lateral than Michigan or Cornell; working at UCLA can trump working Yale.

[Bigbub75]

Just wondering what people view as the most exciting/least torturous legal career. Thanks!

Regulatory work at some of the federal agencies seems exciting especially when new legislation is passed (Jobs Act, Dodd Frank, etc) . Plus the pay isn't bad and neither are the hours.

[brotherdarkness]

.

[Liam]

Tenured law prof. at a school next to an elitecoastal big city with nice weather.

FTFY. Apparently a school like Cordozo is more desired by top law professor candidates and professors looking to lateral than Michigan or Cornell; working at UCLA can trump working Yale.

I struggle to believe this is true as a general matter; while idiosyncrasies can certainly lead individual academics to make the sorts of choices proposed, I can't imagine that the average person serious enough to enter legal academia and become a "top law professor candidate" is going to take the lesser professional prospects of Cardozo just for the better living standards of New York (especially when a professor can spend the majority of their year in virtually any city in the country).

[northwood]

a career that has law in the rearview mirror


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfqzQKt9UeA

[Tanicius]

Nah. I thoroughly enjoy practicing law, especially if I'd get to do it on my terms. The only profession I would enjoy more is writing, but I don't have the balls to try making it big as a writer -- too much of a chance I'd just starve.

My ideal practice would be having a handful of high-profile criminal defense clients any given year, with the rest of my time used to volunteer for a local public defender office doing trials.

[hephaestus]

Nah. I thoroughly enjoy practicing law, especially if I'd get to do it on my terms. The only profession I would enjoy more is writing, but I don't have the balls to try making it big as a writer -- too much of a chance I'd just starve.

My ideal practice would be having a handful of high-profile criminal defense clients any given year, with the rest of my time used to volunteer for a local public defender office doing trials.

I would try to talk to criminal defense lawyers in your local are. There are simply not that many high-profile criminal clients most places, so you may want to get a more realistic picture of what criminal defense practice is like.

[A. Nony Mouse]

He didn't say he thought that was realistic, just that it would be ideal.

[hephaestus]

He didn't say he thought that was realistic, just that it would be ideal.

True, but I think getting a feel for what criminal defense attorneys may refocus OP's interests as far as what OP would like to start doing. For example, depending on the reasons why OP is interested in more high profile work, would make OP interested in white collar defense or another area of law entirely.

[AntipodeanPhil]

Tenured law prof. at a school next to an elitecoastal big city with nice weather.

FTFY. Apparently a school like Cordozo is more desired by top law professor candidates and professors looking to lateral than Michigan or Cornell; working at UCLA can trump working Yale.

This must be why all the best "top law professor candidates" go to Cardozo, rather than Michigan, Cornell, and Yale.

[A. Nony Mouse]

He didn't say he thought that was realistic, just that it would be ideal.

True, but I think getting a feel for what criminal defense attorneys may refocus OP's interests as far as what OP would like to start doing. For example, depending on the reasons why OP is interested in more high profile work, would make OP interested in white collar defense or another area of law entirely.

You know he's already in law school (not sure if 2L or 3L) aiming for the PD, right? I think he knows what he's getting into.

[Anonymous User]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_Sheindlin

I want her job.

[Anonymous User]

Federal judge.

If you mean you have a low level of stress and work, then you're wrong. All judges, state and federal, have a hard job and it's tough work. If you want to be good at your job, then it can be stressful and takes a lot of work.

My vote would be for an attorney in a smaller regulatory agency that doesn't have a lot of outside deadlines (as opposed to self-imposed ones). For example, I'd say NRC, EPA, or FAA.

Just based on my experience and what I've gotten from talking with other lawyers.

[Anonymous User]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_Sheindlin

I want her job.

Probably the only ADR attorney who isn't miserable.

[Anonymous User]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_Sheindlin

I want her job.

Probably the only ADR attorney who isn't miserable.

40 million in stacks every year, baby. Go New York Law School.

[Tanicius]

He didn't say he thought that was realistic, just that it would be ideal.

True, but I think getting a feel for what criminal defense attorneys may refocus OP's interests as far as what OP would like to start doing. For example, depending on the reasons why OP is interested in more high profile work, would make OP interested in white collar defense or another area of law entirely.

It's not the high-profile nature of it that I want. It's the fact that they would pay out the ass for relatively little representation and services rendered. A DUI case for Lindsay Lohan doesn't cost the same as it does for a parent household defending their 20-year-old. I'd want that kind of work not because it's cool representing rich douchebags, but because the income from it would allow me to do what I believe in without having to worry about money. It would be effectively akin to how artists in the Renaissance got sponsored by their patrons to do cool stuff that wouldn't have actually paid a dime otherwise. I'd get to do public defense work on a private attorney's salary and without the crushing caseload that risks making me ineffective.

[hiima3L]

State appellate court judge.

The work is always interesting (or at least would be to me), 99% of criminal cases (a huge part of the docket) are easy, no awful trial work, rarely interact with pro se parties, and the list just goes on and on.

I say state as opposed to federal because generally they don't have to deal with the huge politicized, polarizing culture war cases.