110 hour week Forum

[DELG]

Not sure what the point is in continuing to work in biglaw if it leads you to be in a situation where you have to leave before your kid is awake and then come home after your kid is asleep multiple nights in a row. Unless student loans are literally chaining you to that desk, I just don't see the point, and I know I wouldn't want to be there anymore. But maybe thats just me.

It's not like other, better opportunities grow on trees.

Right. I will leave as soon as I find litigation I want to do in the city I want to be in. And I am looking all the time.

[Anonymous User]

Not sure what the point is in continuing to work in biglaw if it leads you to be in a situation where you have to leave before your kid is awake and then come home after your kid is asleep multiple nights in a row. Unless student loans are literally chaining you to that desk, I just don't see the point, and I know I wouldn't want to be there anymore. But maybe thats just me.

It's not like other, better opportunities grow on trees.

Right. I will leave as soon as I find litigation I want to do in the city I want to be in. And I am looking all the time.

Best of luck. Now seems to be a pretty good market for laterals, at least compared to the last few years. So I'm sure something will open up.

[Anonymous User]

So then why do it?

OP here - that question is kind of the theme of the entire thread. No simple or universal answer it seems.

[KidStuddi]

I think there is some just genetic component / tolerance component to it too. Some people are utterly fucking useless after 3 drinks. Some people, you wouldn't even know if they're on their 5th drink. As someone who regularly does work while mildly drunk, I certainly hope I fall into the latter category.

Working drunk is like the saddest thing ever. Congrats on being totally oblivious to how shitty your life is.

Eh, I think you're projecting your own dissatisfaction with your choices and outcomes. I suspect you're picturing some downtrodden associate drinking alone in their office on a weekend or something if you think it's the "saddest thing ever" to work while buzzed. In reality, I just put down whatever I'm working on, go out with my friends / SO (often on weeknights) and have a good time and resume whatever work (if any) I feel needs to get done at 11pm-1am or whenever I get home.

[Desert Fox]

[Desert Fox]

MAsta lets me have some sips of the sunday wine when I do my ROGS.

[wildhaggis]

I think there is some just genetic component / tolerance component to it too. Some people are utterly fucking useless after 3 drinks. Some people, you wouldn't even know if they're on their 5th drink. As someone who regularly does work while mildly drunk, I certainly hope I fall into the latter category.

Working drunk is like the saddest thing ever. Congrats on being totally oblivious to how shitty your life is.

Eh, I think you're projecting your own dissatisfaction with your choices and outcomes. I suspect you're picturing some downtrodden associate drinking alone in their office on a weekend or something if you think it's the "saddest thing ever" to work while buzzed. In reality, I just put down whatever I'm working on, go out with my friends / SO (often on weeknights) and have a good time and resume whatever work (if any) I feel needs to get done at 11pm-1am or whenever I get home.

And I think you're underestimating the extent to which most normal humans think that working at 1am after spending time with friends/girlfriend fucking sucks.

Also, LOL at the notion that, in biglaw when working late, I would ever have the opportunity to say, "Welp, you guys do you, I'm gonna go out and have a good time with my friends - I'll just finish this up when I get back drunk at 1am." This is fucking absurd. If you're working late, it's for a reason and usually other people are working late too, people who would laugh in your face if you tried to go out while everyone else is heads-down trying to get shit done.

[AreJay711]

Better than being poor though, amirite?

[AVBucks4239]

Better than being poor though, amirite?

Nah. I think everyone on here would classify me as poor ($150k debt, $50k salary) but I don't think I'd ever lateral to Big Law (if the opportunity presented itself). No amount of money/intellectual stimulation/connections are worth the hell being discussed in this thread. Give me my sanity, my social life, and my health (and my debt for 8-10 years) any day.

To each their own, though. I respect the hell out of my friends grinding it out in Big Law and know their sacrifices will (hopefully) eventually pay off. Just not for me.

ETA: secretary paged me after I burst out laughing at DF's pic. Well done.

[Anonymous User]

Better than being poor though, amirite?

Nah. I think everyone on here would classify me as poor ($150k debt, $50k salary) but I don't think I'd ever lateral to Big Law (if the opportunity presented itself). No amount of money/intellectual stimulation/connections are worth the hell being discussed in this thread. Give me my sanity, my social life, and my health (and my debt for 8-10 years) any day.

To each their own, though. I respect the hell out of my friends grinding it out in Big Law and know their sacrifices will (hopefully) eventually pay off. Just not for me.

ETA: secretary paged me after I burst out laughing at DF's pic. Well done.

Same thoughts here, 140k student loan debt, 70k salary, Gov't. Sometimes I wonder about the money I miss out on, then I remember I have every other Friday off.

But I know a lot of people who have the drive for Big Law and can put in that amount of hours. And, maybe surprisingly, many of them really like their jobs, or at least tell me they do.


. . .. Basically, ditto.

[BarbellDreams]

Read a very cool quote related to this today:

"The most dangerous risk of all - The risk of spending your life not doing what you want on the bet you can buy yourself the freedom to do it later."

[DELG]

Read a very cool quote related to this today:

"The most dangerous risk of all - The risk of spending your life not doing what you want on the bet you can buy yourself the freedom to do it later."

That's pretty fucking retarded

[Johann]

Read a very cool quote related to this today:

"The most dangerous risk of all - The risk of spending your life not doing what you want on the bet you can buy yourself the freedom to do it later."

That's pretty fucking retarded

nah. pretty relevant.

[smallfirmassociate]

Read a very cool quote related to this today:

"The most dangerous risk of all - The risk of spending your life not doing what you want on the bet you can buy yourself the freedom to do it later."

That sounds nice and all, but the flip side of that coin is writing failed novels and whimsically traveling the world, then realizing you're 34 years old, living in some shitty small box in suburban Atlanta, working at a pizza joint and smoking weed with college kids who don't even know the Oasis songs you're playing on the acoustic guitar in a futile attempt to impress them.

[BarbellDreams]

Read a very cool quote related to this today:

"The most dangerous risk of all - The risk of spending your life not doing what you want on the bet you can buy yourself the freedom to do it later."

That's pretty fucking retarded

?

Seems pretty related. Lets go do stuff we really hate for a long time (biglaw) so that maybe when we pay down our loans and make enough money to own a nice house, car, etc etc etc we can afford to do something we actually want (read: Basically anything else).

[DELG]

I like my job I just want to do like 15% less of it.

[rpupkin]

Read a very cool quote related to this today:

"The most dangerous risk of all - The risk of spending your life not doing what you want on the bet you can buy yourself the freedom to do it later."

That sounds nice and all, but the flip side of that coin is writing failed novels and whimsically traveling the world, then realizing you're 34 years old, living in some shitty small box in suburban Atlanta, working at a pizza joint and smoking weed with college kids who don't even know the Oasis songs you're playing on the acoustic guitar in a futile attempt to impress them.

I went to law school in my 30s and, except for the part about living in suburban Atlanta and working at a pizza joint, this basically describes my experience during law school.

[DELG]

Read a very cool quote related to this today:

"The most dangerous risk of all - The risk of spending your life not doing what you want on the bet you can buy yourself the freedom to do it later."

That sounds nice and all, but the flip side of that coin is writing failed novels and whimsically traveling the world, then realizing you're 34 years old, living in some shitty small box in suburban Atlanta, working at a pizza joint and smoking weed with college kids who don't even know the Oasis songs you're playing on the acoustic guitar in a futile attempt to impress them.

Yeah. My cousin actually posted this the other day. 30 yrs old, no boyfriend, no kids, no assets, but has been to every continent. And that's cool and all but someday you have to be a real grown up with a career you're proud of.

I think that quote assumes all jobs are dead end bullshit but the whole point is to carve out something meaningful.

[Cogburn87]

I think that quote assumes all jobs are dead end bullshit but the whole point is to carve out something meaningful.

This is a pretty fair assumption, though, at least with respect to the legal industry.

[DELG]

I don't feel that way.

[Cogburn87]

The privilege logs i maintain will echo in eternity

[sublime]

..

[Anonymous User]

Better than being poor though, amirite?

Nah. I think everyone on here would classify me as poor ($150k debt, $50k salary) but I don't think I'd ever lateral to Big Law (if the opportunity presented itself). No amount of money/intellectual stimulation/connections are worth the hell being discussed in this thread. Give me my sanity, my social life, and my health (and my debt for 8-10 years) any day.

To each their own, though. I respect the hell out of my friends grinding it out in Big Law and know their sacrifices will (hopefully) eventually pay off. Just not for me.

ETA: secretary paged me after I burst out laughing at DF's pic. Well done.

You have your head on straight. Its not worth it. And here I was wondering whether I can jump from biglaw salary to about 60K salary with my 55K in debt. If you can believe that firmly in what you just said given 150K debt and 50K salary, then it really says something.

[Anonymous User]

Read a very cool quote related to this today:

"The most dangerous risk of all - The risk of spending your life not doing what you want on the bet you can buy yourself the freedom to do it later."

That sounds nice and all, but the flip side of that coin is writing failed novels and whimsically traveling the world, then realizing you're 34 years old, living in some shitty small box in suburban Atlanta, working at a pizza joint and smoking weed with college kids who don't even know the Oasis songs you're playing on the acoustic guitar in a futile attempt to impress them.

The choice was never biglaw or living in a box. Even those in seemingly less desirable legal positions still can make an entirely comfortable living. Sure, they won't have the same cars, houses, vacations, or anything like that. But as we've been saying all along, for many people, ability to see family, enjoy life and personal time, find balance, etc. doesn't mean being in destitute poverty.

[DELG]

at least for me, it's not about the money. i keep going to my job every day to keep doing the work i am doing. if i could get similar work to keep progressing professionally for slightly less hours i would do it for almost any salary. biglaw is like a PhD program with really shitty advisors.