What is the sweetest law job? Forum

[whats an updog]

Assume no debt, T14, high ranking etc. What do you go after?


inb4 Candy Law

[84651846190]

CJ, SCOTUS

[Danger Zone]

Solicitor General

[whats an updog]

the road there doesn't seem super sweet, but maybe i don't know

[AveryTolar]

http://craftbeerattorney.com/

[Anonymous User]

Career Clerk
Tenured Prof
Bigfed @ Independent Agency

edit: clicked anonymous button for no reason

[whats an updog]

http://craftbeerattorney.com/

actually have checked this website before

[Monochromatic Oeuvre]

That I could imagine: Run your own shop taking giant plaintiffs' class action cases, making tens of millions off of each.

That could conceivably be done by anyone: Hamilton/Ruby/RTK, two years at WLRK, retire in Thailand in your mid-20s.

ETA: I don't think anyone paying juniors in the stratosphere lets you do it without clerking besides WLRK, but someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

[hiima3L]

Article III judge.

[theaccidentalclerk]

Article III judge.

This is credited. Your hours are what you want them to be, you have clerks to handle the drudgery, they can't fire you unless you commit a crime or the like. The salary is comfortable ($175k IIRC), and best of all, if you stay on the bench until you are 65, you get it the rest of your life. You can even retire and not go senior status at that point and do mediation and arbitration work for five or so years and earn some bank to last you until you die. The only downside is that criminal trials aren't a ton of fun, and you do actually have to work some serious hours the couple of times a year you're in trial.

Law prof is also totally cush, but the inner workings of academia can be super stressful (for super silly reasons, but stressful nonetheless). Midcareer pay is similar to an AIII judge (maybe a little higher), but you get tons of time off. Though judges probably get more frequent vacations. It really comes down to whether you'd prefer to work moderately fewer hours during the week and have big chunks of time off in the summer and at Christmas, but not have a pension for life and probably work in a little more stressful environment (professor), or whether you'd rather work moderately longer hours and have more frequent but shorter vacation, but have a pension until you die and be pretty much stress free if you want (judge).

Can't go wrong with either.

[071816]

chill in-house gig at an interesting company.

[Anonymous User]

This is probably weird, but I think the answer for me is actually the job I already have. Small firm specializing in a niche area of law I love with great coworkers and with a 1600 billable hour requirement and a bonus model that means that as long as I meet that requirement, I make more than major market biglaw total comp for my class year.

[whats an updog]

This is probably weird, but I think the answer for me is actually the job I already have. Small firm specializing in a niche area of law I love with great coworkers and with a 1600 billable hour requirement and a bonus model that means that as long as I meet that requirement, I make more than major market biglaw total comp for my class year.

that's pretty sweet, how'd you swing that

[objctnyrhnr]

AUSA in desirable, non flyover district (assuming one likes lit)

[FlanAl]

I've heard that a couple of firms have designated "pro-bono" partners. Their whole job is to find good public interest work to do and use the firm dollars to get it done. I know that most firms just make that part of your work but I think a few just have dedicated partners.

[Anonymous User]

This is probably weird, but I think the answer for me is actually the job I already have. Small firm specializing in a niche area of law I love with great coworkers and with a 1600 billable hour requirement and a bonus model that means that as long as I meet that requirement, I make more than major market biglaw total comp for my class year.

that's pretty sweet, how'd you swing that

Lateraled from a much bigger firm. I'd worked with my now-firm on a project a couple years back and knew they liked me, so when I decided I was interested in making a move I reached out and they were down. Knew from working with them that they seemed to have pretty good work-life balance, but had no idea the compensation would be above market.

[Cogburn87]

This is probably weird, but I think the answer for me is actually the job I already have. Small firm specializing in a niche area of law I love with great coworkers and with a 1600 billable hour requirement and a bonus model that means that as long as I meet that requirement, I make more than major market biglaw total comp for my class year.

lol. billing 1600 hours can't possibly be the sweetest. not when law profs work like 20 hours a week.

[XxSpyKEx]

Article III judge.

This is credited. Your hours are what you want them to be, you have clerks to handle the drudgery, they can't fire you unless you commit a crime or the like. The salary is comfortable ($175k IIRC), and best of all, if you stay on the bench until you are 65, you get it the rest of your life.

Actually, there's A3 judges who drew salaries while in prison. See https://bulk.resource.org/courts.gov/fjc/judgeres.pdf. It's really hard remove an A3 judge, since congress has to go through the entire impeachment and removal process. Also, the salary is currently $199,100 for a federal district court judge and $211,200 for a CoA judge. Apparently, if you claim that you're retiring due to disability before going to prison, you get pension for life (including while in prison if Congress doesn't impeach and remove you) lol. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_B._ ... roceedings

[Anonymous User]

This is probably weird, but I think the answer for me is actually the job I already have. Small firm specializing in a niche area of law I love with great coworkers and with a 1600 billable hour requirement and a bonus model that means that as long as I meet that requirement, I make more than major market biglaw total comp for my class year.

lol. billing 1600 hours can't possibly be the sweetest. not when law profs work like 20 hours a week.

That's true for some. I like dealing with clients, like problem solving, and like to be busy, so to me being a law professor seems dreadfully boring. And the pre-tenure parts seem kind of awful.

[whats an updog]

I've heard that a couple of firms have designated "pro-bono" partners. Their whole job is to find good public interest work to do and use the firm dollars to get it done. I know that most firms just make that part of your work but I think a few just have dedicated partners.

This and Article III seem best so far.

[Monochromatic Oeuvre]

Everyone answering a high-level judge is discounting the 15 years (minimum) of bullshit you have to put up with to get there. I guess technically it's a "sweet job" (for the reasons outlined) in the abstract, but it's disingenuous. That's why the only complete answer is (a) a job that lets you do whatever you want, or (b) a job that gives you enough money to shortly thereafter do whatever you want.

[Jay2716]

Starting a law forum and then murdering the Bay Area real estate market.

[abogadesq]

I know someone in BigFed making $140k with a meager caseload of 10 non-complex cases a year. He works only 40 hours a week and gets 3 weeks vacation, not to mention decent matching contributions for his IRA and a federal pension. He lives in a low-cost area that happens to also be his hometown.

Damn that guy.

[Anonymous User]

similarly I know someone who works as an examiner for the uspto making in the 140k range doing all of his work from home, ostensibly out of the Alexandria office, but from a city on the west coast. because he only needs to complete a certain amount of "points" per period, he can not work for two weeks and then work like crazy for two weeks if he wants so his "vacation" time is pretty elastic. seems pretty fucking sweet.

[v5junior]

I think clinical professor would be better. Still get to be a lawyer to the extent you want to be.