Any biglaw first years already bored and indifferent? Forum

[Desert Fox]

There are people who legit like biglaw:

But most people who "like" their biglaw jobs are psychopaths who'd operate gas chambers if there was prestige in it. They have no personality and no life. Really they are prefect associates. They'd waste their lives anyway, so it's a good fit.

There also people who get lucky and a work with chill partners, have chill hours, get chill work. A senior I work with has always worked a really good partner, he's billed like 2000 hours on a the nose for 7 straight years, worked on one huge case, and leaves every day at 6:25pm. But another senior, same year, same firm, same office, same group had a mental breakdown because her partner sends her emails til 11pm and then starts back up at 6am every day.

And then there are people who sit there and lie to themselves about how much they "love their jobs" when displaying obvious signs of severe depression / substance abuse.

[Desert Fox]

The proof is in the pudding though. There is a reason why you gotta pay a senior associate 380 thousand dollars a year AND most of them are still like: "lol-no I'd rather suck a dick to get a GS12 job."

[Clyde Frog]

There are people who legit like biglaw:

But most people who "like" their biglaw jobs are psychopaths who'd operate gas chambers if there was prestige in it. They have no personality and no life. Really they are prefect associates. They'd waste their lives anyway, so it's a good fit.

There also people who get lucky and a work with chill partners, have chill hours, get chill work. A senior I work with has always worked a really good partner, he's billed like 2000 hours on a the nose for 7 straight years, worked on one huge case, and leaves every day at 6:25pm. But another senior, same year, same firm, same office, same group had a mental breakdown because her partner sends her emails til 11pm and then starts back up at 6am every day.

And then there are people who sit there and lie to themselves about how much they "love their jobs" when displaying obvious signs of severe depression / substance abuse.

Good luck finding an opening for a gas chamber operator position though.

[Leonardo DiCaprio]

DF, which of the typical characters you run into in law school is most likely to legit love biglaw? the gunners? the scholarly types or nah? i heard bros who truly LOVE THE LAW get disillusioned the most

[Desert Fox]

There are people who legit like biglaw:

But most people who "like" their biglaw jobs are psychopaths who'd operate gas chambers if there was prestige in it. They have no personality and no life. Really they are prefect associates. They'd waste their lives anyway, so it's a good fit.

There also people who get lucky and a work with chill partners, have chill hours, get chill work. A senior I work with has always worked a really good partner, he's billed like 2000 hours on a the nose for 7 straight years, worked on one huge case, and leaves every day at 6:25pm. But another senior, same year, same firm, same office, same group had a mental breakdown because her partner sends her emails til 11pm and then starts back up at 6am every day.

And then there are people who sit there and lie to themselves about how much they "love their jobs" when displaying obvious signs of severe depression / substance abuse.

Good luck finding an opening for a gas chamber operator position though.

TRUMP 2016

[Desert Fox]

DF, which of the typical characters you run into in law school is most likely to legit love biglaw? the gunners? the scholarly types or nah? i heard bros who truly LOVE THE LAW get disillusioned the most

The oddly silent and intense people who keep their heads down.

[Leonardo DiCaprio]

DF, which of the typical characters you run into in law school is most likely to legit love biglaw? the gunners? the scholarly types or nah? i heard bros who truly LOVE THE LAW get disillusioned the most

The oddly silent and intense people who keep their heads down.

fuck.

eta: accidental anon

[Holly Golightly]

DF, which of the typical characters you run into in law school is most likely to legit love biglaw? the gunners? the scholarly types or nah? i heard bros who truly LOVE THE LAW get disillusioned the most

The oddly silent and intense people who keep their heads down.

And sociopaths.

[Monochromatic Oeuvre]

I mean Blackstone would be ludicrously awful--at least it is for the people I know there (as it is for their lawyers, hello STB, Debevoise, Paul Weiss, SRZ, etc... but I would note a certain distinction. Those peers who went that direction can have accumulated enough wealth to call it quits or take an interesting exit and buy a house in cash while they're still young (whether interesting to you is high school teacher or business development). Meanwhile, three years out and a lawyer is only just getting started in law and at best will have zero net wealth.

So at least they're not delaying the inevitable, oh, wow what have I done, I need to move to a third world country and join an NGO. Hell they can even go to law school, and, you know, actually do the public interest job everyone aspires for (at least in their personal statements).

That's true, and it's part of why we say that beyond it being a terrible idea for anyone to pay full sticker, even paying like half is something you should only do if it's gonna be like a $40k job otherwise. 97% of people who have a legitimately decent career option on the table should avoid law school like the plague.

It's worth noting, however, that Blackstone et. al requires constant striving in high school to get into one of the ~20 schools they hire from (and paying $50k a year) and then striving at a decently challenging school to get a good GPA for four years. Whereas in law, you can dick around in high school, go to a state school (and pay $15k/year), get a good GPA without really trying, cop a full scholly, and coast to median-ish. Admittedly, this requires the foresight NOT to waste your life striving before UVA ex machina bails you out, and most people who have a shred of foresight don't wind up in law school. It's funny in the Greek tragedy sort of way that a fuckload of people who went to the Emorys and Colgates of the world for $150k more than their state flagship, with no idea what they were gonna do with their life, wind up walking out of law school with $150k of debt.

[WhiteCollarBlueShirt]

That's true, and it's part of why we say that beyond it being a terrible idea for anyone to pay full sticker, even paying like half is something you should only do if it's gonna be like a $40k job otherwise. 97% of people who have a legitimately decent career option on the table should avoid law school like the plague.

It's worth noting, however, that Blackstone et. al requires constant striving in high school to get into one of the ~20 schools they hire from (and paying $50k a year) and then striving at a decently challenging school to get a good GPA for four years. Whereas in law, you can dick around in high school, go to a state school (and pay $15k/year), get a good GPA without really trying, cop a full scholly, and coast to median-ish. Admittedly, this requires the foresight NOT to waste your life striving before UVA ex machina bails you out, and most people who have a shred of foresight don't wind up in law school. It's funny in the Greek tragedy sort of way that a fuckload of people who went to the Emorys and Colgates of the world for $150k more than their state flagship, with no idea what they were gonna do with their life, wind up walking out of law school with $150k of debt.

Fair point... considering single digit undergrad hires and even Bulge Bracket/Prestigious Boutique --> buyside (prestigious middle market or mega fund) is far from a guarantee (even for those groomed for that since Deerfield).

Law is pretty dang easy. If being an analyst requires a 6th grade math education, then you can probably suffice in law with 5th grade English. And to be fair to the graduates of NESCAC, other DIII's and 2nd tier privates... those schools are probably committing a bigger sin than the law schools jacking up tuition and asking for donations on top of that (you'll love when CLS starts hitting you up for money every week or so).

[krads153]

That's true, and it's part of why we say that beyond it being a terrible idea for anyone to pay full sticker, even paying like half is something you should only do if it's gonna be like a $40k job otherwise. 97% of people who have a legitimately decent career option on the table should avoid law school like the plague.

It's worth noting, however, that Blackstone et. al requires constant striving in high school to get into one of the ~20 schools they hire from (and paying $50k a year) and then striving at a decently challenging school to get a good GPA for four years. Whereas in law, you can dick around in high school, go to a state school (and pay $15k/year), get a good GPA without really trying, cop a full scholly, and coast to median-ish. Admittedly, this requires the foresight NOT to waste your life striving before UVA ex machina bails you out, and most people who have a shred of foresight don't wind up in law school. It's funny in the Greek tragedy sort of way that a fuckload of people who went to the Emorys and Colgates of the world for $150k more than their state flagship, with no idea what they were gonna do with their life, wind up walking out of law school with $150k of debt.

Fair point... considering single digit undergrad hires and even Bulge Bracket/Prestigious Boutique --> buyside (prestigious middle market or mega fund) is far from a guarantee (even for those groomed for that since Deerfield).

Law is pretty dang easy. If being an analyst requires a 6th grade math education, then you can probably suffice in law with 5th grade English. And to be fair to the graduates of NESCAC, other DIII's and 2nd tier privates... those schools are probably committing a bigger sin than the law schools jacking up tuition and asking for donations on top of that (you'll love when CLS starts hitting you up for money every week or so).

I don't think anyone thinks law is "hard" but the level of detail orientedness/concentration and extremely high tolerance for working long hours/going without sleep isn't for most people. At least in biglaw, if you have one fuck up, you may be done with that person you're working for. And frankly, the money isn't even that good for most of us.

[WhiteCollarBlueShirt]

I don't think anyone thinks law is "hard" but the level of detail orientedness/concentration and extremely high tolerance for working long hours/going without sleep isn't for most people. At least in biglaw, if you have one fuck up, you may be done with that person you're working for. And frankly, the money isn't even that good for most of us.

Compared to other jobs that pay 160+, law gives a lot of latitude and is an easy job to land. I routinely see egregious mistakes coming out of v10 firms (words and numbers alike), and I assure you that no one is getting fired over these mistakes right away (further, those who are given the warning talk can often lateral down or up the vault list as associates).

I'm not saying biglaw is a good job, I personally quit NYC biglaw to seek a slightly better life (and would love to quit law altogether eventually). However, I was agreeing with the student above that just because a person got biglaw, does not at all mean that such person could have instead landed the prestigious IBD analyst position out of UG necessary to then compete for the prestigious alt fund manager position (let alone have gotten such a job straight out of school) or that such job intrinsically has a better lifestyle (in many cases it can be worse).

Nor am I saying that being an analyst takes special skills or attributes either (hence my 6th grade education comment), but it is a very small percentage of the much larger universe of biglawyers that could have in hindsight gone the MBB or prestigious IBD/Alt Fund route instead. Nonetheless, I fully agree that all biglawyers can and should complain about their hours/pay--but it is silly for some people to say they wish they made slightly more in a different profession that they put on a pedestal when in reality the only and best thing such biglawyer probably could have done differently is chosen a job with lower pay and fewer hours.