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If you hate your biglaw job, what other type of job do you think you could have chosen out of law school that wouldn't have been so bad? (Not asking what kind of job you're trying to exit to now, but what you would have done instead right after you graduated law school--if you feel you had a choice at all.)

I entered biglaw with $150k of student loan debt and expect to leave after 3+ years (collecting 3 bonuses). I strongly dislike the job, but I know that it was a wise financial decision for me. I’ll be in a position to pursue anything I want once I leave, with a strong resume thanks to my V10 job, and if I move back to my smaller, affordable home market, I should be able to buy a home and car free and clear (in addition to paying off all loan debt) thanks to biglaw.

There really isn't a better choice post-law school. The real big brain move was to not have gone to law school at all.

There's a difference between hating biglaw and wishing one had done something else. Read the net worth thread--not many other fields allow people to accumulate seven-figure sums by their mid-30s. I think most people who hate it have no regrets, except not pursuing medicine/coding/engineering/finance before law school.

In my experience, the folks who hate biglaw don't necessarily wish they had done something else. At the very worst, it pays well and can be a great launching pad to bigger and better things, many of which don't really hire directly out of law school.