Best QOL purchases while in BigLaw? Forum

[Anonymous User]

But agreed that those fields are way more preferable to this law shit if one has the option. I really don't understand the people who managed to get banking jobs out of college and then decided to apply to law school.

As someone who had a banking job and then went to law school, I found banking boring. Not just the junior level work, but even what I observed my VPs and MDs do. Same goes for private equity roles, the most common post-banking jobs. I couldn’t bring myself to care about the client or the deal. That being said, I am a litigator, and would rather be in finance any day than do transactional legal work.

this was my thought process. also wasn't actually a lot of career risk -- I left my bank on very good terms, so was confident I could go back if things didn't work out (I hated law school/the law, rediscovered my lvoe for finance, etc)

obviously cost me a ton of money, and my circumstances were sort of unique. if you're at all interested in the buyside, you should just do that for two years and reassess then. but for me, things more than worked out. would do it again, 100%

[beepboopbeep]

I see we've already reached one of the preordained endings for TLS threads:

• Is Chicago prestigious?
• Regardless of your interests, skills, or undergrad degree, you should be a [banker / software engineer] instead of a lawyer.
• Why do people work at [Kirkland / Jones Day / Skadden], the least prestigious of law firms?
• Vault rankings are stupid and no one should listen to them...
• ...but also Milbank should be a V5 because it pays the same as everyone else, but does it first.
• Sure seems easy to get a clerkship as a conservative law student!
• Corporate work is miserable...
• ...but you should do it anyway so you can exit into another job doing corporate work.

Taking submissions for the list, surely there are a few more I'm forgetting.

[Anonymous User]

I see we've already reached one of the preordained endings for TLS threads:

• Is Chicago prestigious?

Taking submissions for the list, surely there are a few more I'm forgetting.

Lmao who says this

[beepboopbeep]

I see we've already reached one of the preordained endings for TLS threads:

• Is Chicago prestigious?

Taking submissions for the list, surely there are a few more I'm forgetting.

Lmao who says this

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=310210. Only the most recent example.

[LBJ's Hair]

I see we've already reached one of the preordained endings for TLS threads:

• Is Chicago prestigious?
• Regardless of your interests, skills, or undergrad degree, you should be a [banker / software engineer] instead of a lawyer.
• Why do people work at [Kirkland / Jones Day / Skadden], the least prestigious of law firms?
• Vault rankings are stupid and no one should listen to them...
• ...but also Milbank should be a V5 because it pays the same as everyone else, but does it first.
• Sure seems easy to get a clerkship as a conservative law student!
• Corporate work is miserable...
• ...but you should do it anyway so you can exit into another job doing corporate work.

Taking submissions for the list, surely there are a few more I'm forgetting.

[*]Why would anyone live outside of NYC/why would anyone want to live in NYC?
[*] Defining/debating the existence of "prestige."
[*] Is Cravath overrated?
[*] Is litigation doomed?

[Sackboy]

I see we've already reached one of the preordained endings for TLS threads:

• Is Chicago prestigious?

Taking submissions for the list, surely there are a few more I'm forgetting.

Lmao who says this

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=310210. Only the most recent example.

As someone in the Chicago market, I read this is as "is Chicago (the city) prestigious". The is U of C prestigious is indeed a classic, though it hasn't had too much activity lately.

[beepboopbeep]

I see we've already reached one of the preordained endings for TLS threads:

• Is Chicago prestigious?

Taking submissions for the list, surely there are a few more I'm forgetting.

Lmao who says this

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=310210. Only the most recent example.

As someone in the Chicago market, I read this is as "is Chicago (the city) prestigious". The is U of C prestigious is indeed a classic, though it hasn't had too much activity lately.

No one needs to ask whether Chicago, the city, is prestigious, because it isn't. Lived there for a decade and all I got out of it was a tendency to make new friends try malort.

Those are good too, LBJ. Can't believe I forgot about Cravath, but of course, I did, which is another data point in favor of it being on the decline.

Anyway I am also interested in real answers to this thread. Already bought a nice desk chair. Curved ultrawide is TCR for working at home, but man having those at home makes it hard to work in the office again. Standard setup at my firm is two 1920x1080s, which feel absolutely ancient now. Never had luck with robo vacuum and still feel weird about hiring actual people. Thinking of dropping like $500 on automatic litterboxes but all the reviews seem pretty mixed.

[Hutz_and_Goodman]

For me getting a car has been a great QOL purchase. Makes it easy to go to beach, visit friends/family with my kids and we’re now looking at buying a country house.

[Sackboy]

No one needs to ask whether Chicago, the city, is prestigious, because it isn't. Lived there for a decade and all I got out of it was a tendency to make new friends try malort.

Those are good too, LBJ. Can't believe I forgot about Cravath, but of course, I did, which is another data point in favor of it being on the decline.

Anyway I am also interested in real answers to this thread. Already bought a nice desk chair. Curved ultrawide is TCR for working at home, but man having those at home makes it hard to work in the office again. Standard setup at my firm is two 1920x1080s, which feel absolutely ancient now. Never had luck with robo vacuum and still feel weird about hiring actual people. Thinking of dropping like $500 on automatic litterboxes but all the reviews seem pretty mixed.

Anyone who thinks any city is prestigious is worth an LOL. Just made me confused for a second.

The litter robot is amazing. I have one, and it was well worth the $500, as someone who hates dealing with litter. Definitely a QOL improvement.

[Anonymous User]

For me getting a car has been a great QOL purchase. Makes it easy to go to beach, visit friends/family with my kids and we’re now looking at buying a country house.

Did you spring for a luxury car? I'm not likely to stay in BigLaw too long, and my current car is fine and will quite possibly outlast my time in BigLaw, so I'm wondering if I should consider upgrading to a luxury car or not (think going from a Toyota/Hyundai to a BMW).

[LBJ's Hair]

For me getting a car has been a great QOL purchase. Makes it easy to go to beach, visit friends/family with my kids and we’re now looking at buying a country house.

Did you spring for a luxury car? I'm not likely to stay in BigLaw too long, and my current car is fine and will quite possibly outlast my time in BigLaw, so I'm wondering if I should consider upgrading to a luxury car or not (think going from a Toyota/Hyundai to a BMW).

Not the poster but was driving a lot during the pandemic, drove a lot before law school. Such a personal decision IMO.

I, personally, do not get the luxury car thing (if you're not entertaining clients). Like, yeah the Mercedes has more kick than my old Honda, and the interior is nicer, but to me it's not worth $40K+ (or way more, depending on the model).

But some people love cars, or feel like a cheap p/o/s driving a $19K sedan. Buddy of mine raves about his Porsche. Best purchase he ever made, etc.

[jotarokujo]

I see we've already reached one of the preordained endings for TLS threads:

• Is Chicago prestigious?
• Regardless of your interests, skills, or undergrad degree, you should be a [banker / software engineer] instead of a lawyer.
• Why do people work at [Kirkland / Jones Day / Skadden], the least prestigious of law firms?
• Vault rankings are stupid and no one should listen to them...
• ...but also Milbank should be a V5 because it pays the same as everyone else, but does it first.
• Sure seems easy to get a clerkship as a conservative law student!
• Corporate work is miserable...
• ...but you should do it anyway so you can exit into another job doing corporate work.

Taking submissions for the list, surely there are a few more I'm forgetting.

i guess i just don't get why someone who is interested in FIRE would think transactional biglaw is so much more enjoyable than finance that it's worth the massive monetary setback. i do see that theoretically, one can like transactional biglaw a lot more than finance but i feel it's not as common as the number of transactional associates reflects. but you're right, my hunch is completely unfounded and probably just reflects the massive lit bias that existed at my law school

[nixy]

I don't think finance and transactional law are completely interchangeable - not just in terms of enjoyment, but in terms of skills required for success. There's also access. My impression is that good finance jobs tend to recruit from a narrow range of schools; you can end up in biglaw from a very undistinguished undergrad.

[Sackboy]

Alright, back to the point folks. Any good QoL purchases? My $500 litter box was a superb purchase. Dual monitors (of course) and a mechanical keyboard were great purchases. I also have smart lights, which are great. I'm contemplating getting a bidet too. All (minus the litterbox) relatively small purchases that make my life easier/more comfortable. Always looking for more ideas.

[beepboopbeep]

Alright, back to the point folks. Any good QoL purchases? My $500 litter box was a superb purchase. Dual monitors (of course) and a mechanical keyboard were great purchases. I also have smart lights, which are great. I'm contemplating getting a bidet too. All (minus the litterbox) relatively small purchases that make my life easier/more comfortable. Always looking for more ideas.

Oh man just remembered this one. I never use the bidet function itself because I'm a pleb, but if you get one, make sure it has a heated seat. Heated toilet seat is TC fuckin R. You can get them without the bidet side of things too. Current place doesn't have outlets close enough to to the toilet to use it, and I'm not tryina run an extension cord across my bathroom, but once we buy either getting a place with outlets close enough already, or hiring an electrician to install one, it is absolutely going to happen, still have the one I bought for my last place. 100% of people I know who have been to / spent some time in Japan have immediately realized the superiority of their toilets and most have gone out and bought something to catch up.

[Joachim2017]

Alright, back to the point folks. Any good QoL purchases? My $500 litter box was a superb purchase. Dual monitors (of course) and a mechanical keyboard were great purchases. I also have smart lights, which are great. I'm contemplating getting a bidet too. All (minus the litterbox) relatively small purchases that make my life easier/more comfortable. Always looking for more ideas.

What is the appeal / benefit of a mechanical keyboard? And is there a brand that stands out?

[Jyeatbvg]

Not really a QOL thing, but those curved ultra wide monitors are great for wfh.

Any suggestions?

[Bosque]

Alright, back to the point folks. Any good QoL purchases? My $500 litter box was a superb purchase. Dual monitors (of course) and a mechanical keyboard were great purchases. I also have smart lights, which are great. I'm contemplating getting a bidet too. All (minus the litterbox) relatively small purchases that make my life easier/more comfortable. Always looking for more ideas.

What is the appeal / benefit of a mechanical keyboard? And is there a brand that stands out?

The appeal is mostly that the keys have tactile contact points (and depending on the model, make a noise), so you know exactly when the key has "triggered." That means you don't have to bottom out the key in order to know you have hit it, and so can apply less pressure and lift your finger quicker. That, combined with usually stronger "springback" on the individual keys, means you can usually type faster and longer on a mecanical keyboard than a membrane one.

Also, there is a certain satisfaction to hearing the clickity clacks, but you can get quieter versions. A lot of them use Cherry MX switches, and the different colors have different characteristics. I have blues at home as I don't bother people around me, and browns at the office to minimize my noise. For a description of the different types: https://www.cherrymx.de/en/blog/cherry- ... lance.html

My best advice is to find one and type on it. You will likely either know immediately that all other keyboard styles are inferior, or probably won't think it's worth the price.

For brands, I use Das Keyboard: https://shop.daskeyboard.com/ I don't know what their current features are like, I bought mine something like 10 years ago. But I can tell you I bought mine something like ten years ago, and I still haven't needed to replace it. I've been extremely happy with the purchase.

[mwells_56]

Alright, back to the point folks. Any good QoL purchases? My $500 litter box was a superb purchase. Dual monitors (of course) and a mechanical keyboard were great purchases. I also have smart lights, which are great. I'm contemplating getting a bidet too. All (minus the litterbox) relatively small purchases that make my life easier/more comfortable. Always looking for more ideas.

What is the appeal / benefit of a mechanical keyboard? And is there a brand that stands out?

Mechanical keyboards are liking listening to vinyl or using good headphones for the first time after doing nothing but listening to iTunes through the earpods that came with your iphone 6. You use it once, think it's good but not sure what the hype is, and then you go back to your old self and realize how much worse it was. It just feels better, and generally you can type a little faster than on the rubber-dome membrane switches that you usually get in a cheapy keyboard.

There's a whole ass rabbit hole of which switches, keycaps, layouts are the best. As a lawyer I'd make sure to get something with a full numpad. I prefer wireless. I'd recommend the Keychron K4 for a cheap mechanical keyboard that's really good quality for the price. For an extra $10 you can get "hot swappable" key switches so you can play around and find the one that works for you. https://www.keychron.com/products/keych ... 7332794457. Alternatively if you wanna blow money you can get the Logitech G915, which runs about $225 or something.

Generally, mechanical key switches come in three flavors: linear (usually "reds"), tactile (usually "browns"), and clicky (usually "blues"). Linear switches go striaght down without a "bump" in the keystroke, tend to sound more "thonk"-y if that makes sense. Tactile switches have a little bit of a bump as the keystroke comes down, which some people like to have as a feedback mechanism for when the switch actuates; contrast with linears that people will call "mushy" if they prefer the tactile feedback. I think these sound more "shuffle"-y than "thonk"-y. Lastly are the clicky switches, which, well, click. They're like tactiles in that they have a bump, but the bump is more audible and the keystrokes give you more resistance.

Cherry MX switches are the go-to name brand, but other brands like Gateron and Kailh make extremely similar stuff. There's all sorts of other stuff like low-profile switches, silent switches, speed switches, you name it. There's a billion videos on youtube to educate yourself.

I got into mech keyboards for gaming. I current have a Corsair K63 wireless with Cherry MX Reds. I really like the keyboard because it has a wireless dongle instead of just bluetooth (less lag for gaming), but I'm not a big fan of its lack of numpad. I'm thinking about getting the keychron for work when I get started (just graduated).

[dyemond]

I see we've already reached one of the preordained endings for TLS threads:

• Is Chicago prestigious?

Taking submissions for the list, surely there are a few more I'm forgetting.

Lmao who says this

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=310210. Only the most recent example.

As someone in the Chicago market, I read this is as "is Chicago (the city) prestigious". The is U of C prestigious is indeed a classic, though it hasn't had too much activity lately.

No one needs to ask whether Chicago, the city, is prestigious, because it isn't. Lived there for a decade and all I got out of it was a tendency to make new friends try malort.

Those are good too, LBJ. Can't believe I forgot about Cravath, but of course, I did, which is another data point in favor of it being on the decline.

Anyway I am also interested in real answers to this thread. Already bought a nice desk chair. Curved ultrawide is TCR for working at home, but man having those at home makes it hard to work in the office again. Standard setup at my firm is two 1920x1080s, which feel absolutely ancient now. Never had luck with robo vacuum and still feel weird about hiring actual people. Thinking of dropping like $500 on automatic litterboxes but all the reviews seem pretty mixed.

Good KB/M has been life-changing for WFH for me - mechanical keyboards are nice but if you're like me and working near a spouse/sig other who is also WFH, they will want to fucking kill you over the click-clack so consider domestic tranquility. I hire a cleaning crew who come once a week for $100 - I'm sure it's a ridiculous spend but my house is clean.

My biggest unresolved problem is coffee -- back in the office, if you were setting up for a late night, you just walk over to starbucks, buy the biggest coffee (or two) they had and you're set -- plus you get a nice walk, stretch the legs, etc. At home you've got to clean the coffee pot and throw out the grounds, remake a fresh batch, wait for it to be made/wait for it to cool, it's a whole production. And keurig tubs are not TCR. Still haven't found a good solution for this one.

[beepboopbeep]

The sound is one of the best part of mech keyboards if you get deep enough in the hobby to start customizing switches. People have gotten really good at designing switches and keyboard cases so that they sound aesthetically pleasing, it's not at all how things were 5-10 years ago where only a handful of people, mostly in Korea, were going super-high-end custom. Plus, you can get into artisan keycaps, the most subniche hobby out possible. (Note: cost increases exponentially.)

here are a couple of mine

[beepboopbeep]

At home you've got to clean the coffee pot and throw out the grounds, remake a fresh batch, wait for it to be made/wait for it to cool, it's a whole production. And keurig tubs are not TCR. Still haven't found a good solution for this one.

Pourover is a marginally more work, but much better for this. But I tend to not want to drink much more than I can feasibly make in a single pour.

[mtf612]

Alright, back to the point folks. Any good QoL purchases? My $500 litter box was a superb purchase. Dual monitors (of course) and a mechanical keyboard were great purchases. I also have smart lights, which are great. I'm contemplating getting a bidet too. All (minus the litterbox) relatively small purchases that make my life easier/more comfortable. Always looking for more ideas.

What is the appeal / benefit of a mechanical keyboard? And is there a brand that stands out?

Honestly, it just "feels" better. There are lots of different switches that have different responses (bumpy, clucky, smooth, etc) and when you find one that you like it is hard to go back to a regular keyboard. I love my WASD Code mechanical keyboard with Cherry MX Brown switches. Typing is a joy, I never think I hit a key when I didn't, and I feel my words per minute is higher than on my Thinkpad.

Highly recommend buying a switch tester demo thing first. I know wasd has one for like $20. Figure out what switches you like, whether you want (or need) sound dampeners, and whether spending $100-200 on a keyboard is actually worth it to you.

[Rule23andMe]

Good KB/M has been life-changing for WFH for me - mechanical keyboards are nice but if you're like me and working near a spouse/sig other who is also WFH, they will want to fucking kill you over the click-clack so consider domestic tranquility.

Would note for the sake of any other readers that some of the keys come in "Silent" versions. I have cherry silent reds and would recommend - they're still louder than a non-mech keyboard but definitely not in the realm of "obnoxiously loud." I'm sure they don't *feel* quite as nice as the regular versions but they've been good for me.

[Anonymous User]

At home you've got to clean the coffee pot and throw out the grounds, remake a fresh batch, wait for it to be made/wait for it to cool, it's a whole production. And keurig tubs are not TCR. Still haven't found a good solution for this one.

Pourover is a marginally more work, but much better for this. But I tend to not want to drink much more than I can feasibly make in a single pour.

Second this. Or you can use an aeropress if interested. Maybe I am in the minority, but making coffee is my favorite break(s) of the day. It is relaxing and I can just chill for 5 minutes as I go through the motions.