Anyone have positive things to say about BigLaw? Forum

[MarkRenton]

Interesting. So do the bare minimum 'til you get booted out and are forced either to lateral or to transfer to a smaller firm?

It seems likely that one's legal career is merely hopping around as an associate. How do you ever settle down? Do you just hop around 'til retirement?

No, nobody wants a 15th year associate. If you can't go in-house, to a non-profit, or into government, or get at least some small firm to make you partner or counsel, then you either hang a shingle or leave the profession. Happens to tons of litigators every year.

This is a part of being a lawyer that particularly gives mid-levels anxiety. There's almost no position in big law that sustainable long term except partner. Mid-levels have to reexamine and reassess their position at the firm and what they can score elsewhere constantly.

I'm a 0L and I'll be going to a T6 with zero debt. This is the part of being a lawyer that gives me anxiety. I also think this is where the law school transparency movement fails. People treat fed clerkship/biglaw numbers as an end result, but even law schools with great placement only really give you a good shot at 3-8 years of career stability. I get that in the big world you have to either sink or swim, but the structure of law firms seems to guarantee a lot more sinkers than swimmers. I'll be in my mid-late thirties at this point in the game and I don't even want to contemplate how much scrambling for a job/taking a huge pay cut/changing careers/being unemployed would suck at that stage of life.

Well the most important thing is to recognize now the lack of security and stability that big law provides. There are, though, plenty of good legal jobs that you can score by transitioning out of big law. I would recommend to anyone to begin searching for these jobs immediately after starting because finding something really meaningful and rewarding can take years. You don't want to begin your search as a fourth year when they're fixing to push you out. Honestly, I began sending out resumes quickly after beginning and landed my dream job. This led to a rather short stay at my firm but better to leave to early than to try to stay beyond your welcome.

[DELG]

Taking a significant paycut from biglaw should, really, just be assumed.

[rayiner]

Intelookin. do the bare minimum 'til you get booted out and are forced either to lateral or to transfer to a smaller firm?

It seems likely that one's legal career is merely hopping around as an associate. How do you ever settle down? Do you just hop around 'til retirement?

No, nobody wants a 15th year associate. If you can't go in-house, to a non-profit, or into government, or get at least some small firm to make you partner or counsel, then you either hang a shingle or leave the profession. Happens to tons of litigators every year.

This is a part of being a lawyer that particularly gives mid-levels anxiety. There's almost no position in big law that sustainable long term except partner. Mid-levels have to reexamine and reassess their position at the firm and what they can score elsewhere constantly.

I'm a 0L and I'll be going to a T6 with zero debt. This is the part of being a lawyer that gives me anxiety. I also think this is where the law school transparency movement fails. People treat fed clerkship/biglaw numbers as an end result, but even law schools with great placement only really give you a good shot at 3-8 years of career stability. I get that in the big world you have to either sink or swim, but the structure of law firms seems to guarantee a lot more sinkers than swimmers. I'll be in my mid-late thirties at this point in the game and I don't even want to contemplate how much scrambling for a job/taking a huge pay cut/changing careers/being unemployed would suck at that stage of life.

When I was a 0L, I thought that if you could just get a V100 firm, you'd be set. Getting there was the hard part. I knew nobody made partner, but I assumed that something else would just present itself at the right time and you'd know what to do. I'll be a third year soon, and now I realize that getting in was just the beginning. And this time, its not like getting in to law school, where if you get into a certain range you can be pretty sure of getting big law. Even firms that make a lot of partners (E.g. W&C or WLRK which promote maybe 20-25℅ of associates), still leave the vast majority of people looking for something else. And finding that something else is a difficult process. The "HYS" outcome, where you're virtually assured a good outcome, is a SCOTUS clerkship. Those folks seem to reliably get academia or partnership at a firm. That's 36 people in each graduating class.

I'm not saying it should be another way. I just wish 0L's wouldn't be so goddamn gleeful about everything. "Oh, if I don't get academia or prestigious government from HYS I'll just do an awesome clerkship and big law job!" Okay, then what?

[lecsa]

Best advice on this forum - Don't go to law school 0Ls, unless it's free and you have nothing better to do. Biglaw is awful. Yes, it pays well but if you aren't taking out loans in the first place you wouldn't have to do it.

[J3987]

Best advice on this forum - Don't go to law school 0Ls, unless it's free and you have nothing better to do. Biglaw is awful. Yes, it pays well but if you aren't taking out loans in the first place you wouldn't have to do it.

So, if you had 0 debt, you wouldn't do biglaw? What would you do instead -- Small firm, Gov, non-prof, etc?

[MarkRenton]

Best advice on this forum - Don't go to law school 0Ls, unless it's free and you have nothing better to do. Biglaw is awful. Yes, it pays well but if you aren't taking out loans in the first place you wouldn't have to do it.

So, if you had 0 debt, you wouldn't do biglaw? What would you do instead -- Small firm, Gov, non-prof, etc?

For me, gov't. But having no debt and being free to choose a career is more valuable than I can express. If you ended up in biglaw, it's at least your choice. The worst part of biglaw hours is your lack of control over them and their unpredictability. This only made substantially worse by the knowledge that you can't quit due to your debt load. This dynamic will seriously make you feel trapped and caged. I always sat at my desk and just thought about how much more tolerable this would all be if I had the power to quit. At least then I'd perceived that I was choosing to be at my desk at midnight on a Friday. That's the subtle factor that'll make you hate your life or not.

[lecsa]

Best advice on this forum - Don't go to law school 0Ls, unless it's free and you have nothing better to do. Biglaw is awful. Yes, it pays well but if you aren't taking out loans in the first place you wouldn't have to do it.

So, if you had 0 debt, you wouldn't do biglaw? What would you do instead -- Small firm, Gov, non-prof, etc?

Any of the above. Ideally gov.