Why do you want to work biglaw? Forum

[jayn3]

Greed, vein, and wanting to wear $10,000 suits in my office on the 50th floor. (I'm serious)

First, it's spelled vain. In that sentence, you want to use the word vanity. But, I agree. Pretty much the same thing here. Plus I want to be doing lines of coke off my hot secretary's ass while I'm doing her doggy style a la Christian Troy (Nip/Tuck).

same. only more barney stinson, less christian troy. his butt jiggles.


....i really really don't want to end up in biglaw.

[stratocophic]

Greed, vein, and wanting to wear $10,000 suits in my office on the 50th floor. (I'm serious)

First, it's spelled vain. In that sentence, you want to use the word vanity. But, I agree. Pretty much the same thing here. Plus I want to be doing lines of coke off my hot secretary's ass while I'm doing her doggy style a la Christian Troy (Nip/Tuck).

same. only more barney stinson, less christian troy. his butt jiggles.


....i really really don't want to end up in biglaw.

+1

2 words: suit up.

[nicdmx]

I'm interested in getting involved in the green-tech industry. I'd love to be involved with helping small companies navigate environmental policy and/or develop patent strategies to become successful. I'd even be interesting in helping them drive the policy via lobbying to push legislation to further new technologies. With my technical background I feel like I could be pretty successful in this space. BigLaw is where I can potentially work for clients on the cutting edge in this industry or with the VC firms that are funding them. I'm also interested in technical/complex litigation in both of these areas.

My main goal is job satisfaction. I hope that I can be happy with the work and have a sense of accomplishment most of the time. I want to be intellectually stimulated so I really hope the work isn't ALL boring. I am leaving a pretty posh, high paying job to pursue this.....hopefully the risk is rewarded.

[englawyer]

I'm interested in getting involved in the green-tech industry. I'd love to be involved with helping small companies navigate environmental policy and/or develop patent strategies to become successful. I'd even be interesting in helping them drive the policy via lobbying to push legislation to further new technologies. With my technical background I feel like I could be pretty successful in this space. BigLaw is where I can potentially work for clients on the cutting edge in this industry or with the VC firms that are funding them. I'm also interested in technical/complex litigation in both of these areas.

My main goal is job satisfaction. I hope that I can be happy with the work and have a sense of accomplishment most of the time. I want to be intellectually stimulated so I really hope the work isn't ALL boring. I am leaving a pretty posh, high paying job to pursue this.....hopefully the risk is rewarded.

lol @ engineering being posh?

[ughOSU]

because I want a good work/life balance...

[bceagles182]

A better question may be is there any reason one would want to do BigLaw OTHER than the money?

I believe the general, but perhaps still ignorant, consensus is that you work a ridiculous amount of hours, are put under an enormous amount of stress, and the work itself is mind numbingly boring as an associate.

That said, it is A LOT of money...

The hours aren't THAT much worse than you'll pull at most other law jobs. It's not 80 hours a week for 160k/year vs. 40 hours a week for 80k/year. Generally, it's more like 80 hours a week for 160k/year vs. 60-70 hours a week for 40-60k/year. I don't know for sure about stress levels, but I assure they exist to some extent at smaller firms and in government. Not having to worry as much about billables, of course, would be a plus.

Also, if you want to get quality M&A experience, for example, that work simply isn't available outside of big firms.

Also, for those who don't want to stay in BigLaw: exit opportunities.

In short, BigLaw is desirable for a great many reasons, and undesirable for a few.

And I'm not at all astounded at the relation between people who can't get BigLaw jobs and people who aren't interested in BigLaw jobs. It must be convenient to decide you don't want something for X, Y, and Z reasons when you realize it's not available to you. It's like me telling everyone how I've never really wanted to go to Yale, or walking around after first semester grades telling everyone I didn't want to clerk for SCOTUS anyhow.

First/Second year associates are treated like dirt by senior attorneys at BigLaw firms. I have seen this firsthand. I haven't gone to law school yet, but I can assure you even if I am top 5% of my class, I will not be working at Big Law after graduation.

[LiveFree]

For anyone interested in BigLaw - feel free to pm me. I've worked at one of the largest firms in NYC for just under 2 years now and can offer insight into the life. It ain't pretty....

[A'nold]

Why do you want to work Shmiglaw? Huh? Huh? HUH?

[bceagles182]

Depending on the firm and the department, you can end up working on fairly interesting, high-stakes, high-profile stuff. The people you work with are (generally) very intelligent and very driven. On top of that, the money is good.

If by high stakes, you mean that you will work on but essentially have no impact on the outcome of high-profile cases, then sure. The people are generally incredibly book smart and driven, yes. But most of the associates I know completely lack people skills as well as the ability to transfer their academic abilities into tangible results in a working environment.

[nealric]

I have seen this firsthand. I haven't gone to law school yet, but I can assure you even if I am top 5% of my class, I will not be working at Big Law after graduation.

You say that now...

This is how it works for many:

The debt starts piling up, career services will urge you to do OCI just to see. A firm offers you 40k to spend the summer going out to eat. You say, "why not, it's just a summer." They give you an offer. You won't have another offer ready to go for months in the best case. Any other offer will be for less than 1/2 the money. You take the biglaw offer thinking "just for a while, until the debt is paid off".

Alternative situation: You don't rank high enough. You confidently say you never wanted biglaw anyways.

Oh, really. What type of work do you want to do, and how did you decide that you wanted to do this for a career?

Ideally M&A tax planning. My offer is just for unspecified transactional work. If not tax, I will probably be in financial restructuring/bankruptcy (which I wouldn't mind either). I decided to go this route because I love technical complexity and am more drawn to the role of a lawyer as counselor (as opposed to advocate). The vast majority of small firm or government jobs are more litigation focused.

[traehekat]

I have seen this firsthand. I haven't gone to law school yet, but I can assure you even if I am top 5% of my class, I will not be working at Big Law after graduation.

You say that now...

I feel some people end up in BigLaw out of necessity, oddly enough. If you graduate with $160-200k in debt, you may not want to go into BigLaw even if you are top 5-10% in your class, but you may have to for a while just to put a dent in your loan payments.

[nicdmx]

I'm interested in getting involved in the green-tech industry. I'd love to be involved with helping small companies navigate environmental policy and/or develop patent strategies to become successful. I'd even be interesting in helping them drive the policy via lobbying to push legislation to further new technologies. With my technical background I feel like I could be pretty successful in this space. BigLaw is where I can potentially work for clients on the cutting edge in this industry or with the VC firms that are funding them. I'm also interested in technical/complex litigation in both of these areas.

My main goal is job satisfaction. I hope that I can be happy with the work and have a sense of accomplishment most of the time. I want to be intellectually stimulated so I really hope the work isn't ALL boring. I am leaving a pretty posh, high paying job to pursue this.....hopefully the risk is rewarded.

lol @ engineering being posh?

Yeah, posh, at least in the area I've found myself. But I guess I wouldn't know since I am the one with the actual job and 7 years of work experience. I made substantially more this year than I will as a first year associate at a law firm (excluding any potential bonus) and I only work more than 40 when I feel like it. I also get payed for every hour over 40 I work......so yeah I'd call that posh.

[AngryAvocado]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c764JWVt5Fw

Dollar dollar bills y'all.