Why do you want to work biglaw? Forum

[nycparalegal]

What is it about biglaw that you find attractive? Is it the money? Working for corporations?

[gdane]

Nothing makes me want to go to BigLaw. I'd rather put my legal education to helping people and organizations. I'd love to work for the Humane Society of the United States. That or the Justice Department.

Although, if I had to pick one thing about BigLaw that I'd go for it would be the late night office sex!! Hahahaa. I've been watching too many raunchy movies. ha!

[gdane]

Hahahaha!!! Besides the fact that your name is incredibly funny, that picture is even funnier!!

[jayn3]

I want to wear a suit every day for the rest of my life.

[AmicusCuriae]

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.

[Thirteen]

Money & post-biglaw career options.

[nealric]

I want to wear a suit every day for the rest of my life.

Well, you should avoid biglaw then. Pretty much every firm has gone business casual.


I'm doing biglaw because the type of work I want to do just isn't done by small firms. To the very limited extent that it is, it's done by firms that don't hire new grads.

[traehekat]

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...

[sckon]

[jwrit07]

+1 to scrooge mcduck

I choose BIGLAW because when I graduate I'm going to be close to a quarter-mill in debt

[20121109]

I want the mula.

Is there a lot of travel opportunities in Big Law? Flying in business class would be rather nice...

[icehotel]

I don't.

[nycparalegal]

I want to wear a suit every day for the rest of my life.

Well, you should avoid biglaw then. Pretty much every firm has gone business casual.


I'm doing biglaw because the type of work I want to do just isn't done by small firms. To the very limited extent that it is, it's done by firms that don't hire new grads.

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?

[eberl032]

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

FIXED

[wadeny]

To pay off loans.

If I could get into a school w/o much debt, then I wouldn't have much incentive for biglaw. While there are a few prestige whores on TLS, I feel most posters either don't understand what biglaw entails or just look to do it to pay off loans, if they're lucky in this economy.

[valley splitter]

Money, Power, and Bitches.

[avacado111]

I love the law. I love litigation. I love the money. I love the lifestyle. It's the best environment for me.

[valley splitter]

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).

[Solerpower]

Money, Prestige, Money, Cars, Big Houses, Money.....


Why work long hours in potentially stressful and boring work?

This is a dumb question but i thrive in situations where i look like an ass


So the answer is money, what you can buy with money, and prestige (during or after)

END OF THREAD

[agentzer0]

so that I can live this lifestyle:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnoI7Be4VZk

[ChrisC]

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

Strong correlation between your avatar and lifestyle ambitions.



I'd only want to work in biglaw for two years tops. Go to great school -> Work in big law for 2 years or so to pay off all debt and save some money -> Use savings + client connections I've hopefully built to start my own solo law practice and hopefully grow it in to a small firm.

At least that's the plan. I'm willing to put up with indentured servitude if I know it's temporary and the end result is the ability to build my own firm the right way.

[legallybound]

The work.

I have a business background and BigLaw works on the largest transactions.

[TTH]

--ImageRemoved--

But alas, it's to provide a stable, secure livelihood for myself and my loving girlfriend so that we can start a family. Booooooring.

[RVP11]

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.

[RVP11]

I'd only want to work in biglaw for two years tops. Go to great school -> Work in big law for 2 years or so to pay off all debt and save some money -> Use savings + client connections I've hopefully built to start my own solo law practice and hopefully grow it in to a small firm.

Client connections 2 years out of law school after being at a big firm? You're dreaming.