How do options change out of LS with no debt? Forum

[guyonabuffalo]

So I hear a lot about how upon graduating from LS, you need to go to big law to pay debt. People will mention that they will need to do it for x number of years to pay off the debt before they can get out before killing themselves.

But what if you're lucky and manage to get out of LS with no/minimal debt? What options does this open up? Do you just have the option to go to smaller, less stressful firms? I've heard these also can require a very large time commitment, just with less pay.

I've also heard that big law is actually a sought after experience for something like moving on to in-house council. So does no/minimal debt mean you just get to do fewer years of the grind?

Thanks all!

[rad lulz]

It doesn't really change options

With LRAP/PSLF no one who is a PI/govt. true believer is gonna turn those down because of debt

Plenty of people want big firms as a stepping stone to boutiques/govt./in-house, so that doesn't really change with no debt

If you have blah grades you're gonna want to take anything you can get during 3L year, so that doesn't change because of debt

The only people it really changes the calculus for are
- people who are considering both govt. and big firms. But those people tend to take jobs at big firms if they have the grades because 1) big firms hire 2L fall so you don't graduate unemployed and 2) big firms are a stepping stone to a large portion of bigfed. So that doesn't change as much as you might think because of debt
- people who just want to work at small firms. At elite schools I don't tend to see that many of these people who come in knowing right away they want to work at small firms and don't want to work at big firms

[M458]

It doesn't really change options

With LRAP/PSLF no one who is a PI/govt. true believer is gonna turn those down because of debt

Plenty of people want big firms as a stepping stone to boutiques/govt./in-house, so that doesn't really change with no debt

If you have blah grades you're gonna want to take anything you can get during 3L year, so that doesn't change because of debt

The only people it really changes the calculus for are
- people who are considering both govt. and big firms. But those people tend to take jobs at big firms if they have the grades because 1) big firms hire 2L fall so you don't graduate unemployed and 2) big firms are a stepping stone to a large portion of bigfed. So that doesn't change as much as you might think because of debt
- people who just want to work at small firms. At elite schools I don't tend to see that many of these people who come in knowing right away they want to work at small firms and don't want to work at big firms

Does make you more mobile though, no? For example, maybe instead of sticking with big law for 5 years because of your debt balance, you have the opportunity of jumping at an appealing lateral opportunity after 3 years because you don't have the debt to worry about? I think that flexibility is definitely valuable.

[TripTrip]

It makes it more reasonable for you to work at a big firm in a lower-paying locale.

[09042014]

It gives you the option of working in a smaller firm, a midlaw firm or in house. The problem is actually getting that kind of job. The second problem is that those jobs may not be as cool as they thought.