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How’s work life balance in forensics?
Forensic tech vs non tech..go!!
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I've worked in forensics and litigation support for over 20 years. Never ever wanted to be a lawyer. Big law firms pay big bucks but the hours are much worse than Big4, so no real chance of a proper work life balance. Not for me.
I have had a couple seniors/manager reset and do it. I think they were very comfortable financially and always intended to take a break from school before going back for law degree. Don’t think either of them built on their forensic experience whatsoever. Total shift.
Why not? Financial barriers to entry. Good on you if you can afford. It’s a major lifestyle reset personally and professionally. You’ll also then be starting at the law firm as a brand new associate about 5-7 years older than everyone else which if you just stayed in forensics you have reset your career so substantially that you’re way behind your partner promotion cycle which you may not be focused on now but it’ll slap you in the face when that becomes important to you. You’ll be billing/working at grunt level for 5-7 years at each career so you’ll have a full 10-15 years as a grunt. Woof.
Most importantly, if your heart is in law, go do it.
Big law workload does not ease up as you move up levels - certainly not in the majority of cases. Also, if it was so easy to get into big law and make the large salaries we are discussing above…more people would do it. Look at the % of people that go to top law schools, land top law internships/jobs. The numbers suggest that if you’re going to law school purely for the pay, it’s statistically unlikely you won’t come out the other side better off. If you want to do it, go for it. You have as good a chance as anyone else, just know what you’re signing up for.
Consider looking into rep and warranty insurance underwriting if you want a bit of a career change with a legal angle
No.
I thought about it and now I wish I had.