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I think it's all about how you're wired. If you prioritize career over personal life, then it doesn't get any better than big law. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that either. Some people are just wired deep in their DNA that the most important thing to them is to be intellectually stimulated, run a strong practice, and be true 'experts' in their fields. They thrive on this. They are energized by their accomplishments.
Others, like myself, just cannot keep that up. Took a big paycut to go in-house and I'm much happier. My field of law is interesting to me and I feel intellectually stimulated, but just enough. I go home at 5-530, and relax, and have weekends off, and go on vacation multiple times a year. I'll never become partner anywhere, and will never even pretend to think becoming a "millionaire" (aka very rich person) but I'm truly happy this way.
I have plenty of friends (well maybe one or two friends) in big law still that would go crazy if they had as much downtime as me. They'd feel like they are wasting their potential.
Nah I disagree. Like, yes, the job is not that difficult and you get paid a ton, but the cancelling of the plans and always being on call are what make the job terrible. Everything in my personal life is tentative (outside of vacation, and even then...). It’s one thing to work until midnight every now and then when you don’t otherwise have plans. It’s quite another when you have a nice Friday date night in the works and you get dropped a 5pm bomb requiring you cancel all plans and work till midnight. The former is fine, if tiring after a while. The latter is soul crushing.
@A4 - well they wouldn’t be able to have a romantic night with wine and roses on the bed, but a 2-hour dinner wouldn’t be completely out of the cards, would it? Especially since you’d be ordering pizza and it would take some 30 min to eat anyway
Unless you’re defending people that build rockets 😩. I’m not trying to be a dick—I’ve been temple-deep in aircraft since I started and IT’S SUPER INTERESTING but what I wouldn’t give for a goddamn slip and fall where I don’t have to sit here with this alphabet soup of engineer acronyms wishing I had taken physics in college instead of some history of German philosophers course.
But yeah I agree with you this is not a bad job.
CC1, what practice area? I’m looking for 9 to 5.
Privacy in tech. It was a lot more hours while we worked on establishing the privacy practice but for now it's a smooth running machine
I don’t necessarily disagree but it’s hard to relate to this post when I’m in the middle of a rough stretch.
OP, agreed the job isn’t that bad in a vacuum. If I had no other interests in life, I would totally want to put in the hours to become and stay partner. But since I have other time consuming interests, want to have a family, and eventually pursue my passion in doing something creative as my career, biglaw is not a great fit.
Agree so far. But I’m only a 2nd year. Do the hours/unpredictability get worse or better as you advance?
Worse
You are absolutely right.
I’m in litigation btw
A5, as an Associate in litigation, I worked a lot of hours. Too many. As a contract attorney, I had far better hours.