Not goin to lie my first 3 years sucked. Lateral if you don’t have a good fit but it takes time to catch a stride, then you go through cycles of knowing things and scrambling to figure things out
Wanted to follow this up with the way I knew it wasn’t me been green and it was a bad fit was when I worked for shitty people. I hit the lotto with co workers as just solid humans and it has made a world of difference.
Oh dude, you messed up. You were supposed to get all the crying out of your system in law school…
Kidding. But realistically the first few years are rough because you’re not terribly competent. You don’t know the law very well. You don’t know procedure. You don’t know how to manage the clients. Opposing Counsel walk all over you. Never mind the BS that is billing. It can be overwhelming.
Just remind yourself- you’re playing a game. A game that you’re still barely learning the rules about, much less deeper strategy. If you want to learn, you’ll get better. If this is just about working 8-10 hrs a day to make money, then this will be rough…
It can take a while to find a practice area you like. I like mine, but it's still tough sometimes. Good people and mentors can make a world of difference.
Below is what I was suggested by a partner who finally enjoyed law after years of searching (and then hearing I was mulling over returning to college to study STEM):
0. Have you spoken with a career counselor, ideally someone who works with lawyers? 1. Have you tried changing your practice group, from personal injury to commercial litigation or even litigation to transactional? 2. Have you changed your firm and type of firm (solo vs 9 attorneys vs 75+ attorneys)? 3. Have you tried switching from a law firm to city/county/state/federal govt? What about a non-profit? 4. Have you considered and spoken with people in “neighboring” jobs such as Compliance Officer/HR/Privacy/etc?
In the same boat and I agree the student loans make it even worse on the bad days because you feel like there’s no way out. Keep spending and living modestly, bang them out and get as much training/experience as you can to leverage for the next job. We’ll be home free soon
I'm now in my third year and it took me until the 3/4 of my 2nd year to feel like I have a handle on things. There's still stuff that I'm learning, but it gets better with time. It's just a painful process. Stick through it, I promise you that you will feel like this job is doable eventually.
Pro
Not goin to lie my first 3 years sucked. Lateral if you don’t have a good fit but it takes time to catch a stride, then you go through cycles of knowing things and scrambling to figure things out
Pro
Wanted to follow this up with the way I knew it wasn’t me been green and it was a bad fit was when I worked for shitty people. I hit the lotto with co workers as just solid humans and it has made a world of difference.
Everyday is a struggle for me too. Feel like it’s just meaningless work and home to eat and sleep and repeat without any enjoyment in my life.
This. 100000%. It’s like Groundhog Day but worse.
Rising Star
Oh dude, you messed up. You were supposed to get all the crying out of your system in law school…
Kidding. But realistically the first few years are rough because you’re not terribly competent. You don’t know the law very well. You don’t know procedure. You don’t know how to manage the clients. Opposing Counsel walk all over you. Never mind the BS that is billing. It can be overwhelming.
Just remind yourself- you’re playing a game. A game that you’re still barely learning the rules about, much less deeper strategy. If you want to learn, you’ll get better. If this is just about working 8-10 hrs a day to make money, then this will be rough…
It can take a while to find a practice area you like. I like mine, but it's still tough sometimes. Good people and mentors can make a world of difference.
Below is what I was suggested by a partner who finally enjoyed law after years of searching (and then hearing I was mulling over returning to college to study STEM):
0. Have you spoken with a career counselor, ideally someone who works with lawyers?
1. Have you tried changing your practice group, from personal injury to commercial litigation or even litigation to transactional?
2. Have you changed your firm and type of firm (solo vs 9 attorneys vs 75+ attorneys)?
3. Have you tried switching from a law firm to city/county/state/federal govt? What about a non-profit?
4. Have you considered and spoken with people in “neighboring” jobs such as Compliance Officer/HR/Privacy/etc?
AA1 I’ve never seen a numbered list start with 0 before. The more you know….
In the same boat and I agree the student loans make it even worse on the bad days because you feel like there’s no way out. Keep spending and living modestly, bang them out and get as much training/experience as you can to leverage for the next job. We’ll be home free soon
Have you thought of changing careers to something with somewhat similar TC? 👀
When you say “finally working,” is this your first professional job?
I'm now in my third year and it took me until the 3/4 of my 2nd year to feel like I have a handle on things. There's still stuff that I'm learning, but it gets better with time. It's just a painful process. Stick through it, I promise you that you will feel like this job is doable eventually.