My brother studies law at a top 10 law school and wants to work in government or for a non-profit where stresses are lower and he gets to feel more ownership to and meaning in his work, and he has heard all my complaints 😂

The pressures of his peers and biglaw are eating him up however - he’s getting good grades and feels like he is "supposed" to want to go into biglaw. I kind of feel for him, but don’t know what to tell him to cheer him up.

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he just has to wait a few years and all his biglaw friends will be jealous of his public interest life

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Tell him to try for a clerkship if he’s interested in litigation, will give him more time to feel things out and decide

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Tell him this is what summers are for. If he wants to try it out he can. Could even split summer between gov't and firm. He'll get the chance to see what he'll be "missing" and decide what's right for him.

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Easier to go down the ladder (transistion from BL to PI/Govt) then up.

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Top law schools are well designed to drive people to big firm jobs. Honestly, it’s easy to get one in comparison to a desirable public interest or government position in a lot of ways, especially straight out of law school. I’m in big law so take with a grain of salt, but joining the law school’s social change/public interest journal is a good way to surround yourself with like minded people with similar career goals (I was in such journal). Have him join a clinic that involves close work with judges or ngos. Also, there should be at least one career counselor who specializes in public interest and one specializing in clerkships and government positions. Have him become informed about loan forgiveness if that applies. If he does go into big law, he will be compensated a lot and get good training, but it does change people (and often not in a good way so it shouldn’t be default path unless money is the driving force). I will say that my friends in public interest fields felt very passionately going into their careers. It’s challenging in different ways and sadly, I’ve definitely met public interest lawyers who are exhausted and jaded, and often talk trash about their clientele, at recruiting events. Anyway, tell him to stop listening to most of the career center whose sole job is to place as many students with jobs as possible, regardless of the position. Because law firm jobs are easy, they will pressure most to choose that path for their own interests, not any individual student’s interest.

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Here’s an option: he could go to gov’t (e.g., DOJ honors attorney) get real experience and then lateral to biglaw later on as a partner and give his law school classmates work as they struggle to make partner internally after slaving away for 8-10 years. 😂

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He (actually) can do whatever he wants to do. What’s the problem here? Cares too much about what others think?

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His partner mentor who wants to hire him also keeps inviting him to NYC and e-mails him news on his most exciting cases. I would be very flattered by that as a 2L.

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Having gone to DOJ out of law school, it was the best damn decision I’ve ever made. Got 5 trials under my belt, class of ‘19. Now at a firm pushing discovery. Sure, I tripled my salary, but I don’t wake up excited because I’m not doing meaningful work. Planing to go back shortly.

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@associate 4: Guess so. I mean, it’s not easy when he as a 1L told everyone he wanted to do biglaw, did a summer and got an offer (he has been able to move the acceptance deadline until January), and has friends who have signed on with firms already. And I guess the loan and general money thing plays a part (I take him and my sister to some very nice lunches occasionally)
some very n

Tell him to get on law review - that shuts everybody up:

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