Is it possible to be happy as a lawyer?

September 26, 2006 6:55 PM

What alternatives are there for a young, bored lawyer?

I am a young associate in the transactional department of a big law firm. I'm not only bored, but frustrated by being on call for the firm at all times. I can't really plan vacations, weekends, holidays or even evenings without a constant, overbearing concern that I will be forced to either cancel or retire to the business center the whole time. This lifestyle is preventing me from doing such "normal" things as getting a dog or volunteering in the community. Not to mention starting a family. From my observance of the associates senior to me and the partners at my firm, it will only get worse with time.

I'm currently exploring other options, including going to work for a smaller law firm or a smaller office of a big law firm. I think a smaller office might offer me a greater veriety of work, so I would have more opportunity to find an area of the law that doesn't bore me as much. I know work will never be totally predictable at any law firm, but would a smaller office at least allow me a bit more freedom? Or is it like this everywhere? Another option is to go in-house at a corporation, which might solve the scheduling problems, but perhaps not the boredom problem. However, I probably don't have enough experience yet, and the thought of waiting it out at the expense of more years here and possible disappointment in the end is not very appealing. One other thing: I do not live in a very large city, and it is not exactly booming with alternative prospects.

Lawyers/friends of lawyers/spouses of lawyers out there, what do you think?

posted by anonymous to work & money (38 comments total)

Why not teach? A teacher's schedule is predictable, relative to that of a corporate job.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 7:00 PM on September 26, 2006

That's kind of the nature of transactional work. I think small firms are the way to go. I have a friend who works at a smaller firm doing litigation and rarely works past 6pm.
posted by Frank Grimes at 7:10 PM on September 26, 2006

Have you considered non-profit legal work? Or would the pay cut present too great a drawback?

My cousin, who is a lawyer, just made the switch from big firm associate to non-profit staff attorney (of course, both jobs were in a big city, unlike yours). The hours are generally much shorter. But also, she says, the emotional tax can be greater because she is more directly involved with her clients than she was at the large firm - where she rarely if ever interacted with clients. To be sure though, she also indicated that the emotional tax is worth the satisfaction of helping those who cannot otherwise afford to retain private counsel.

I second Blazecock Pileon's suggestion to pursue teaching -I once for a short period taught young kids (although you'd probably opt for a more mature class), and found it to be one of the most rewarding work experiences to date.

Finally, you might consider pursuing a job in the business industry - one in which you won't be engaged in the actual practice of law, but rather in the "business" process. I've heard corporations are keen on hiring J.D.-holders as an alternative to a candidate who's earned her M.B.A.

Whatever you decide, I wish you luck. High-stress jobs sometimes are not worth the paycheck!
posted by orangeshoe at 7:12 PM on September 26, 2006

You may not get a break on your hours, but consider switching to litigation. What attracted me to the practice as a summer associate (I start full time next week) is that there is always something different going on - different facts, different law, different client needs. The transactional practice can get very repetitive especially in a big firm. Consider reaching out to your peers in other departments of the firm and seeing what their work is like.
posted by Saucy Intruder at 7:13 PM on September 26, 2006

As an addendum:

High-stress jobs at which you are not satisfied are also not worth the things in life that you are forced to forego, especially family life, if you consider that to be in your horizon.
posted by orangeshoe at 7:14 PM on September 26, 2006

How about government work? I have a friend doing constitutional law for the government (he's actually a Metafilter member, but I'll keep him confidential, email's in the profile if you want to get in touch with him).

He works sane hours and does very interesting work. However, he's also in Canada. I don't know where you are.

You have to figure out what you're interested in and go for one of the crapload of jobs that are out there for experienced lawyers, within and without the law. Just google "alternative jobs for lawyers" if you want a few ideas outside of the industry.
posted by Idiot Mittens at 7:16 PM on September 26, 2006

If you don't need to make a shitload of money, there's always government work. I don't necessarily mean criminal—plenty of city and state public services have loads of lawyers on payroll to handle softball cases. Pretty-much show up every day and you'll never get fired, ever. The downside is that you'll never get rich this way. The upside is that the benefits packages are awesome, and competency & passion are both totally and completely optional, which allows for a strict deliniation between work and life. Also, the hours are much better.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 7:16 PM on September 26, 2006

Addendum Number Two:

I mentioned pursuing non-profit legal work as a career - but does your firm have a program whereby it "lends" its lawyers out to do non-profit legal work? That might be a good way to keep your boredom at bay while maintaining your paycheck, if that is at all a factor in your decision.
posted by orangeshoe at 7:17 PM on September 26, 2006

How about legislative work? Are you anywhere near the state capital where you live. State legislatures employ lawyers for bill drafting, counsel to assorted legislative members (especially the big shots) etc. There will be some time constraint issues during the legislative session, but session doesn't last forever.

Some states have full time legislative staff and meet annually (like NY). Others don't meet as often and their staffing needs might be more modest.

Aside from the legislature, the state agencies also hire full time legal counsel for various reasons. Every state agency has lawyers who give advice on that agency's matters. And in NY there's is a whole slew of lawyers overseeing the courts. And there are, of course, a boatload of lawyers working for the state attorney general's office. Some jobs, obviously, require political connections, but a lot of others are civil service. Anyway, it's something to consider. And you might need to be a little more flexible about location, however, if you want to free yourself from your present job. Good luck. :)
posted by bim at 7:18 PM on September 26, 2006

I think it's clear the poster means something related to his J.D. much less a job that pays enough to potentially pay back his almost guaranteed to be crippling debt. Just a guess, but because this was an anonymous post I doubt we're getting clarification.

/I'm in law school and interested in the answer.

(Also I would love to know more if the poster is willing to email me at the address in my profile. I'm a 2L who's about to start callbacks.)
posted by JakeLL at 7:18 PM on September 26, 2006

Looks like I took a little too much time in my response, it was ment to be directly after the first teaching suggestion.
posted by JakeLL at 7:22 PM on September 26, 2006

I think it's clear the poster means something related to his J.D.

When the poster entitles her posting, "Is it possible to be happy as a lawyer?" I don't think that's necessarily a logical conclusion. She seems to have opened the door.
posted by orangeshoe at 7:23 PM on September 26, 2006

How about contract work for one of the major legal publishing firms?
posted by jasonspaceman at 7:42 PM on September 26, 2006

How about being a young bored lawyer in a cool city?
posted by k8t at 7:50 PM on September 26, 2006

Need more info please:

How many years out of school are you?
posted by madandal at 7:53 PM on September 26, 2006

While you are at it, please tell us whether you can afford to take a pay cut since all the non-boring things pay less than a big firm, of course.
posted by madandal at 7:55 PM on September 26, 2006

About two months ago I made a switch from big lawfirm in New York to smaller big lawfirm in Portland, Oregon, for the very reasons and frustrations you mention. I do litigation, not transactional, but I think this all still applies.

In my experience, it's almost impossible to find the perfect work/life balance. At least for me, I'll always want more life, less work. But this move has drastically improved my quality of life and happiness for reasons related solely to work/hours/responsibilities as well as for other non-work related reasons.

I came from an environment where if I left before 8pm I'd get the "So, saladpants, working a half day, eh?" -- and they meant it. Here, if I'm at work at 7pm, I'm shutting down the office when I leave.

Its all about parlaying your skill and experience into something better. I don't know how long you've been practicing, but I've found that after 2-3 years you can start thinking about that sort of move. Unfortunately, you need to stick it out for that long, or potential employers might think you're a quitter.

Of course, take this with a grain of salt. Here it is, 9:17pm, and I'm still at work (this is the first time at the new job, honest!).
posted by saladpants at 9:18 PM on September 26, 2006 [1 favorite]

Partners and senior associates like to complain, and they like to commiserate with, or pretend to commiserate with, junior associates. But you're misperceiving them if you don't realize that it does, in fact, get better, and relatively quickly.

As you get more senior, you get more skilled and more experienced and more in control of your schedule, and soon transactional law actually starts to make sense and have purpose. That doesn't mean you should necessarily stick with it, of course, but you don't need to look at as a life sentence.

One of the main ways that your life gets better, of course, is that you do in fact get married and have kids. Every big law firm I've seen most senior associates have young families and virtually every partner has a family, too; if your firm is different that's one unusual firm. Family is good because not only does that give you personal joy (etc.), you also get someone to help you with the dog and other mundane things a single person can't handle billing 2500 a year, and it also gives your work some satisfying internal sense of purpose, i.e., bills that must be paid.

But here's one key point: despite transactional law not generally being a death sentence, there are firms and situations that are just totally toxic. You may actually be at a place where associates aren't allowed to marry and slave away without appreciation or training until one day they're unceremoniously fired. If your situation is toxic, the answer might be to lateral rather than give up the field if you think it has anything for you.
posted by MattD at 9:26 PM on September 26, 2006

And, by the way, branch offices of big firms are NOT the solution to your problem. They can frequently be the worse of all worlds: all of the bureaucracy and demands of the big firm, while you're on the outside looking in of the real power structure and all of the various resources and opportunities that being at the home office brings.
posted by MattD at 9:28 PM on September 26, 2006

Stephan Pastis, creator of the comic 'Pearls Before Swine' was a lawyer before he became a nationally syndicated cartoonist.

Don't be afraid to broaden your horizons!
posted by WinnipegDragon at 9:29 PM on September 26, 2006

no matter how hard you have worked to get to where you are, if you are bored you are doomed. you will never truly stand out in the way you wish to. that alone should prompt you to look to make at least one change, be it the firm, the occupational field or the city. do not idle.

(personally, I find doing something despicable and getting away with it terrifyingly rewarding but then again I'm merely a highly functional sociopath.)
posted by krautland at 10:37 PM on September 26, 2006

I'm in law school, and the corporate law folks who are looking for work/life balance all hope to go in-house....is that an option? I can't say if it is true that the facetime is less burdensome, but it might be worth looking into...
posted by girlpublisher at 6:22 AM on September 27, 2006

Sounds like MBA time to me...

Seriously though, go off and do the public interest work you've always wanted to do. You can do it now. You can't later when you've got a family which is accustomed to a particular standard of living.
posted by dmt at 6:28 AM on September 27, 2006

Consider getting an MLS. There's a huge demand for librarians with JDs at the moment. The pay may not be as sexy, but the hours are stable and you end up tackling a wide variety of problems over the course of your day.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 6:45 AM on September 27, 2006

You might be eligible for loan forgiveness programs if you go into non-profit or public interest work (if this interests you, and the only reason you aren't doing it is your no-doubt huge student debt). See here, and here and here.
posted by joannemerriam at 6:47 AM on September 27, 2006

Here's what I've gleaned from my lawyer-friends and my own non-lawyer jobs around lawyers:

In-house might have better hours but also might mean more travelling.

Size doesn't matter as much as workplace culture does. As saladpants points out, some big firms work you hard and some do not.

A smaller firm means your boss is even more important. Some will be more flexible than others, and some will be more demanding than others.

The amount of variation in your job depends on the type of law you practice. For example: patent law will tend to be variations on a theme, while litigation could be all over the map in terms of subject matter.
posted by Sprout the Vulgarian at 7:15 AM on September 27, 2006

If you're on the east coast, move immediately. My guess is that this will dramatically improve your quality of life as a practicing attorney.

Here in St. Louis, the large firms require 1900 billable hours (and that's the number they actually mean, at least in my firm) and they pay a six figure salary. You won't get a big bonus like the elite firms provide, but the cost of living is lower too, so that's largely offset.

It's all about the moderate climates: life really is better in the more relaxed markets.
posted by gd779 at 7:50 AM on September 27, 2006

Partners and senior associates like to complain, and they like to commiserate with, or pretend to commiserate with, junior associates. But you're misperceiving them if you don't realize that it does, in fact, get better, and relatively quickly.

This is the opposite of truth at the large firm where I work. The senior associates and (young) partners work nonstop, to an even greater extent than the junior associates.
posted by ubu at 8:03 AM on September 27, 2006

I posted this question. Thanks to all for the insightful suggestions so far. Madandal, I am a third year associate and can't take a huge paycut due to, yes, the crippling debt that the other posters mentioned. And yes, MattD, I am already married, so I am well aware of the benefits of having a partner to walk the dog and clean up the house while I work. I just wish this were not quite so necessary and I could do a little living first-hand.

gd779, would you be willing to email me if you have a minute (address in bio)?
posted by askmeanony at 8:29 AM on September 27, 2006

gd779, would you be willing to email me if you have a minute (address in bio)?

Done.
posted by gd779 at 9:47 AM on September 27, 2006

What kind of training are you getting, or have you had, at your current firm? Law firms spend a lot of time and money on first and second year associates that they don't really recoup until they are fourth or fifth year associates; you are just on the cusp of becoming much more valuable, both to your current firm and to other firms. If you can suck it up for another year, I think you may find that your options will increase dramatically- there is often a fair amount of demand for mid-level associates who don't need babysitting. Then I would suggest looking for something at a smaller firm, or exploring what your in-house options are. In-house law departments don't have the time/budget to train people, and as a third year you are probably still a bit green, but a fourth-year might have a better chance. I do not think a satellite office of a mega-firm would be a happy thing- it seems to be the worst of both worlds.
posted by ambrosia at 10:17 AM on September 27, 2006

I do not think a satellite office of a mega-firm would be a happy thing- it seems to be the worst of both worlds.

Is it? Do others agree? I don't know either way, but would appreciate anyone who has first-hand experience with this chiming in, particularly with respect to satellite offices of large, but not huge, firms.
posted by askmeanony at 2:44 PM on September 27, 2006

1. call a legal recruiter and read them your ffp. the other posters on this thread will tell you to join the peace corps. The recruiter will tell you what firm will maximize your happiness while minimizing your income loss. It didn't occur to you to do this first?
2. interview with smaller firms, and when you meet with the associates there, say you're looking to leave a sweatshop where they call you when you're on vacation and order you home. Say it's happened too many times, for you to stay, even though you love working on the deals they do [try to seem sincere with that last part]. If you get a sign of recognition, don't take the job.
askmeanony, where do you practice? email me.
posted by hhc5 at 4:58 PM on September 27, 2006

I have a recruiter. I worry somewhat that the recruiter will try to push me to an opening to fit its needs rather than mine. Maybe I am overly distrusting, but I am leery of jumping out of the frying pan into the fire. But yes, I am proceeding down that path as one alternative.
posted by askmeanony at 5:28 PM on September 27, 2006

My dad went into federal government work after he got bored with his law life. The salary will be less than what you're getting now, but more than you'd make doing stuff "for the greater good." And the hours and benefits are great.
posted by croutonsupafreak at 7:11 PM on September 27, 2006

askmeanony, my comment about the satellite office of larger firms is based on two things: first, my experience in a big firm in New York City, where associates coming in from or having spent time at their satellite offices were at a disadvantage when it came to the plum assignments and/or the partnership track- it was never clear exactly why, other than geographical snobbery, but time spent away from the Mother Ship was seen as a career-limiting move. Second, now that I am in San Francisco, I hear from friends and former colleagues that the satellite offices are frequently unhappy places. This may be peculiar to San Francisco, in that a lot of national firms tried to expand into SF during the dot-com days with varying degrees of success. Some firms just bought a smaller local firm and changed the name on the door (and are still, years later, figuring out how to integrate that smaller firm into the larger one) and other firms leased some office space and started poaching associates locally (with the local Managing Partner actually living in New York or Chicago (see the bit above about spending too much time away from the Mother Ship), leaving the satellite office without much of a sense of cohesion.) These firms often tout that they are bringing some sort of "special expertise" to San Francisco that was apparently lacking before their arrival. By dismissing the local firms as lightweights, they overlook the historical fact that California law firms have very deep roots and proud histories and are every bit as good as the fancypants New York lawyers who are trying to take a slice of the pie. I know of one Big Firm that, in the course of wooing lateral hires, managed to offend a few candidates with a "you would be lucky to work at a 'real' law firm" attitude. These problems may be unique to San Francisco, but I suspect they are not. As always, YMMV.
posted by ambrosia at 2:03 PM on September 28, 2006

Maybe you can volunteer your services on a pro bono basis on the side.

I'm tempted to say, passion is overrated. But that's my motto for the week. Note: My shrink does not agree. And she's all licensed and professional and stuff.
posted by onepapertiger at 11:09 AM on September 29, 2006

Also, I considered teaching as a way out of PR, but the idea of all those kids and behavior and a low paycheck....no. Can't, won't do it.
posted by onepapertiger at 11:11 AM on September 29, 2006