Biglaw Burnout

HappyAlumnus
Sat, 31 Jan 2015 22:59:37 +0000

BiglawLawyer, I’m not much past my 30s. Also, when I started out, my first-year salary in Biglaw was $83,000. It went up to about $115,000 by my second or third year, but for the first few years of practice, starting salaries were far below $160k. Plus, I was in NYC then- and $83k per year didn’t go far. I was still able to become a millionaire by my late 30s due to law practice.

I also have relatives who were able to retire in their 50s and have net worths of $10MM+ each (which they earned themselves). They worked their tails off in their 20s and 30s. Their jobs were probably more interesting than 3rd/4th year Biglaw associate jobs are, but no more interesting- and perhaps less so- than more senior law jobs are. At least one of them retired when he was about 52 just because he couldn’t take the stress of his job–in a college (!)–anymore.

Again, you’re looking at things as though law- and Biglaw in particular- will always be what you’re stuck in now. It’s not so. Even Biglaw jobs get much more interesting and you get more control over your hours as you get more senior.