Biglaw Burnout

Rumpled2222
Sun, 01 Feb 2015 19:46:37 +0000

Remember Biglaw, you have only one life to live and only you can decide what is more important to you. I worked in “midlaw” for years (thirty men firm) until I finally went out on my own, so I know where you are coming from. The Prestige/Status thing is very important for many people, especially the type of people who post on College Confidential. If Status/Prestige is important to you, than you will never be happy unless you have a job where you feel you have that Prestige to make your life more meaningful. Selling furniture from your own business just may not cut it for you no matter how much money you make. On the other hand, I disagree with Happy Alumnus. Practicing Law is not rocket science and the intellectual stimulation will not be greater in the future. Your responsibilities and tasks might well be more challenging and more interesting however. In my firm, all litigation, we were thrown into the pot immediately and were taking deposition and trying cases within months of employment. You either sank or swam in that environment. But sooner or later, it becomes rote. The biggest thing about seniority is more contact with clients. So what??? Analyzing case law can be done by anybody who has reasonable intelligence. Its not like trying to understand Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. Practicing Law is NOT intellectually demanding imho. It is however stressful and long hours at times.

That all being said, it has been said that Working in Big Law is like a Pie eating contest. If you win, you get more pie to eat. And the Prestige thing in my opinion is false. Nobody but you gives a damn what you do with your life, and perhaps your parents can proudly say “my son the lawyer”. Big deal. Happiness and satisfaction are very difficult things to find in our society, which is why perhaps Denmark and other countries beat us out on the happiness scale by significant margins. All I can say is that, as a somebody close to getting ready for retirement with a few million in my retirement accounts, I am no happier now than I was when I was poor . . before law school. Probably not as happy. There is nothing like being young, healthy and unburdened with the obligations one accumulates over life as one gets married, obtains a mortgage, gets more responsibility at work, etc. Don’t be in a rush to be a super success. Your youth will be gone before you know it. I often wonder why people do to themselves in this country what so many do. One word of advice, no matter what path you finally choose, take care of your health first. I am very fit for my age, still at my college weight. It takes nothing more than eating properly most of the time and making exercise every day a priority. You don’t have to get fat and slothful like so many people in our country become over the years. Do not fool yourself into believing getting to office early and working long hours at the sacrifice of your body and health is worth it no matter how much you earn. Its not.