Is Corporate Law worth it?

sallyawp
Sat, 22 Oct 2011 22:04:49 +0000

1. Do you tend to work with smart people in corporate law, as opposed to other careers?



I can’t speak for other careers, as all of the other jobs that I had before I became attorney were just that – jobs. Law is the only career path I’ve had. That said, I get to work with some absolutely brilliant people. Some of those people have outstanding social skills to boot, and some less so. I get to work with some incredible dullards, too (fortunately, they are usually representing someone on the other side of a transaction, but it does make things go oh-so-much-more slowly since they often just don’t get it).



2. Exactly how much does the average corporate lawyer travel? Do you only get to see “the hotel and the conference room”, as some people say?



I already answered the part of your question about hotels and conference rooms. Just as you don’t have a lot of free time while you are working out of your home office, you won’t have a lot of free time when you’re traveling on business. Oh, and I’ve found that catered in lunch sandwiches in U.S. conference rooms are actually much better than catered in lunch sandwiches in Paris, London or Madrid.

There is no “average” amount of travel for a corporate lawyer. Sometimes client matters require you to travel, sometimes they do not. Sometimes clients want you to travel constantly to be at every meeting in person, and other times they want you to reduce travel (and their costs) as much as possible. Sometimes you are on deals with a heavy domestic component and sometimes the deal is primarily cross-border. You can never know for sure how much travel will happen in a month, a year or a career.



3. What options are available after corporate law? Could you easily go into I-Banking, teaching, consulting, business, etc?



Could you go into these other areas? Of course you can. Will it be easy? That depends. It depends on you, your particular skills (personal and professional), who you happen to meet and, more importantly, who you happen to impress, when in your career you look to make a career change, external factors like the economy and geography, etc. It is impossible to say for sure how things will play out for any particular attorney.



4. Does it really carry as much “prestige” as people hype it up to be, and what is the average salary of a corporate lawyer?



Prestige, really? All I ever hear are bad lawyer jokes threatening to toss us all into the ocean in chains and leave us there.

For average salaries, I would take a much closer look at the information posted on this board. Some lawyers start out making $160,000/year and make $millions later. Others make significantly less for starting salaries ($50,000 - $60,000/year) and/or make significantly less throughout their careers. Still others can not find jobs after law school or lose their jobs later and never find work as lawyers again.



5. What are the average hours of work for corporate law? Do you get holidays off?



The average hours have also been much discussed on this board. Speaking for corporate law in Biglaw NYC firms, you would work a lot – a whole lot. As a young attorney, I worked between 65 and 110 hours per week. Often, I spent weeks on end hovering around the upper end of those hours worked estimates. I missed family events, had to skip out on friend’s weddings (once, even where I was a bridesmaid – no joke!), missed dates, lost friends (who simply stopped calling me because I would either always have to break plans or just couldn’t make it in the first place), lost boyfriends, and spent countless hours in the office in a suit and hose and heels (which gets quite uncomfortable after 12 or so hours). There is no certainty to your life as a young attorney.

Now, as a more senior attorney, I have a little bit more control of my hours simply because (a) I know how things work and can see what’s coming at me and (b) I am not working for anyone else anymore. That’s not to say that I don’t work long hours. Even right now, on a Saturday night at 10 p.m., I am writing this as I take a break from my work. I’ve been working since 10 a.m. this morning and will probably work until about 2 a.m. tonight. Tomorrow, I will put in at least another 10 hours of work.

So, do you get holidays off? Kiddo, this may not be the career choice for you. Sure, in theory you get holidays off. In practice, though, if a client needs something done the day after the holiday or even on the holiday, you will be working. It happens often. Look, you will keep your blackberry with you at all times, and you will check it last thing before you go to sleep at night and first thing when you wake up (assuming that you went home from work at all). You will carry your blackberry with you on vacation and whenever you leave the office. Yes, vacations and holidays will be interrupted with work calls and you will learn where the business center is at every hotel you ever visit. Your laptop will also become like an appendage. There may also be times when you have to cancel a vacation on short notice (oh, yeah, that goes over well with your family or other traveling companions) due to client needs. Oh, so to answer your question, you may get a holiday off and you may not.

That’s also why you will find that busy attorneys will often take vacations in places they cannot be easily reached. Believe me, though, they can always find you.