Truth Behind Horror Stories in Big Law?

anantapoolla
Tue, 08 Jul 2014 20:06:41 +0000

Hi,
Sorry for abruptly jumping into the conversation. I’ve been thinking about law school after nearly 3.5 years of being in the work force. I saw that the general consensus here is that Big Law demands most of your life. But then which career does not? I’ve been a developer and now a PM in a fortune 100 technology firm and I find myself working almost round the clock to meet the deadlines. On July 4th long weekend, I ended up working till 4AM and then logged in again during Sat and Sun… I’ve not had a chance to take a vacation in the past 2 years… But the job pays nothing compared to BL. The question that we should be rather asking and answering would be job satisfaction. Work-life balance is an equation with more than two variables - if you enjoy what you are doing, find it economically rewarding and your life situations permit you to enjoy without any shackles, it should be fine… While answers to these variables cannot be provided by anyone on the forum, I think those who are answering can answer one important thing - does the number of hours demanded decrease with an increase in responsibility? Or in other words, as you go above the ladder, can you be master of your time?

Sorry if I am judging without knowing but maybe answering this question would be more conservative than many other answers here?