I could always snag a stay-at-home dad...wonder if my boyfriend's willing to give up his dream of being a doctor to take care of a few shorties. Unlikely?
That's exactly the kind of "career alternative" I was talking about.
TPF lawyers and lawyers-to-be, post here!
- Thread starter Blair Waldorf
- Start date
That's exactly the kind of "career alternative" I was talking about.
i think alot of new law school grads feel pressured to go into big law firm practice (school's career office basically feeds u into these firms, or pressure u to) but like everyone else said on here, the billable hrs do cut into family time.
a female friend of my DH is an attorney. she graduated from Havard law, worked as a corp litigation attorney, then she got married. 1 yr into her marriage, she was pregnant with her first child so she quit her big firm practice and now works in non profit. shes HAPPIER than ever and she always tell me that having her baby and quitting to go into non profit was the BEST decision she ever made. she said she LOVES her work now and it makes her feel fulfilled. I think alot of us feel pressured twd big firm bc of the compensation. and in reality, it makes sense bc law school (and schooling in general) in US is sooo expensive!! we all end up with lots of debt that we have to pay off...
a female friend of my DH is an attorney. she graduated from Havard law, worked as a corp litigation attorney, then she got married. 1 yr into her marriage, she was pregnant with her first child so she quit her big firm practice and now works in non profit. shes HAPPIER than ever and she always tell me that having her baby and quitting to go into non profit was the BEST decision she ever made. she said she LOVES her work now and it makes her feel fulfilled. I think alot of us feel pressured twd big firm bc of the compensation. and in reality, it makes sense bc law school (and schooling in general) in US is sooo expensive!! we all end up with lots of debt that we have to pay off...
I had several friends that went to Berkeley, which has a similar system. However, during interviewing, they told me that employers just viewed honors as A, pass as B, and low pass as C. But in reality, if they had actual grades, the grades wouldn't have spread like that. So they thought it was a disadvantage to have a pass/fail system. Not meant to depress or anything, but I thought I would give you another perspective.
Hey me too! I got my LLM right after the JD. I liked most classes in law school, but tax just clicked. We had a scary first-year professor who was crazy smart (she was also a MD). The law-school paper printed this little saying about her: JD from Columbia ($100,000); MD from Yale ($200,000); making a first-year-Civil-Procedures student cry, priceless.
I guess I'm more concerned with the stress of grade-earning, classmates seeing classmates as enemies, etc. than hiring prospects. I think it's nice that there aren't quotas for H/P/L's, and also, apparently, almost no one gets L's because it reflects poorly on the school
. This apparently allows for an environment where everyone shares notes and looks out for each other. (Admit weekend was ALL about how the grading system rules, and how grades don't really matter.)Public interest work sounds like a good option. There's just that little thing - I like $$$$ things. Sigh...it looks like my options are to find a stay-at-home or a multimillionaire husband
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Hahahaha
Yeah I can relate. I used to say our Civ Pro professor bore the 665 "Mark of the Pest" Not quite evil enough to merit Satan's 666 Mark of the Beast but hella mean nonetheless.
*love the law* I went to a small private law school since they paid my way. In the end, it worked out well for me
Public interest work sounds like a good option. There's just that little thing - I like $$$$ things. Sigh...it looks like my options are to find a stay-at-home or a multimillionaire husband
My husband promised me millions, I'm still waiting (I need a tapping impatiently smiley). Before we got married, we got a book of questions to ask each other. One of them was "where do you see yourself in 10 years?" He said "ruler of the universe," and I said "ok, I'll be ruler of you."
I graduated law school in '97 (God I'm old! LOL!), passed the PA/NJ bar the 1st time through, then moved to MA in '98, passed that bar and practiced for awhile in a really weird niche - insurance defense law mostly for travel agencies (you should hear some of the stories). I found law to never be the best fit for me - I really wanted to "help" people and just wasn't (was offered a FT non-profit position at one point, but had already accepted another job which was paying significantly more) and I didn't want the long hours - I wanted family time. So I left law.
I now teach the General Studies courses at a "paraprofessional" school and I love it. Unfortunately, the school was sold a couple of years ago and the new management is horrible, but at least I found something I really like doing. I'm pregnant and am considering becoming a public school teacher after my leave here! So while I often look at law school as a very costly mistake, I try to think of it as the thing that led me down the path of finding what I really liked to do.
Oh, and 1st year was murder - I had a property professor the school hired sight unseen who was extremely smart (our book cited him), but had never taught first years and he spent copious amounts of time telling us how he couldn't believe we were so stupid, pounding on the desk in frustration screaming about how he didn't understand how we couldn't get something and in one other section, throwing a desk across the room. Needless to say, I was a bit intimidated by him and was afraid to ask for any help and was hopelessly confused! I was happy to get a D on my final! The kicker? On the bar, property wound up being my strongest subject!
I now teach the General Studies courses at a "paraprofessional" school and I love it. Unfortunately, the school was sold a couple of years ago and the new management is horrible, but at least I found something I really like doing. I'm pregnant and am considering becoming a public school teacher after my leave here! So while I often look at law school as a very costly mistake, I try to think of it as the thing that led me down the path of finding what I really liked to do.
Oh, and 1st year was murder - I had a property professor the school hired sight unseen who was extremely smart (our book cited him), but had never taught first years and he spent copious amounts of time telling us how he couldn't believe we were so stupid, pounding on the desk in frustration screaming about how he didn't understand how we couldn't get something and in one other section, throwing a desk across the room. Needless to say, I was a bit intimidated by him and was afraid to ask for any help and was hopelessly confused! I was happy to get a D on my final! The kicker? On the bar, property wound up being my strongest subject!
We had a contracts professor (not mine, but my roommate had him) who sent his a class an e-mail after a few sessions saying "your questions right now are too elementary for me to answer, please stop asking." He went by his middle name, first initial was G, rumor has it G stood for God
Don't feel bad about your property exam. I felt that way about every single exam first year, and still passed.
i graduated in law school in 2001, pass the bar exam (similar to in my country) and i've been workin as a lawyer in my country for the last 7 years. Believe me, if you are already become a lawyer, dont worry to much you cannot take care of your family, if you already have one, i'm sure you'll find a way out. If you dont have a family yet, and you already step your first feet on being a lawyer/attorney, then i think you'll be step on a dangerous area, . Most of my friends that break up with his/her lover from college are still single until they age 35 (gasp). Sure we do meet a lot of people, we do attend many parties and anything, but all of those stuff under the atmosphere of working and you will feel the pressure of synical, strategical, and other working emotional around you, and it is not easy to build a relationship when your heart is not pure empty (at least me think that). So my advice is, while you still going to law school, go get to know people, find the love of your life, and get married. It is okay if he is also a lawyer or med doctor or at the same time as busy as you are, it doesnt matter, you will find the way out. Cos if you dont, you better wathca out, coz believe me, it is hardly to find love when all your energy is wasted on those billable hours.
. Most of my friends that break up with his/her lover from college are still single until they age 35 (gasp). Sure we do meet a lot of people, we do attend many parties and anything, but all of those stuff under the atmosphere of working and you will feel the pressure of synical, strategical, and other working emotional around you, and it is not easy to build a relationship when your heart is not pure empty (at least me think that). So my advice is, while you still going to law school, go get to know people, find the love of your life, and get married. It is okay if he is also a lawyer or med doctor or at the same time as busy as you are, it doesnt matter, you will find the way out. Cos if you dont, you better wathca out, coz believe me, it is hardly to find love when all your energy is wasted on those billable hours.