Golden Handcuffs
Patrick, a couple words of advice. I'm a law school grad who started out my career at one of those big firms that 2Ls lust after. The reason I took that job is because, having not been a lawyer, i didn't know shit about the practice and I measured everything by the salary numbers. All your classmates in law school will want those jobs except for a few weirdos that care about "public interest" and whatnot. Well, that big firm job made me miserable. A lot of my friends had similar jobs and a more unhappy bunch you could not imagine. Sure, we had fancy apartments, but we never saw them and on the rare occasion I'd go out with friends, I was THAT guy that did nothing but bitched about his job. Well, that guy sucks. With one or two exceptions, the only people I know that I graduated with that really enjoy their jobs are those that avoided the big firms -- prosecutors, defenders, city attorneys, etc. I've left the big firm and I'll never go back. My quality of life is much better now. Some people can thrive at a big firm, but very few would say they love their job.
In short, big firms pay those big salaries for a reason: they've got to have one thing to keep their associates from running far, far away. That salary is like a pair of golden handcuffs. Of course, it'll pay the student loans and the mortgage, but please, when you start sending out your resume as a 2L, don't judge the job by the size of the paycheck.
Patrick, a couple words of advice. I'm a law school grad who started out my career at one of those big firms that 2Ls lust after. The reason I took that job is because, having not been a lawyer, i didn't know shit about the practice and I measured everything by the salary numbers. All your classmates in law school will want those jobs except for a few weirdos that care about "public interest" and whatnot. Well, that big firm job made me miserable. A lot of my friends had similar jobs and a more unhappy bunch you could not imagine. Sure, we had fancy apartments, but we never saw them and on the rare occasion I'd go out with friends, I was THAT guy that did nothing but bitched about his job. Well, that guy sucks. With one or two exceptions, the only people I know that I graduated with that really enjoy their jobs are those that avoided the big firms -- prosecutors, defenders, city attorneys, etc. I've left the big firm and I'll never go back. My quality of life is much better now. Some people can thrive at a big firm, but very few would say they love their job.
In short, big firms pay those big salaries for a reason: they've got to have one thing to keep their associates from running far, far away. That salary is like a pair of golden handcuffs. Of course, it'll pay the student loans and the mortgage, but please, when you start sending out your resume as a 2L, don't judge the job by the size of the paycheck.
