re: Law Firm Cravath Raising Starting Salaries to $180,000

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You really find your job "soul crushing"?

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Every now and then, yes, I also find it soul crushing. I hate it. Every now and then, it's fine.

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Why don't you get out?

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It's not easy to go from making well into the six figures to making $30,000 at a starting position in marketing or something. On top of which, it's not that simple to say, "I want to go do X instead." Which makes it pretty daunting to switch out of the career.

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Another Big Law Attorney I Know Just Died Young.

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Harrison Barnes sounds like the type of person that would not be happy no matter what situation they are in.

I think many people find law and/or BIGLAW soul crushing because they go into it with warped expectations (e.g., see a lot of the posts in this thread from people who have no idea what they are talking about).

Young law students with a lot of debt see the good salaries and think if they can just stick it out for a few years they will either hit the big time or climb far enough ahead to the point where they are doing profound work that challenges them on a daily basis.

The truth is that for all but a few super stars legal work is tedious and a lot of it is more or less administrative (even for BIGLAW and partners at BIGLAW). People become disenchanted with this, but to a large extent, this job, like most others, is a way to make ends meet and it is what you make of it.

I've always appreciated the Dicky Fox quote from Jerry Maguire:

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I don't have all the answers. In life, to be honest, I failed as much as I have succeeded. But I love my wife. I love my life. And I wish you my kind of success.

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What struck me about this attorney and his death was that after all that hard work – what did he have to show for it? It makes me sad when I think of all of the people I know who worked such incredible hours inside of law firms, only to leave to go to another firm. It makes me sad for several reasons.
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I have seen so many attorneys I know kill themselves inside of law firms working incredible hours for a decade or more – and then leave with nothing. It is strange and bewildering to me. One attorney I once worked with lost his mind and tried to kill his girlfriend in a drunken rage. He went to prison. Another attorney I know went insane and convinced himself that he controlled a series of industrial conglomerate companies in Russia (I’m not kidding). Most get divorces.

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yeah i wasn't even close to "big law" and it ground me down

i recently made a decision that if i'm going to bust that kind of arse, i'm playing by "the social network" rules (you know what's cooler than a million dollars? a billion dollars). or i'll be happy without luxury

some people are built for the grind

some people are not

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Young law students with a lot of debt see the good salaries and think if they can just stick it out for a few years they will either hit the big time or climb far enough ahead to the point where they are doing profound work that challenges them on a daily basis.

The truth is that for all but a few super stars legal work is tedious and a lot of it is more or less administrative (even for BIGLAW and partners at BIGLAW). People become disenchanted with this, but to a large extent, this job, like most others, is a way to make ends meet and it is what you make of it.

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the 2 major things about law that i've learned are that (1) to make a lot of money, you have to take on a TON of work and (2) you don't often create or produce anything when it's all said and done. it's just moving paper in an overly-complex system that was created by lawyers to fulfill #1

this is the same paradigm from the family law solo to biglaw

i've seen many with a happy medium of reasonable work in a smaller shop, but they'll almost never hit a big lick and are make less than operators, basically. nothing wrong with that but you have to adjust

now, i have also seen small/solo firms where they GRIND out an unfathomably low revenue/income

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pretty sure these are corporate & M/A guys


That's actually worse.

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Why? You don't like creative destruction, baw?

that's what my cousin (lives in Manhattan in some sort of banking or finance field) told me

i mean a flat screen TV is the same on Amazon if you work in Lake Charles or the LES of NYC

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SlowFlowPro

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Cheer up.

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This board thinks it is 70k in Br

Let's break it down

10k a month after healthcare, taxes, and 401k

You get an awesome 1 bedroom in a great location for 3k

Car payment which I wouldn't have but whatever 500

Car insurance 100

Cable 150

Utilities 200

Cell phone 100

Groceries 400

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I think you are underestimating the taxes. Also, there is no way you are living on $400 per month in NYC for food and that's not even counting household items and personal care items. You also left out parking, internet, bus/subway/taxi/uber, toll fees, etc. A monthly transport ticket is like $120 per month and an Uber will cost you $15 on average.

a $3K per month apartment in the city is a loft type sardine can that's like 400 sq ft. You can go look on Zillow for yourself. Now if you live outside a little it gets cheaper but then your transportation, toll fees, fuel, etc goes up.

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was going to post about that earlier. they pay for everything you can imagine so you can almost literally live at the office. it's crazy shite

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He had good perks but not partner level

He is a partner at Cadwalader now and prints money. Edit: NYU law, wrong school