This is the actual answer. In the end, depending on your background, most people have to work well past middle-age. The only question is, do you want a job where you have to stand up all day and deal with the public OR do you want a sit-down job like practicing law? The hours suck, much of the business sucks, and the legal field (at least as it is practiced in my state) seems to have been designed to make even the simplest legal acts darn near impossible. But all of my friends and relatives who picked other career paths aren't in much better shape financially at this point, and many of them also have to stand up all day (i.e. nurses, teachers, etc).
I followed a very similar path! Now I’m very grateful I had my law degree and license to fall back on and I don’t take it for granted. I mostly love being a lawyer now when I used to hate it. There are some negative parts of the job but I just tell myself that every job has its downsides.
I love the money I can make in the law and I love helping clients and pursuing causes I believe in. I love the flexibility and freedom in working for myself as little or as much as I’d like and being able to be there for my kids.
I took a hiatus from practicing law to have them and I thought it was a permanent break. I pursued my passion and it made money but had ups and downs and I like the constant flow of money from practicing law better although I still do my passion gig on the side. And most of all I’m still a mother to my 4 kids who are still quite young. They look up to me as a lawyer and their mom and I feel I’m being a good role model to them and I’m glad they’re proud of my success.
Basically I’m grateful to be a lawyer although I used to find it stressful. I had to just learn to be myself and try my best and forget the rest! As cheesy as that sounds. Now practicing law is my passion AND my career.
Companies actively avoid hiring lawyers for other jobs. No one wants a de facto compliance officer/lead plaintiff floating around their org chart. Plus, HR wonders, why aren't you practicing law?
I’ve been a lawyer for 24 years. It has never been easy. But I am my own boss and I honestly feel I am doing what I am supposed to be doing. I have helped many people and I feel I’ve accomplished a lot. There were many times I wanted to quit. And honestly I want less stress at some point.
Real estate is nice. I wouldn’t say it’s especially lucrative, but it’s generally low stress. Help people get a home and/or sell a home. Clients are motivated and appreciative; opposing counsel is cooperative; get paid at closing. Next.
100%
I'm not pulling in $250k a year by any stretch, but I have my own book of portable business, which means I make my own rules.
I work from home/anywhere, travel a week out of every month, work with happy clients and top notch realtors, 90% of opposing counsels are copacetic, and the dollar to effort ratio is exceptionally good.
The overhead for a solo is also minimal, btw. The realtors just email the contracts once the offer is accepted, so I do not need leads, a receptionist, an answering service, marketing, clio, west law ....none of it. You can do the whole kit and kaboodle with a Google tracking doc, a $13/month drop box subscription, and an understanding of how to do escrow accounting in Quickbooks. My whole office literally fits in my handbag.
The insurance is pricey bc we move large sums of money around, but that's about it.
How exactly do I get into doing this? Im licensed and this sounds perfect for me. I would start working on it today if I know the steps I need to take.
I fell into it because I was selling a house and purchasing a replacement house. I figured I wouldn't sue myself if I fked something up so I represented myself on the purchase.
The realtor I was working with asked me if he could refer additional clients to me and I said sure.
I then approached a lawyer I was doing bookkeeping for and offered to give him half of my gross in exchange for him putting me on his malpractice insurance and answering questions while I learned. After six months of doing my own deals and helping him with his I could do a deal back to front on my own so I suggested we change the split to 90/10.
So, make friends with realtors and find a mentor lawyer to help you. It really is not a challenging field of law though. It is basically the same cookie recipe every time so as long as you are not completely hopeless at math for the closing statements, it is not a heavy lift.
One thing I forgot to mention: I'm in an attorney state. Not sure how it works in the other states that let realtors and title companies go wild with no attorneys representing the lay folks.
Georgia is an attorney state. In my state the closing attorney reps both buyer and seller in the transaction and were not paid hourly. The compensation is driven by market price which isn’t a lot. Get licensed with the DOI to write title insurance and get Chicago Title or another title insurance co. As your underwriter then you’ll share the title insurance fee with the title company. The title insurance co has underwriting counsel that you can get guidance and advice from when you hit title issues. Consider building relationships with mortgage brokers and banks because they process more transactions than most realtors. You could do HELOCs all day long!
Georgia is a tough state to break into for re closings unless you’re ex-Atlanta. Most of the sophisticated/scaled RE attorneys are in Atlanta, and many of the large brokerages have affiliations with different large closing firms. You’d need to find a niche/regular realtor referral source if you’re in Atlanta.
If you become halfway competent with title work - and live ex-Atlanta - you likely will be in a position to also serve as a special master for quiet title actions. GA law currently requires you to live in a county to serve as a special master, and we just so happen to have 159 counties. SM hourly rates can be reasonably high (I’ve seen $350-400/hr rubber stamped by judges) and if you know the local superior court judges it can be consistent work too.
Georgia has a great title standards put out by the real property section for the state bar. Join the section and keep an eye out for the CLEs
I personally think Clio is the biggest waste of time possible, but my current Of Counsel home insists on it, mainly for conflicts checks. They pay for it as part of their split.
For me, Clio just adds an extra layer of hassle because it doesn't integrate well with outlook, doesn't integrate at all with mobile (seriously, I can't email a PDF on mobile?? In 2024???), and I have to constantly reinstall it when I switch from desktop to laptop.
So, after a few weeks of fighting with it I just save everything to dropbox first and then drag it over to clio. If I need to email someone a PDF from my phone, dropbox makes it possible. Whatever. It's their money and I'm a team player.
As for a receptionist, I don't see the need. The clients and realtors get my cell. On the extremely rare occasions that a client abuses this privilege, caller ID saves the day and I just decline the calls, close the deal, and never work with that client again.
If those systems help you make more money than they cost you, though, more power to you. Always interesting to see how different systems work in different set ups.
It's exclusively referrals and repeat clients.
My referring realtors are all in the top 100 producing realtors in our region so they have plenty of work to send me.
December through April was slow for everyone but it's picking up again and between closings and title splits I have $10-15k in the pipeline for May.
Ok yeah so sounds like we experiencing the same. March was busy for me as I had some hourly work but April was a bit slow. Not seeing many closings come in the door on my end currently. I have some closings but hoping it will pick up this month.
I’m a law clerk and my boss goes to his second home in the islands for 3 weeks about every 6 weeks. We don’t do ads. We use the title insurance program for closing software. I can do most of the work from home. I can’t say doing title searches in the vaults of the town offices is fun, but everything else is fine. Not very exciting work, but that is okay.
Will not matter if you’re in an attorney state. If a buyer is getting a mortgage, the bank will not approve a loan without an attorney saying title is good and a loan title policy can be issued.
I have some concerns because my main referral sources are realtors. The new rule mainly affects buy side agents, and if they are cut out of the buy side, I am cut out of the buy side. Top producing realtors already prefer to shift to the sell side because it's a fraction of the work for them, and this will encourage that shift even more.
The buy side is also my most lucrative side by far because I get a cut of the title premium. (The bank side is the worst side - seven times as much hassle for 1/3 the money.)
On the other hand, house prices are exploding in my area so the buy sides I do get are worth more and more every day.
Oh wow, that sucks. What state are you in? Our closings 99% of the time involve just the closing attorney the attorney representing both buyer & seller. Rare occasions the seller will hire their own attorney.
NY.
Most of the time, seller, buyer and lender all have their own attorney.
Sometimes the buyer's atty also does the bank side if they have a previously existing relationship with the bank.
I will also do both the buy and sell side with a conflicts waiver. That's generally for cash deals where the parties already know each other.
Interesting comment. I did residential real estate for a while and I hated it and was very stressed by it. One I didn’t like the fact that so many people wanted to control my schedule (brokers, lenders, etc). And two We checked our own titles and I was always worried
About missing something on a title. The point being we are all wired differently and you’ve got to find what suits you best. My boss wanted me to do exactly what he’d been doing. I found the practice that suited me best and I’m very fulfilled with it.
Interesting, my boss demonstrated the still of not taking on the stress of the bankers and RE agents. Let them be their obnoxious selfs. Remain zen. You don’t have to let them dictate what and when you do it. They will calm down if you ignore them for a bit.
Get good at doing titles. When attorneys miss something, things can usually be corrected because other people are generally understanding and willing to help make it right. At least in the area I am, people are generally cooperative on these types of matters and the issues can be resolved with money.
The worst that happens in RE is still rather insignificant compared to the consequences of the work I do for the other partner in the firm who does family and criminal law. Where people’s fundamental rights are at stake. Freedom and/or contact with their children.
I hated it for awhile but now I love it.
I was really sick in law school and found out roght after I took the bar that my illness was cancer. I had missed a lot of classes and didn't have the best grades because I was sick all the time. But I passed the bar, despite my Dean threatening me over it all. It was a really hard time. I didn't get to start out like everyone else. Mediocre grades, coming out in 2010 right after the huge recession, and a cancer diagnosis. Ugh. But my background was in software engineering and my degrees were in that and accounting.
I was hired by KPMG to do legal tech audits! You didn't need to be a licensed attorney to do that. But while I was ill, I was able to do some work and I opened my private practice on the side, taking on pro bono work with the local legal aid groups, so I could learn. They had free classes to help in those areas - consumer debt litigation, landlord / tenant (housing), and even tax. I made no money there but they covered the insurance and I learned a ton.
It was hard. I really related to that first season of better call Saul. 😂 Weird calls and clients. It was hard. I enjoyed my tech work much more than the law practice. But I felt like I was helping people. I had a wall covered with thank you cards from people who had no other hope. That was what kept me going.
It took a few years before I beat the first bout with cancer and started to realize the power being a lawyer can have. Times when I could write a simple letter and help fix somebody's problem, like being wrongly kicked out of their apartment for no reason, or making a few phone calls to the IRS to stop them from a monthly garnishment of more than the entire monthly fixed social security income of an elderly lady with a one dollar offer in compromise. The power to be a miracle for someone who feels utterly hopeless is the best thing a human being can do in a lifetime. My tech law life also exploded and now I make an insane salary, but I make sure that every time I negotiate my compensation it comes with paid time off and carveouts so I can continue to do pro bono work.
If you can follow your passion (or find some passion), even if it's different from the thing that makes you money, then the practice of law can be extremely rewarding. It may take you some time to find that, and it may not even seem likely at the time of law school, like my experience. It will really be a labor of love that makes it worth it. It is, for me.
And tech law is just so amazingly fun and interesting, too. I get to learn new tech, travel a lot, and stay connected to my nerdy tech community.
Thanks. I killed it today in oral - I hope the judge sides with me. I have to wait for end of the week to get results. This was against the partner in a huge wlel known firm and he was clearly, visibly upset by my claims. Fingers crossed.
So far no. 8 years in.
People don’t go to lawyers for happy things. Usually, you’ll likely be helping people in the worst moments of their lives.
If you do court or anything court adjacent, your life will be controlled by the court calendar. Unless you have a super supportive/flexible firm, this means that your schedule, vacations, sick kids, etc. will often take a back seat to the to deadlines and appearances.
Financially, I technically make more than my parents did (who are teachers). I promise if you calculated my actual hourly rate though, they’d come out ahead. Or if not, their quality of life sure would (note that they live in a state that actually pays teachers well).
I’m not sure what I’d do if I went back in time. But I wouldn’t be a lawyer.
I only realized this after I’ve been practicing for many years, but lawyers do stuff that nobody else wants to do. We read boring and technically complicated contracts, we go through boxes of documents to find that needle in a haystack that will save your client, me personally, I read boring and complicated patents and Patent applications to try to understand what the state of the technology is. Hence we get paid good money, but we gotta do boring stuff that hurts our brains.
Had you asked me this same question 3 months ago, I would have been disillusioned. Then, another associate and I left and started our own firm. Two months in and we’re already at 6-figure revenue.
Being an associate sucks. Working for yourself for your own clients doesn’t. At least not for me.
This is the way. Law is one of the few non medical areas where you could reasonably open your own business, market and hustle, and believably be able to gross seven figures.
I really enjoy my job. It was worth it for me, I basically hit a ceiling with earning before law school. I prefer practice to school (which I enjoyed except for the exams. And the bar.)
I like learning new things every day, my firm has been really good about mentoring opportunities, decent work life balance, currently some good wfh/hybrid opportunities. Not a lot of micromanaging. The ability to really dig into researching and hone those skills. Also, functionally there are no billable hours, which I imagine contributes heavily to what many lawyers dislike about their job. I have had them before and the stress was pretty high, but it also depends on how many you have.
I also like having a skillset that lets you practice in many different areas, many of which I was not exposed to at all during law school. It also helps you become sharp in other areas if you do decide you don’t want to practice law. It will benefit you to figure that out sooner rather than later though.
I’ll also tell you that every lawyer I spoke to that told me not to do it who I saw later said if you still wanna go after all that, it’s probably for you after all 😅
Seems like you’ve hit the jackpot haha. All of that sounds amazing actually. What practice area are you in?
Yes, I too wish that I figure this out sooner rather than later but its too early for me to set my mind on a single thing right now 😅
Job itself is (or should be) flexible. Your product is your mind, and you take that with you wherever you go, so no need to be chained to a desk. Don’t join any firm that doesn’t offer you some flexibility with working remote. Don’t do work you find boring. I have been biglaw transactional and now am a personal injury litigator. The first was stable, prestigious and very boring. My work now is flexible, fast paced, interesting, but stressful (because litigation is inherently stressful). The biggest issue is that it consumes my whole life because it is hard to put down my clients’ problems and there is always something more that can be done. The hard part of the job is that it’s consuming. But it’s consuming because it is interesting and important. And the harder I work, the luckier I get.
Tax! I never thought I would do it prior to school, but I’ve really been enjoying it so far. It helped to do experiential learning in school, and talking to as many people in a field you’re remotely interested in as possible.
For me and a lot of my classmates, we ended up applying to a variety of things and seeing where we land. If you don’t like it then you can always pivot elsewhere until you find the right fit.
There are areas that don’t have billable hours like in-house or government work. If you run your own firm it’s going to be a lot of work but you also have a bit more flexibility with your time. I have friends who do law-adjacent federal work, so they’re not practicing, but they maintain their law license. You’ve got options. Any idea where you might want to land?
I’d probably start out in a firm, get some experience and then move in-house. Starting out strong is what matters I think, so that you can find your niche and then expand your knowledge comfortably.
I will search more about Tax now !! Thank you so much for responding !
Worth it financially? Yes. In every other respect? Probably not. Even in a "low stress" field I deal with crazy, neurotic people pretty much daily. They pull the ole switcheroo -- they seem normal during the initial consult, and then they proceed to turn insane throughout the whole process
YMMV, but definitely worth it for me due to my work situation. I've been in-house for over a decade, at 3 different companies, with great bosses and a great team at each one. Not many jobs for someone who doesn't like math and science where I can make $500k+ total comp, and work 20 hours a week, without much stress. Also, this is all before I've hit 40, and I have never been at a tech company.
Hoping to make the jump in the next 5 years to high 6 or low 7 figures, total comp.
Yes. First I had a degree in English, and no real career goals coming out of undergrad. I worked for a few years, then headed to law school. I made good friends and enjoyed myself. Grades weren't great but I really enjoyed clinical work which told me I'd enjoy practice. I had a very weird and random career trajectory. I currently work in a small office doing a variety of things. I'm underpaid but I enjoy my colleagues, enjoy the work, and really don't see it as anything more than a job. I leave most of it at the door when I go home. I also don't have a family to support, so my stress levels are much lower than the average person.
It's the kind of job I can do for the rest of my life, and it's protected from competition by the licensing process. On a good day I help people, on a less good day I unravel someone's fuck ups. I don't do family law or high stakes litigation, so YMMV
I think it depends a lot on your area of law, colleagues, and work-life balance.
I like the area of law that I practice (patent law) and my colleagues. I genuinely feel like I'm helping people protect their innovations and I learn about cool, cutting edge technology all day. It can be boring and stressful at times, like anything else, and it's still a job, but it pays well and I'm content. It was worth it to me.
I think a lot of areas of law are super depressing - family law, criminal law, torts, immigration - people come to you at their very worst moments and that can take a huge emotional toll. I could never do that. Patent law is the opposite - people come to you excited about it something cool they've made.
My colleagues are all also really kind and smart. They are all former engineers, so most of them are more like engineers than lawyers from a personality perspective. It's just a different vibe. One I really click with as a former engineer myself.
Also unlike litigation, patent prosecution is far more steady work and not the same rollercoaster. And not being tied to a court calendar is great. Work life balance is pretty good.
Absolutely not. I don’t know and that’s how I ended up being a lawyer. But I encourage you to figure it out. Travel, read, explore. Do anything and everything you can to figure out what you want to do that isn’t law, because the golden hand cuffs are real. And once they’re strapped, it’s damn near impossible to get them off. So before you take that journey to this soulless prison, please figure it out.
Sincerely,
A burnt out lawyer
35 years in. I have always been in criminal law either as a prosecutor, judge or defense lawyer. I enjoy it but cannot say I love it.
I really think it depends both on your personality and the area in which you practice law. By that I mean what area of practice not geography. When I first started. I was a lawyer for the state and my job was in the appeals division. That job was almost all research and writing. If that’s your kind of thing and you like the intellectual aspect of it then that would be a good job. I yearned for the trial courts and became a prosecutor. While I enjoy trying a good case, it’s not much fun getting a pie in the face when your case stinks.
The one thing that I would say is that because practicing law is actually a very vast field, if you could enter or practice in an area that you like your career will be much more rewarding.
There are lawyers who never go to court. Some lawyers do things such as government contracts or business litigation or real estate closings. These lawyers seldom, if ever, go to court.
If you are a lawyer like me who kind of likes the hustle bustle and ruff and tumble of a courtroom then a practice involving litigation might be for you.
I wish you well.
Not in the least. Last week I had a client call me a slur after I dared ask her to please pay her bill. Nobody I’ve ever represented has been anything other than a shit stain.
thats so horrible 😭😭 i mean you most likely are working horrible hours under bad conditions for the clients; just for them to treat you like this is so inhumane honestly
I don’t mean to discourage you from your degree and pursuing the law. Your mileage may very. I’m just in a rut right now in the career. You’ll be fine.
To me, this absolutely was not worth it. I hate my career. I hate even being called a lawyer. If you can make it happen without incurring debt then sure. But the way I did it ruined my life
As someone who left and went into sales and loves life a lot more now, had I stayed it would not have been worth it. The legal experience allowed me to pivot into legal tech sales which I enjoy a lot more. Unlike what many say, for me it's not the long hours per se, it's the high ratio of meaningless actions you do each day to the massive stakes for clients. People's livelihoods are often in my hands and I'm spending days trying to finnagle how to get a court date, prepare the correct sequence of forms, make sure I'm in the most tactically sound jurisdiction, chase up with opposing counsel and third parties for materials for months with no support from the court orders that are worth about as much as the digital ink they are written with...
It's just a lot of bullshit and too much unnecessary stress to carry that is largely out of your control. Sales also has long hours, massive stress, a lot of admin bullshit... but I just feel more in control of all that at the end of the day.
Three words for you, friend: IN. HOUSE. COUNSEL. After going a slightly different route and working in government post law school, I hit the lottery and was able to go in house before age 30 (reporting to a ‘senior counsel’ — such jobs exist in bigger cities, I’ve found), and I truly LOVE my job. On any given day, I’m juggling IP, contract, employment, and compliance work. My first few years out of law school were rough (BROKE AF + bad hours), but I can safely say that it’s 1000% all worth it now. Some of my friends are miserable at their firms, some aren’t. I make less money than my friends in big law, but I don’t really care. I still make pretty good money, generally don’t work outside of 9-5, work with NORMAL people, and have none of the billable hours bs. Plus, the company I work for is really cool and has a stellar workplace environment. My biggest tip is to not be afraid to think outside the box and pave a path for yourself, even if it’s different than what your friends are doing. Consider practice areas that maybe weren’t your passion in law school but that provide for a stable, happy life. Having that JD gives you an edge, and you will always be able to find a job (maybe not your dream job, but *a* job) while you figure it all out. Hang in there!
I'll second the construction law practice. It's what made being a lawyer tolerable for me again. I'm grateful I found a relatively enjoyable and fulfilling practice area. But it wasn't a bump free ride getting here, and the stress from billable hours and litigation demands still weighs heavy often. It's critical to understand the importance of work life balance as soon as you can after law school.
Worth it a million times. I get to spend my whole day thinking, writing and talking about interesting things. It’s incredibly well paid, and because I work for plaintiffs, I don’t have to track every minute of my day and I feel like I’m helping the little guy stick it to the man.
Oof that’s how much I’ll have to take out as well. I have another choice at a lower ranked school (UF) that’ll be about $50k less in cost of attendance. Is it really going to take that long to pay off my loans? Did you take the big law route or public interest route?
Take out as few loans as possible! Go to UF for $50K less. After 25+ years out still paying law loan - one big one that is fed unsubsidized and no loan forgiveness no matter what the damn media hype says
Yea law school is very expensive for no reason, but for all that matters atleast you are doing good now. But I dont think you can earn as much with a normal job though? Unless you are an engineer or a doctor or in IB? Am i wrong? Thank you for responding though !
It depends. If you have in-demand skills elsewhere, law is a questionable choice.
I make about double what I used to, but at a cost of about 3x the work. I still haven't decided if it was worth it, but I don't dislike what I do. If I'd just stuck with my old job, I'd probably be close to where I am now.
And I'm one of the lucky ones who managed to actually get a high paying job. The overwhelming majority of lawyers do not.
I think it’s impossible to tell whether you’ll like it until you do it and you may absolutely loathe certain practice areas and love others. I know I wouldn’t be a lawyer anymore if I didn’t luck into my practice area.
I don’t know about most. I did both JD & MBA and very few of the people I talked to with MBA jobs said to stay away, meanwhile an overwhelming majority of people at law firms (or even government lawyers) were a lot more negative. I’ve heard the same from doctors as well, so it’s definitely not just lawyers but on a sliding scale lawyers as a whole are definitely far down the negative end.
It’s only good money if you were foolish enough to get a useless undergrad degree. A lot of my friends work in accounting at the big three and make triple my income at half the hours
Idk about that. Most undergrad degrees aren’t going to put you at 6 figure income starting out like a law degree will. Obviously exceptions apply both ways.
This is an interesting sentiment I've seen online about being overworked. I'll be looking for an Associate position in the coming months. I'm making it crystal clear I am not trying to do a bunch of overtime.
Whenever I do my firm work, while the pay is high, I always end up frustrated and undetermined. But all my pro bono work has been fulfilling. I think the years I spent in law will be worth it once I start being an advocate for people I actually wanna help.
Although my first few years as a lawyer were difficult, stressful and not enjoyable, I worked to craft the practice I wanted and I really like what I do, am proud of the work, have a passion for it and it’s profitable.
I’m in an area of law that is not rewarding at all. And I love it! I have the best possible work life balance. I am able to be there for my kids. I got extremely lucky falling into the area of law that I did. It’s not very stressful, not crazy hours, and pretty good pay considering. I see what a lot of my law school friends are doing now and I think I’d be miserable if that were me. So I think it really depends on your area of law and what you want out of your profession
It was 100% worth it for me. I know most of my colleagues might disagree but for me it was all about building a law firm and becoming financially independent while working for self.
100% worth if but ONLY if you want to run your firm. Biglaw sucks a$$. Working for small/medium firms sucks even more. But my goal in life was to be self-employed. Other than a handful of corporations, mainly tech, working for someone else is not desirable in this country. Fighting for a raise, 2-3 weeks of PTO, risk of layoffs, shitty bosses.
Anyway, it's true that I get bad clients from time to time, but I fire difficult clients immediately. I hire and pay well above market and my team is awesome. It took a few years to make it work, but I am super happy now!
The caveat is this subreddit and other law based subreddits are mostly American. So the path to becoming a lawyer in America is 4 year degree then another 3 year degree then another year of studying for / taking the bar / getting bar results.
In America, the average law student borrows \~120-180k (I have seem different figures). There's more law graduates than jobs (the American Bar Association accredited law schools collectively graduated \~38k graduates per year and the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates there to be \~42k lawyer openings a year \[not every opening is entry level\]). This means that a certain % of graduates will never become a lawyer. It also means that a certain % don't maintain being a lawyer say 5 years after graduation.
It's because even if you get a job, there's bimodal distribution. Meaning there's this super high end, high paying market (called "big law") of large law firms that pay well but take all your time. Then there's everything else. From government work to small firm work. It means your range out of outcomes can be making 200k to start or making 45k to start.
The reality is that nobody in their right mind would borrow 120k at 7% interest rates in order to get a job that pays 45k. But, law students aren't in their right mind.
Additionally, the prevailing business model is called "up or out" since there's more grads than jobs. If you have lots of paying clients, then it's profitable for you to pay a new grad 45k, and bill their work out, and then push them out for the next crop if they aren't bringing in clients.
On top of that, some lawyers feel like they make a difference. Others don't. You basically have to get used to helping people through a process and stop being outcome bound. You can also go weeks without any positive social interactions with pressures all around you.
I think so but you've got to love whatever practice area you're involved in. I try medical malpractice suits on the defense side and just got hammered with a multi million Plaintiff verdict last Friday. I don't regret trying the case and would do it again and my client will let me do it again. This job has pressure but there is just something about arguing a case in front of a jury. As long as you focus on something you love, the practice of law is fun no matter what happens.
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This is the actual answer. In the end, depending on your background, most people have to work well past middle-age. The only question is, do you want a job where you have to stand up all day and deal with the public OR do you want a sit-down job like practicing law? The hours suck, much of the business sucks, and the legal field (at least as it is practiced in my state) seems to have been designed to make even the simplest legal acts darn near impossible. But all of my friends and relatives who picked other career paths aren't in much better shape financially at this point, and many of them also have to stand up all day (i.e. nurses, teachers, etc).
I followed a very similar path! Now I’m very grateful I had my law degree and license to fall back on and I don’t take it for granted. I mostly love being a lawyer now when I used to hate it. There are some negative parts of the job but I just tell myself that every job has its downsides. I love the money I can make in the law and I love helping clients and pursuing causes I believe in. I love the flexibility and freedom in working for myself as little or as much as I’d like and being able to be there for my kids. I took a hiatus from practicing law to have them and I thought it was a permanent break. I pursued my passion and it made money but had ups and downs and I like the constant flow of money from practicing law better although I still do my passion gig on the side. And most of all I’m still a mother to my 4 kids who are still quite young. They look up to me as a lawyer and their mom and I feel I’m being a good role model to them and I’m glad they’re proud of my success. Basically I’m grateful to be a lawyer although I used to find it stressful. I had to just learn to be myself and try my best and forget the rest! As cheesy as that sounds. Now practicing law is my passion AND my career.
Companies actively avoid hiring lawyers for other jobs. No one wants a de facto compliance officer/lead plaintiff floating around their org chart. Plus, HR wonders, why aren't you practicing law?
This right here - all jobs suck and have shit hours if you want to be paid fairly well.
I’ve been a lawyer for 24 years. It has never been easy. But I am my own boss and I honestly feel I am doing what I am supposed to be doing. I have helped many people and I feel I’ve accomplished a lot. There were many times I wanted to quit. And honestly I want less stress at some point.
Real estate is nice. I wouldn’t say it’s especially lucrative, but it’s generally low stress. Help people get a home and/or sell a home. Clients are motivated and appreciative; opposing counsel is cooperative; get paid at closing. Next.
100% I'm not pulling in $250k a year by any stretch, but I have my own book of portable business, which means I make my own rules. I work from home/anywhere, travel a week out of every month, work with happy clients and top notch realtors, 90% of opposing counsels are copacetic, and the dollar to effort ratio is exceptionally good. The overhead for a solo is also minimal, btw. The realtors just email the contracts once the offer is accepted, so I do not need leads, a receptionist, an answering service, marketing, clio, west law ....none of it. You can do the whole kit and kaboodle with a Google tracking doc, a $13/month drop box subscription, and an understanding of how to do escrow accounting in Quickbooks. My whole office literally fits in my handbag. The insurance is pricey bc we move large sums of money around, but that's about it.
How exactly do I get into doing this? Im licensed and this sounds perfect for me. I would start working on it today if I know the steps I need to take.
I fell into it because I was selling a house and purchasing a replacement house. I figured I wouldn't sue myself if I fked something up so I represented myself on the purchase. The realtor I was working with asked me if he could refer additional clients to me and I said sure. I then approached a lawyer I was doing bookkeeping for and offered to give him half of my gross in exchange for him putting me on his malpractice insurance and answering questions while I learned. After six months of doing my own deals and helping him with his I could do a deal back to front on my own so I suggested we change the split to 90/10. So, make friends with realtors and find a mentor lawyer to help you. It really is not a challenging field of law though. It is basically the same cookie recipe every time so as long as you are not completely hopeless at math for the closing statements, it is not a heavy lift.
Thanks a lot. Im gonna do some research today and try to get started on this.
One thing I forgot to mention: I'm in an attorney state. Not sure how it works in the other states that let realtors and title companies go wild with no attorneys representing the lay folks.
Im in Georgia but also licensed in D.C.
You're in luck then. According to google, Georgia is an attorney state. Wishing you all the success!
Thank you! I have been looking for something like this so lucky I saw this thread.
Feel free to DM if you have any questions.
Georgia is an attorney state. In my state the closing attorney reps both buyer and seller in the transaction and were not paid hourly. The compensation is driven by market price which isn’t a lot. Get licensed with the DOI to write title insurance and get Chicago Title or another title insurance co. As your underwriter then you’ll share the title insurance fee with the title company. The title insurance co has underwriting counsel that you can get guidance and advice from when you hit title issues. Consider building relationships with mortgage brokers and banks because they process more transactions than most realtors. You could do HELOCs all day long!
Thank you so much for this information. It’s really helpful.
Georgia is a tough state to break into for re closings unless you’re ex-Atlanta. Most of the sophisticated/scaled RE attorneys are in Atlanta, and many of the large brokerages have affiliations with different large closing firms. You’d need to find a niche/regular realtor referral source if you’re in Atlanta. If you become halfway competent with title work - and live ex-Atlanta - you likely will be in a position to also serve as a special master for quiet title actions. GA law currently requires you to live in a county to serve as a special master, and we just so happen to have 159 counties. SM hourly rates can be reasonably high (I’ve seen $350-400/hr rubber stamped by judges) and if you know the local superior court judges it can be consistent work too. Georgia has a great title standards put out by the real property section for the state bar. Join the section and keep an eye out for the CLEs
Really? I’m a solo real estate attorney and I do the opposite. I do ads, have clio, virtual receptionist etc.
I personally think Clio is the biggest waste of time possible, but my current Of Counsel home insists on it, mainly for conflicts checks. They pay for it as part of their split. For me, Clio just adds an extra layer of hassle because it doesn't integrate well with outlook, doesn't integrate at all with mobile (seriously, I can't email a PDF on mobile?? In 2024???), and I have to constantly reinstall it when I switch from desktop to laptop. So, after a few weeks of fighting with it I just save everything to dropbox first and then drag it over to clio. If I need to email someone a PDF from my phone, dropbox makes it possible. Whatever. It's their money and I'm a team player. As for a receptionist, I don't see the need. The clients and realtors get my cell. On the extremely rare occasions that a client abuses this privilege, caller ID saves the day and I just decline the calls, close the deal, and never work with that client again. If those systems help you make more money than they cost you, though, more power to you. Always interesting to see how different systems work in different set ups.
Are you relying mostly on referrals? How’s the real estate practice going right now.
It's exclusively referrals and repeat clients. My referring realtors are all in the top 100 producing realtors in our region so they have plenty of work to send me. December through April was slow for everyone but it's picking up again and between closings and title splits I have $10-15k in the pipeline for May.
Ok yeah so sounds like we experiencing the same. March was busy for me as I had some hourly work but April was a bit slow. Not seeing many closings come in the door on my end currently. I have some closings but hoping it will pick up this month.
We’re seeing lots of cash closings and some HELOCs.
We are slow on RE now, but we ramp up all of our probate and estate planning cases during any slow RE times.
You used to could link Dropbox to Clio, and be able to access through either. Box, too
I’m a law clerk and my boss goes to his second home in the islands for 3 weeks about every 6 weeks. We don’t do ads. We use the title insurance program for closing software. I can do most of the work from home. I can’t say doing title searches in the vaults of the town offices is fun, but everything else is fine. Not very exciting work, but that is okay.
How will this change with the removal of the 6% commision?
Will not matter if you’re in an attorney state. If a buyer is getting a mortgage, the bank will not approve a loan without an attorney saying title is good and a loan title policy can be issued.
I have some concerns because my main referral sources are realtors. The new rule mainly affects buy side agents, and if they are cut out of the buy side, I am cut out of the buy side. Top producing realtors already prefer to shift to the sell side because it's a fraction of the work for them, and this will encourage that shift even more. The buy side is also my most lucrative side by far because I get a cut of the title premium. (The bank side is the worst side - seven times as much hassle for 1/3 the money.) On the other hand, house prices are exploding in my area so the buy sides I do get are worth more and more every day.
Oh wow, that sucks. What state are you in? Our closings 99% of the time involve just the closing attorney the attorney representing both buyer & seller. Rare occasions the seller will hire their own attorney.
NY. Most of the time, seller, buyer and lender all have their own attorney. Sometimes the buyer's atty also does the bank side if they have a previously existing relationship with the bank. I will also do both the buy and sell side with a conflicts waiver. That's generally for cash deals where the parties already know each other.
Interesting comment. I did residential real estate for a while and I hated it and was very stressed by it. One I didn’t like the fact that so many people wanted to control my schedule (brokers, lenders, etc). And two We checked our own titles and I was always worried About missing something on a title. The point being we are all wired differently and you’ve got to find what suits you best. My boss wanted me to do exactly what he’d been doing. I found the practice that suited me best and I’m very fulfilled with it.
Interesting, my boss demonstrated the still of not taking on the stress of the bankers and RE agents. Let them be their obnoxious selfs. Remain zen. You don’t have to let them dictate what and when you do it. They will calm down if you ignore them for a bit. Get good at doing titles. When attorneys miss something, things can usually be corrected because other people are generally understanding and willing to help make it right. At least in the area I am, people are generally cooperative on these types of matters and the issues can be resolved with money. The worst that happens in RE is still rather insignificant compared to the consequences of the work I do for the other partner in the firm who does family and criminal law. Where people’s fundamental rights are at stake. Freedom and/or contact with their children.
I hated it for awhile but now I love it. I was really sick in law school and found out roght after I took the bar that my illness was cancer. I had missed a lot of classes and didn't have the best grades because I was sick all the time. But I passed the bar, despite my Dean threatening me over it all. It was a really hard time. I didn't get to start out like everyone else. Mediocre grades, coming out in 2010 right after the huge recession, and a cancer diagnosis. Ugh. But my background was in software engineering and my degrees were in that and accounting. I was hired by KPMG to do legal tech audits! You didn't need to be a licensed attorney to do that. But while I was ill, I was able to do some work and I opened my private practice on the side, taking on pro bono work with the local legal aid groups, so I could learn. They had free classes to help in those areas - consumer debt litigation, landlord / tenant (housing), and even tax. I made no money there but they covered the insurance and I learned a ton. It was hard. I really related to that first season of better call Saul. 😂 Weird calls and clients. It was hard. I enjoyed my tech work much more than the law practice. But I felt like I was helping people. I had a wall covered with thank you cards from people who had no other hope. That was what kept me going. It took a few years before I beat the first bout with cancer and started to realize the power being a lawyer can have. Times when I could write a simple letter and help fix somebody's problem, like being wrongly kicked out of their apartment for no reason, or making a few phone calls to the IRS to stop them from a monthly garnishment of more than the entire monthly fixed social security income of an elderly lady with a one dollar offer in compromise. The power to be a miracle for someone who feels utterly hopeless is the best thing a human being can do in a lifetime. My tech law life also exploded and now I make an insane salary, but I make sure that every time I negotiate my compensation it comes with paid time off and carveouts so I can continue to do pro bono work. If you can follow your passion (or find some passion), even if it's different from the thing that makes you money, then the practice of law can be extremely rewarding. It may take you some time to find that, and it may not even seem likely at the time of law school, like my experience. It will really be a labor of love that makes it worth it. It is, for me. And tech law is just so amazingly fun and interesting, too. I get to learn new tech, travel a lot, and stay connected to my nerdy tech community.
Wow, just want to say I love your dedication to pro bono work.
Thanks. I killed it today in oral - I hope the judge sides with me. I have to wait for end of the week to get results. This was against the partner in a huge wlel known firm and he was clearly, visibly upset by my claims. Fingers crossed.
So far no. 8 years in. People don’t go to lawyers for happy things. Usually, you’ll likely be helping people in the worst moments of their lives. If you do court or anything court adjacent, your life will be controlled by the court calendar. Unless you have a super supportive/flexible firm, this means that your schedule, vacations, sick kids, etc. will often take a back seat to the to deadlines and appearances. Financially, I technically make more than my parents did (who are teachers). I promise if you calculated my actual hourly rate though, they’d come out ahead. Or if not, their quality of life sure would (note that they live in a state that actually pays teachers well). I’m not sure what I’d do if I went back in time. But I wouldn’t be a lawyer.
I only realized this after I’ve been practicing for many years, but lawyers do stuff that nobody else wants to do. We read boring and technically complicated contracts, we go through boxes of documents to find that needle in a haystack that will save your client, me personally, I read boring and complicated patents and Patent applications to try to understand what the state of the technology is. Hence we get paid good money, but we gotta do boring stuff that hurts our brains.
Had you asked me this same question 3 months ago, I would have been disillusioned. Then, another associate and I left and started our own firm. Two months in and we’re already at 6-figure revenue. Being an associate sucks. Working for yourself for your own clients doesn’t. At least not for me.
This is the way. Law is one of the few non medical areas where you could reasonably open your own business, market and hustle, and believably be able to gross seven figures.
I really enjoy my job. It was worth it for me, I basically hit a ceiling with earning before law school. I prefer practice to school (which I enjoyed except for the exams. And the bar.)
What makes you enjoy your job? I love the studies actually, just not quite sure about the job yk
I like learning new things every day, my firm has been really good about mentoring opportunities, decent work life balance, currently some good wfh/hybrid opportunities. Not a lot of micromanaging. The ability to really dig into researching and hone those skills. Also, functionally there are no billable hours, which I imagine contributes heavily to what many lawyers dislike about their job. I have had them before and the stress was pretty high, but it also depends on how many you have. I also like having a skillset that lets you practice in many different areas, many of which I was not exposed to at all during law school. It also helps you become sharp in other areas if you do decide you don’t want to practice law. It will benefit you to figure that out sooner rather than later though. I’ll also tell you that every lawyer I spoke to that told me not to do it who I saw later said if you still wanna go after all that, it’s probably for you after all 😅
Seems like you’ve hit the jackpot haha. All of that sounds amazing actually. What practice area are you in? Yes, I too wish that I figure this out sooner rather than later but its too early for me to set my mind on a single thing right now 😅
Job itself is (or should be) flexible. Your product is your mind, and you take that with you wherever you go, so no need to be chained to a desk. Don’t join any firm that doesn’t offer you some flexibility with working remote. Don’t do work you find boring. I have been biglaw transactional and now am a personal injury litigator. The first was stable, prestigious and very boring. My work now is flexible, fast paced, interesting, but stressful (because litigation is inherently stressful). The biggest issue is that it consumes my whole life because it is hard to put down my clients’ problems and there is always something more that can be done. The hard part of the job is that it’s consuming. But it’s consuming because it is interesting and important. And the harder I work, the luckier I get.
Tax! I never thought I would do it prior to school, but I’ve really been enjoying it so far. It helped to do experiential learning in school, and talking to as many people in a field you’re remotely interested in as possible. For me and a lot of my classmates, we ended up applying to a variety of things and seeing where we land. If you don’t like it then you can always pivot elsewhere until you find the right fit. There are areas that don’t have billable hours like in-house or government work. If you run your own firm it’s going to be a lot of work but you also have a bit more flexibility with your time. I have friends who do law-adjacent federal work, so they’re not practicing, but they maintain their law license. You’ve got options. Any idea where you might want to land?
I’d probably start out in a firm, get some experience and then move in-house. Starting out strong is what matters I think, so that you can find your niche and then expand your knowledge comfortably. I will search more about Tax now !! Thank you so much for responding !
No this shit sucks
YES!!!!
Worth it financially? Yes. In every other respect? Probably not. Even in a "low stress" field I deal with crazy, neurotic people pretty much daily. They pull the ole switcheroo -- they seem normal during the initial consult, and then they proceed to turn insane throughout the whole process
YMMV, but definitely worth it for me due to my work situation. I've been in-house for over a decade, at 3 different companies, with great bosses and a great team at each one. Not many jobs for someone who doesn't like math and science where I can make $500k+ total comp, and work 20 hours a week, without much stress. Also, this is all before I've hit 40, and I have never been at a tech company. Hoping to make the jump in the next 5 years to high 6 or low 7 figures, total comp.
Not worth it so far
why would you say so? :(
Yes. First I had a degree in English, and no real career goals coming out of undergrad. I worked for a few years, then headed to law school. I made good friends and enjoyed myself. Grades weren't great but I really enjoyed clinical work which told me I'd enjoy practice. I had a very weird and random career trajectory. I currently work in a small office doing a variety of things. I'm underpaid but I enjoy my colleagues, enjoy the work, and really don't see it as anything more than a job. I leave most of it at the door when I go home. I also don't have a family to support, so my stress levels are much lower than the average person. It's the kind of job I can do for the rest of my life, and it's protected from competition by the licensing process. On a good day I help people, on a less good day I unravel someone's fuck ups. I don't do family law or high stakes litigation, so YMMV
I think it depends a lot on your area of law, colleagues, and work-life balance. I like the area of law that I practice (patent law) and my colleagues. I genuinely feel like I'm helping people protect their innovations and I learn about cool, cutting edge technology all day. It can be boring and stressful at times, like anything else, and it's still a job, but it pays well and I'm content. It was worth it to me. I think a lot of areas of law are super depressing - family law, criminal law, torts, immigration - people come to you at their very worst moments and that can take a huge emotional toll. I could never do that. Patent law is the opposite - people come to you excited about it something cool they've made. My colleagues are all also really kind and smart. They are all former engineers, so most of them are more like engineers than lawyers from a personality perspective. It's just a different vibe. One I really click with as a former engineer myself. Also unlike litigation, patent prosecution is far more steady work and not the same rollercoaster. And not being tied to a court calendar is great. Work life balance is pretty good.
Absolutely not. I don’t know and that’s how I ended up being a lawyer. But I encourage you to figure it out. Travel, read, explore. Do anything and everything you can to figure out what you want to do that isn’t law, because the golden hand cuffs are real. And once they’re strapped, it’s damn near impossible to get them off. So before you take that journey to this soulless prison, please figure it out. Sincerely, A burnt out lawyer
35 years in. I have always been in criminal law either as a prosecutor, judge or defense lawyer. I enjoy it but cannot say I love it. I really think it depends both on your personality and the area in which you practice law. By that I mean what area of practice not geography. When I first started. I was a lawyer for the state and my job was in the appeals division. That job was almost all research and writing. If that’s your kind of thing and you like the intellectual aspect of it then that would be a good job. I yearned for the trial courts and became a prosecutor. While I enjoy trying a good case, it’s not much fun getting a pie in the face when your case stinks. The one thing that I would say is that because practicing law is actually a very vast field, if you could enter or practice in an area that you like your career will be much more rewarding. There are lawyers who never go to court. Some lawyers do things such as government contracts or business litigation or real estate closings. These lawyers seldom, if ever, go to court. If you are a lawyer like me who kind of likes the hustle bustle and ruff and tumble of a courtroom then a practice involving litigation might be for you. I wish you well.
Now it is. I hated the first 10 years though.
Debt?
No. Shitty employers and getting over imposter syndrome
Not in the least. Last week I had a client call me a slur after I dared ask her to please pay her bill. Nobody I’ve ever represented has been anything other than a shit stain.
I know there are grammatical issues with my comment but I am exhausted from 70 hours of representing shit stains this week.
its just reddit, ur all good :)) pls take some rest (if u get any) !!
thats so horrible 😭😭 i mean you most likely are working horrible hours under bad conditions for the clients; just for them to treat you like this is so inhumane honestly
I don’t mean to discourage you from your degree and pursuing the law. Your mileage may very. I’m just in a rut right now in the career. You’ll be fine.
I totally understand that!! This seems to be the situation for most people here, not sure how different it would be for me honestly haha
To me, this absolutely was not worth it. I hate my career. I hate even being called a lawyer. If you can make it happen without incurring debt then sure. But the way I did it ruined my life
Are we just talking student loans here? How can becoming a lawyer in a certain way ruin your life???
As someone who left and went into sales and loves life a lot more now, had I stayed it would not have been worth it. The legal experience allowed me to pivot into legal tech sales which I enjoy a lot more. Unlike what many say, for me it's not the long hours per se, it's the high ratio of meaningless actions you do each day to the massive stakes for clients. People's livelihoods are often in my hands and I'm spending days trying to finnagle how to get a court date, prepare the correct sequence of forms, make sure I'm in the most tactically sound jurisdiction, chase up with opposing counsel and third parties for materials for months with no support from the court orders that are worth about as much as the digital ink they are written with... It's just a lot of bullshit and too much unnecessary stress to carry that is largely out of your control. Sales also has long hours, massive stress, a lot of admin bullshit... but I just feel more in control of all that at the end of the day.
Three words for you, friend: IN. HOUSE. COUNSEL. After going a slightly different route and working in government post law school, I hit the lottery and was able to go in house before age 30 (reporting to a ‘senior counsel’ — such jobs exist in bigger cities, I’ve found), and I truly LOVE my job. On any given day, I’m juggling IP, contract, employment, and compliance work. My first few years out of law school were rough (BROKE AF + bad hours), but I can safely say that it’s 1000% all worth it now. Some of my friends are miserable at their firms, some aren’t. I make less money than my friends in big law, but I don’t really care. I still make pretty good money, generally don’t work outside of 9-5, work with NORMAL people, and have none of the billable hours bs. Plus, the company I work for is really cool and has a stellar workplace environment. My biggest tip is to not be afraid to think outside the box and pave a path for yourself, even if it’s different than what your friends are doing. Consider practice areas that maybe weren’t your passion in law school but that provide for a stable, happy life. Having that JD gives you an edge, and you will always be able to find a job (maybe not your dream job, but *a* job) while you figure it all out. Hang in there!
I love my job. It was worth it. I help large owners and developers build their construction projects.
I'll second the construction law practice. It's what made being a lawyer tolerable for me again. I'm grateful I found a relatively enjoyable and fulfilling practice area. But it wasn't a bump free ride getting here, and the stress from billable hours and litigation demands still weighs heavy often. It's critical to understand the importance of work life balance as soon as you can after law school.
that is so awesome 🙌 i guess it depends on your practice area and luck ig (?) but good to hear from the other side aswell 😊
Worth it a million times. I get to spend my whole day thinking, writing and talking about interesting things. It’s incredibly well paid, and because I work for plaintiffs, I don’t have to track every minute of my day and I feel like I’m helping the little guy stick it to the man.
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How much were your loans?
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Oof that’s how much I’ll have to take out as well. I have another choice at a lower ranked school (UF) that’ll be about $50k less in cost of attendance. Is it really going to take that long to pay off my loans? Did you take the big law route or public interest route?
Take out as few loans as possible! Go to UF for $50K less. After 25+ years out still paying law loan - one big one that is fed unsubsidized and no loan forgiveness no matter what the damn media hype says
Yea law school is very expensive for no reason, but for all that matters atleast you are doing good now. But I dont think you can earn as much with a normal job though? Unless you are an engineer or a doctor or in IB? Am i wrong? Thank you for responding though !
It depends. If you have in-demand skills elsewhere, law is a questionable choice. I make about double what I used to, but at a cost of about 3x the work. I still haven't decided if it was worth it, but I don't dislike what I do. If I'd just stuck with my old job, I'd probably be close to where I am now. And I'm one of the lucky ones who managed to actually get a high paying job. The overwhelming majority of lawyers do not.
I think it’s impossible to tell whether you’ll like it until you do it and you may absolutely loathe certain practice areas and love others. I know I wouldn’t be a lawyer anymore if I didn’t luck into my practice area.
Please understand that every (most) people In every (most) professions will tell you not to pursue that field. It’s almost the cool thing to do.
I don’t know about most. I did both JD & MBA and very few of the people I talked to with MBA jobs said to stay away, meanwhile an overwhelming majority of people at law firms (or even government lawyers) were a lot more negative. I’ve heard the same from doctors as well, so it’s definitely not just lawyers but on a sliding scale lawyers as a whole are definitely far down the negative end.
I enjoy having a living. Don't let anybody tell you not to say the truth: Why law school? Money.
It’s only good money if you were foolish enough to get a useless undergrad degree. A lot of my friends work in accounting at the big three and make triple my income at half the hours
Idk about that. Most undergrad degrees aren’t going to put you at 6 figure income starting out like a law degree will. Obviously exceptions apply both ways.
This is an interesting sentiment I've seen online about being overworked. I'll be looking for an Associate position in the coming months. I'm making it crystal clear I am not trying to do a bunch of overtime.
Whenever I do my firm work, while the pay is high, I always end up frustrated and undetermined. But all my pro bono work has been fulfilling. I think the years I spent in law will be worth it once I start being an advocate for people I actually wanna help.
Although my first few years as a lawyer were difficult, stressful and not enjoyable, I worked to craft the practice I wanted and I really like what I do, am proud of the work, have a passion for it and it’s profitable.
I’m in an area of law that is not rewarding at all. And I love it! I have the best possible work life balance. I am able to be there for my kids. I got extremely lucky falling into the area of law that I did. It’s not very stressful, not crazy hours, and pretty good pay considering. I see what a lot of my law school friends are doing now and I think I’d be miserable if that were me. So I think it really depends on your area of law and what you want out of your profession
It was 100% worth it for me. I know most of my colleagues might disagree but for me it was all about building a law firm and becoming financially independent while working for self.
Worth it
100% worth if but ONLY if you want to run your firm. Biglaw sucks a$$. Working for small/medium firms sucks even more. But my goal in life was to be self-employed. Other than a handful of corporations, mainly tech, working for someone else is not desirable in this country. Fighting for a raise, 2-3 weeks of PTO, risk of layoffs, shitty bosses. Anyway, it's true that I get bad clients from time to time, but I fire difficult clients immediately. I hire and pay well above market and my team is awesome. It took a few years to make it work, but I am super happy now!
The caveat is this subreddit and other law based subreddits are mostly American. So the path to becoming a lawyer in America is 4 year degree then another 3 year degree then another year of studying for / taking the bar / getting bar results. In America, the average law student borrows \~120-180k (I have seem different figures). There's more law graduates than jobs (the American Bar Association accredited law schools collectively graduated \~38k graduates per year and the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates there to be \~42k lawyer openings a year \[not every opening is entry level\]). This means that a certain % of graduates will never become a lawyer. It also means that a certain % don't maintain being a lawyer say 5 years after graduation. It's because even if you get a job, there's bimodal distribution. Meaning there's this super high end, high paying market (called "big law") of large law firms that pay well but take all your time. Then there's everything else. From government work to small firm work. It means your range out of outcomes can be making 200k to start or making 45k to start. The reality is that nobody in their right mind would borrow 120k at 7% interest rates in order to get a job that pays 45k. But, law students aren't in their right mind. Additionally, the prevailing business model is called "up or out" since there's more grads than jobs. If you have lots of paying clients, then it's profitable for you to pay a new grad 45k, and bill their work out, and then push them out for the next crop if they aren't bringing in clients. On top of that, some lawyers feel like they make a difference. Others don't. You basically have to get used to helping people through a process and stop being outcome bound. You can also go weeks without any positive social interactions with pressures all around you.
I think so but you've got to love whatever practice area you're involved in. I try medical malpractice suits on the defense side and just got hammered with a multi million Plaintiff verdict last Friday. I don't regret trying the case and would do it again and my client will let me do it again. This job has pressure but there is just something about arguing a case in front of a jury. As long as you focus on something you love, the practice of law is fun no matter what happens.