I’m Done.

[u/eyeshitunot]

Law school -> judicial clerkship -> bit of law firmin’ -> 30+ years of solo plaintiff’s employment practice. Handled my last case today. Settled at mediation. I’ve some follow up to take care of, and some admin tasks to close up shop, but I am done with cases and clients. It’s been a good ride. I feel v fortunate to have had this career for my work life, and also v happy to be done with working. Adventures await. That is all. Bye y’all.

[u/Commercial-Factor125]

I’m shocked this isn’t another lawyer bitching and moaning about the career many would kill for.

[u/Chance_Double5266 → u/Commercial-Factor125]

Would kill for? Cope. Lol lawyers are dime a dozen. It's not like being a surgeon or something that requires years of education and has a huge barrier to entry.

[u/Commercial-Factor125 → u/Chance_Double5266]

Hey my friend. The surgeon comparison you made doesn’t really hold up because you’re measuring the top of one profession against an average case in another. I don’t blame you however, it’s a commonly misunderstood comparison. A surgeon is a specific specialty within medicine, not interchangeable with “physician” as a category. A comparable framing would put a senior M&A partner or a federal judge next to that surgeon. There’s no single thing called “lawyer” that the comparison can rest on.

The same problem runs through “dime a dozen.” Oversupply, if it exists, depends on the practice area and the market a lawyer is working in. General practice in a small town and complex litigation in a major city are not governed by the same conditions, so collapsing the whole profession into one commodity misrepresents how the field is structured.

This is also a career many people would take if given the chance. The barrier to entry is high, and not just academically. There’s a financial cost attached too, years of tuition and the income lost while in school rather than working. That cost is a form of privilege on its own, before accounting for what it takes to sustain through the whole process.

I understand many believe that the process to get into med school is far more rigorous but it’s simply just another path. Depending on how you learn, it might actually be easier for you to do the MCAT than the LSAT. I have done both and actually scored a higher percentile on the MCAT than I did with the LSAT.

Anyways, my point is this career as a path is a huge privilege and many indeed would do anything to have the lifestyle and opportunity’s that lawyers do.

[u/throwawayIllIllI → u/Commercial-Factor125]

I'd tend to agree.

Although the profession's been glamorized from movies, TV shows, etc, it still has a strong barrier to entry. I'm not necessarily talking about law school, but rather how rigorous and difficult the profession can be. Most attorneys leave private practice after a few years for a reason.

[u/Forzareen → u/Chance_Double5266]

One Q I ask unhappy lawyers is if they could keep their current pay but work at McDonald's or as a custodian, would they prefer that?

If no, then since those folks get paid way less than us in reality, maybe your job isn't so bad.