I've almost finished a law degree (Juris Doctor) at a decent university (Michigan)

I've almost finished a law degree (Juris Doctor) at a decent university (Michigan).

Am I doomed to be a wage slave? I'm kind of worried. The pervading negativity around here makes me feel like I'm not gonna make it.

Sky's the limit, bro.

LLM graduate, class of 2013. Any day now I'm going to make supervisor in the TKMaxx I work at.

With a degree from a good law school, you should be able to make a pretty good wage. Most lawyers in the U.S., the ones you hear about who cannot find work or make a pittance, are graduated from the many garbage law schools.

I'd be very surprised if you were not able to find a high-paying job as a corporate lawyer for a multinational firm. You won't be your own boss but you'll make quite a bit more than the median wage.

if you're a 3L at umich and you're seriously asking this question, you're clueless
thus the answer is yes

>almost finished
>doesn't have a job yet

Uh... don't most law students get offered a post-graduation job in their second year?

U.Mich is a well-respected law school, even within elite firms.

The reality is, unfortunately, that you're going to be a wage slave for a while. Unless you hang up your own shingle (which looks like fun, I kinda envy it), you better prep yourself for long hours of mindless work. I've said on here before: I bill 3,000+ hours a year, probably work around 3,250. And I'm efficient. Though I'm fucking good at what I do, 95% of those hours are mindless legal busywork.

If you wanna get out of the law firm grind, you're gonna have to work at it. Take online classes, make connections, join industry groups... anything. You're going to have to fucking hustle, because everything post-offer is designed to keep you quiet, working, and relatively inoffensive. Your soul is going to be crushed down to a fucking pulp because that tends to make you obedient.

General rule of thumb: have an escape plan and work at it daily. It'll keep you from jumping off a roof.

Yes, generally speaking, but it depends on the timing. If I remember how the process works (it's been a few years), he should be getting a final offer letter from a firm (assuming he summered) in a couple of months. Alternatively, he could have other job offers floating out there (for DA offices, etc etc), and who the fuck knows when they send 'em out.

If I remember correctly, if you do the math, the timing is intentionally fucky, like it used to be for doctors and it still is for vet students: the offer letters are staggered and have expiration dates such that, when you receive one, you pretty much have to take it.

disgusting rendering

in my market, basically everyone got formal offers w/n a week or so of the program ending
in time for 3L oci (what little there is anyways) if they got no offered

hey mr. batement

nice to see you outside of Veeky Forums

you critiqued my resume a while ago

shoot me an email, please

i have some questions for sometime down the line

[email protected]

Ditto here, but I've heard of some dilatory tactics on the part of other firms. Some rumors floated around about Latham delaying final offers until a few weeks after the program ended to prevent some candidates from shopping around, especially if they did two firms in a summer.

Rumors are rumors, of course.

i'm drunk, btw

didn't take anyone home from this party :/

i'm at BC, undergrad, Econ&CS

I'm a law student and I elected to take a lower ranked school with a scholarship. I'm getting top 20% grades part time I work as a AML compliance analyst at a big bank full time. I plan to work in financial compliance or maybe big4 tax if my tax grades are good enough.

I kinda decided to do this based on my own judgement, i'm always second guessing myself if I shoulda just done traditional top 14+big law, I feel inferior sometimes when I hear some guy getting into biglaw and nailing law review

you avoided crippling debt tho
in a sense that gives you more options

how much do you got?

two people I know went to upenn and Fordham and have 200k+ in loans

jesus man.......

Sorry, I don't contact off-site, mostly because I'm paranoid about privacy.

First off, don't let the T14+Law Review talk get you. The T14 stuff matters only in a general sense on your resume, ditto for law review. In other words, they are plusses, and some major law firms do have cutoffs, but they don't mean much beyond that. You did exactly the right thing, and I kinda wish I had done the same: I had a few T1 full ride offers that I turned down, and I kinda still regret it to this day. The whole mentality that's pervasive to joints like Above the Law is incredibly unhealthy - avoid it.

It sounds like you're doing extremely well, so don't second-guess yourself. That background + those grades are pretty much a foot in the door in everywhere you want to be. Legal financial compliance jobs are motherfucking everywhere, especially within companies (better work/life balance). It might be hard to penetrate the Big 4 or white shoe firms, but that's always the case regardless of your background - fuck, my T14 struggled hard, as did most.

More broadly, it sounds like you're phenomenally busy, but try to make it a habit to not hang out with other law students and to develop a rich life outside of the law. It's EXTREMELY easy to get wrapped up in the stress and second-guessing that comes with law school, and it'll crush you in the long run. Try what I did: join a bunch of student clubs and just hang out with people outside your field and basically do everything you can to avoid the law for substantial stretches of time. Perspective will do wonders.

Yeah yeah bullshit whatever

contact me when you're feeling down

i'll probably be approaching 200k at repayment

quoted wrong post

I hope they are vast majority federal loans.... sounds like you're ok tho if you're in big law. how are you having time to browse Veeky Forums?

I just view biglaw as literally no life desu, maybe I'm overestimating it

i'm a 3L
got nothing but time lol

the loans suck but whatever
i'll have to do a stint in biglaw to pay them down to a manageable level, not looking forward to it but thems the breaks i guess