Legal Profession WSJ Update
https://www.wsj.com/articles/law-school-student-d…
Although this mostly covers T50/T30 schools (like my illustrious alma mater) which are less of a value proposition than in the past, this line is crucial:
“Only a dozen of the nation’s law schools leave students earning annual salaries two years after graduation that exceed their debts, according to the Education Department data covering roughly 200 programs.”
Not good enough. This is two years out, often after bar expenses (which run into the thousands) and not paying any principal due to moving expenses. Most of these high paying jobs are in high tax, high cost of living areas. There is no flyover big law, so NY/DC/CA it is. Your job is tenuous and you will most likely be fired 1-6 years in, forcing you to pay off a loan with an in-house salary while commuting from inner Brooklyn or Long Island City in your late 20s/early 30s with roommates you don’t like.
Tl:dr for college students and recent grads: don’t become a lawyer
what do you attribute the high probability of getting fired to?
Up or out. The financial model of almost every big law firm is to have a higher associate to partner ratio, with as many non equity partners as possible relative to equity partners. Although covid skewed the demand for associates, over the long haul the field is contracting when adjusted for inflation and there are tons of freshly minted lawyers who will work for less than an eight year.
I see. I ask because my mate joined an US firm last year. to get to partner, I assume its about bringing in clients after a few years? must be difficult to do in 1-6 yrs, as you say, given the supply.
Generally, you need your own book of business (clients) to make partner unless you become what is called a “service partner” (basically a super associate). You help other partners with their clients. It is not real partnership and a tenuous position.
Because large companies are moving much of their legal work in-house or cutting it (especially litigation), the work big law does is shrinking in demand. Differentiating yourself from all of the other T13 V20 attorneys is impossible, so a partner has to die or you are cousins with the general counsel of a F500 to make it.
thanks. any general thoughts on restructuring law at a decent shop >$1bn in revenue?
Restricting/bankruptcy gives better exit ops than most transactional groups because there is a chance, however slim, of joining an investment fund or a consulting group. Not the norm, but not eyebrow raising. Although there are exceptions, generally a M&A attorney has no chance of entering IB, let alone PE, and the path to do so in very narrow and akin to a tight rope. There are no false steps permitted.
Anyone entering restructuring law should grind out modeling knowledge to be able to exit 1-3 years in when that is most viable. There will be a pay cut and decrease in seniority. The further in you are, the busier you are, so acquiring modeling skills is impractical outside the first year or two.
Bruce Wasserstein did it after going to HBS/HLS.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Wasserstein
”Starting his career as an attorney at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, Wasserstein then moved to First Boston Corp. in 1977 and eventually rose to co-head of that company's then-dominant merger and acquisition practice.11 In 1988, with colleague Joseph Perella, he left First Boston to form investment bank boutique Wasserstein Perella & Co.,12 which he sold in 2000, at the top of the late 1990s bull market, to Germany's Dresdner Bank for around $1.4 billion in stock.13 In 2002, he left the unit Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein (formed by merging Dresdner's United Kingdom unit Kleinwort Benson with Wasserstein Perella) to become head of the financial services firm Lazard.14 In 2005, he led the initial public offering of Lazard and became the public firm's first Chairman and CEO.15”
Is there no flyover law? My parents friends have a husband and wife law firm defends drunk drivers in a very poor part of the country and they're doing extremely well for themselves.
No flyover big law. DUIs and MedMal (called “shit law” on the legal WSO equivalents) can be highly lucrative in flyover. I cannot recommend it, shit law is more saturated than big law by leaps and bounds. Tort reform, insurers refusing to settle soft tissue injuries, and having 200 law schools in a shrinking market make it inadvisable if you have other options, which everyone does.
“No flyover big law” is a bit harsh, there are firms in cities like Dallas (Baker Botts) and Kansas City (Shook Hardy and Bacon) that pay top tier salaries, especially relative to COL, but I do agree that the supply of new law grads vastly outweighs the available opportunities
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