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[Have you watched the nick berg video?]

Have you watched the nick berg video?

i sought it out and watched it

 5 (29.4%)

i ran into it inadvertantly

 1 (5.9%)

i will avoid this video at all costs

 11 (64.7%)

Total Members Voted: 12

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[Felsen]

20 Hours of work per week.  It doesn't apply during the summer break, and I hadn't though to wonder about the winter break till now, but I can't imagine anyone making a stink about it, since you shouldn't have anything to study during that time anyway.

[Felsen]

FWIW, the guy I work for told me he had no problems working 20+ hours a week during 2L and 3L.  Granted, he's a workaholic, but the sense that life changes pretty dramatically after 1L seems to be a universal.

That's what I've heard too.  1L is the hardest year, 2L is still tough, but not as bad.  3L you mostly coast on by, because you know most of what you need to know.  The school probably has to figure that students will be gone semi-regularly on callback interviews.

And can you mention the name of the firm, so we know which workaholic place to avoid?    Unfortunately, I'm afraid we'll have to deal with workaholics nearly anywhere we go till we open up our own firms.

[Felsen]

I expect to get a job at a big law firm when I graduate.  General concensus is that they have the best training programs, and that if you want to lateral elsewhere, you have a much easier time.  I don't know what will happen after that.  We'll have a kid entering kindergarden right after I graduate, so that will start to be a concern.

I hope to work at a big law firm for at least 3 years, or until I have debt paid off and some money in the bank, whichever is later.  By that time, I should know if I am doing well enough to be considered a partner-track associate.  After that, maybe I'll try a small-mid firm; maybe I'll try for a Judicial Clerkship at that point; or maybe I'll hunt one of y'all down and start renting some office space.

[Felsen]

I've considered going straight into a boutique firm immediately.  I just don't think I'll be ready to commit absolutely to Patent law from the get-go.  I want to spend my first year sticking my fingers in all sorts of pots and seeing what tastes good.  I don't think I can reasonably expect to be decided after just two summer internships.

Quality of Life issues are something I'm also very concerned about.  I do see them being better at the smaller firms.  Its one reason I keep open the option of starting my own practice, just in case I can't find anywhere with the qualities I want.

[Felsen]

that's a good point.  i'm not looking at academia or a clerkship (most likely not at least), so I'd be using LR to get a great paying job at a great firm after school.

I'm basically in the same boat, except that I wouldn't mind a clerkship or becoming a professor after law school.  I guess you have to do the former to get the latter.  I just don't want to live off of 40K for a year in New York or Washington D.C. after law school.  I still haven't found a good spot listing what professors make.

[Texas88]

At the top schools (not that you would start there), professor's salaries are something like $300 K/yr. I know this because my friend took a class on the "economics of the university" at Cornell (my alma mater) and quoted that figure to me. (He won an award at graduation for being "The BEST student in the government department" (of 160 students), so I tend to trust his facts.

As for smaller schools, my dad taught at Northern Illinois University Law in the '70s and he and my mother lived very comfortably, although I don't know how that translates with inflation and whatnot, althogh his collegue stayed there for 30 years, just retired 2 years ago, and has a lovely vacation home where she's living out her golden years.

HTH

[Felsen]

If that's the salary professors make, maybe I'll have to consider it more.  I expect starting salaries to be around half that, though, at the non-T14 Tier 1+2 schools.

OK, glancing around, it does sound like $60K is a bit closer to the salary of Federal Judicial Clerks nowadays.  I saw the $40K figure quoted somewhere as the 1998 level.  Still, $60K is quite small for a family living in an area like DC.  They mentioned something about salary matching for those coming from a law firm job already.  I didn't read many details on it, though.

[simone]

Am I the only one interested in working for a non-profit after law school?
I know it doesn't make the big bucks....and that will be hard to turn down...but I work for the litigation department at a non-profit right now and I love it.

[Felsen]

or you guys can be joe jamail, and make $1 Billion in one case.

and then cry when you see the IRS take millions from you.   

The day the IRS is able to take millions from me is probably not a day that I'll be crying.