dontknowwheretogo, a few questions:

1. What year are you in law school?  If you are a 1L and are bummed out about not getting a biglaw SA position, then maybe you should wait until 2L Fall OCI, when the large-scale biglaw hiring occurs.  On the other hand, if you are a 2L, hinging your bets on 3L direct-entry hiring may not be such a good idea.

2. What do you mean by "took a gamble" in going to law school?  Were you specifically looking for a biglaw job, or would you be "okay" with a higher-end mid-size position that pays 80-100k?

3. Did you want to be a lawyer before coming to law school?  Do you still want to be a lawyer (keep in mind that law school is not reflective of actual practice, especially the transactional side)?  If so, why?  Is it just for the biglaw salary or for the office environment?

If you really don't like law, then being a biglaw associate will be a very unhappy time for you.  I agree with everything in Jacy's post.  I especially like her comment about "simply wish[ing] we could afford to do something we'd enjoy more."  It's amazing how law school and working in biglaw can change one's view of what's "affordable."

You may have very good grades for the FIRST semester, but how are your interviewing skills?  Also, you don't know what your second semester grades will be.  It's not terribly uncommon for someone with fairly good grades to drop to the middle of the class at the end of the year.  This is especially true if your second semester is weighted (by number of credits or otherwise) more heavily than your first semester.  Believe it or not, not everyone with good grades is automatically hired.

You say you want to be in academia.  You will likely need a bachelor's degree from a top school as well as a JD from a top school, and you will need to have excellent grades, just to teach in a T2 school.  Do you know what academia is like?  You will have very little control over your geographic region (unless you are something like an A+ student), which seems to be fairly important to you.

Like another poster, I am also all for shooting for the stars, but you seem to think that you have a good shot at a CoA clerkship.  You mentioned that you want a CoA-level clerkship "at the least."  Perhaps you should do a little more research into the competitiveness of clerkship slots.  Also, competition will only increase in the near future as...

(1) law school grads, even those with good grades, apply for clerkships because they can't secure a biglaw position

(2) laid off junior associates that apply for clerkships (a growing trend is for 1st- and 2nd-year associates to take a leave of absence to be a federal clerk for a year)

Hi Big Time, thanks for the reply. I am definitely attracted to this work; I've been taking on nonprofit clients pro bono since law school. I imagine the workload would be less, but it is definitely the practice that attracts me. Thanks for the heads up about exempt work being subsumed in other groups in large law firms.

You seem pretty knowledgeable, could you give me some advice on how I can find a job doing exempt work? I do not think these jobs are aplenty, in general, and making a switch is generally not easy, especially in this kind of market. I've never seen these openings advertised. I'm planning to conduct informational interviews of attorneys doing this kind of work to make contacts, but I'm not sure how far this will get me. The job market is so tough right now. Thanks in advance for any advice you can give me!

Hey changeling,

I think it's great that you are interested in this type of work.  I, too, don't see lateral T&E positions advertised that often.  You are already doing "informational" interviews, and I'm sure you will find these to be beneficial.  Here are some other steps that I would add, if I may:

1. You are doing some tax-exempt work for pro bono clients.  Can you see if you can position yourself for a board of directors/governors/trustees position?  Depending on the organization, such a position could make you more valuable from a law firm's perspective.  The position could also help you get larger pro bono clients and other directorships.

2. Does your corporate group do any work for family/closely-held businesses?  If so, see if you can handle the business succession issues (passing large business interests from one generation to another according to the client's wishes and with a minimum of taxes).  This type of work is a component of many T&E groups.

3. Does your firm have a T&E group, or at least a tax-exempt practice within the Tax group?  If so, maybe you can talk to the partners, take an assignment, and set yourself up for a future transition to the group.

4. What city are you in?  Is a Tax LLM a "hidden" job requirement for T&E positions in your city?  Take a look at the biographies of T&E associates for the various firms in your city to get an idea.

It sounds like OP has no desire to be a lawyer.  As a society we view UG as intrinsically valuable, but the difference in pay with a degree vs. without is much higher over a lifetime than law degree (from bottom of the class) to without.  I'm not suggesting that everyone in the bottom of the class drop out.  I am suggesting that OP, who doesn't really want to be a lawyer/be in law school/just went for having nothing else to do, should seriously consider dropping out. 

Assuming OP has no undergrad debt (which could be a big assumption), $150k in law school loan debt would require about $200k in total repayments over 10 years.  OP's monthly payment will be $1726 over 10 years, and the financial aid calculator suggests that he needs an annual salary of $200k to pay it back while living comfortably.  If OP uses 15% of salary to pay it back, OP still needs $150k salary to live comfortably.

Add in the foregone income of between $40-60k per year for 2.5 more years -- $100k-150k.  Law school will thus cost the OP $300-350k, and OP will need a biglaw salary to pay back the loans while living comfortably.  This doesn't even factor in the opportunity for OP being 2.5 years higher on the job rung ladder by dropping out and getting a job now.  If OP drops out now, OP could be in a much better financial position.

Maybe the sacrifices are worth it if you really want to be a lawyer, but if you don't, then you should damn sure think twice about graduating at the bottom of the class and hoping to make $150k starting. 

I'll have to disagree with you on a few points.

First, if you take out $150,000 in federal loans (Stafford and Grad Plus) at a rate of $50,000 per year (so your actual debt at graduation is more than $150k), your monthly payments will be around $2,000 on a 10-year re-payment term.

Second, most lenders offer re-payment terms of up to 20 years for large debts, allowing for monthly payments of around $1,400.

Third, even at $2,000/mo, you don't need $200k per year to live comfortably.  If you make $200,000 per year, you will take home about $120-130k after taxes (federal income, state income, social security, medicare, unemployment) without any deductions, exemptions, or credits.  That comes out to $8k to $10k per MONTH, after making your loan payments.  You don't need $8k to $10k per month to live "comfortably," by any reasonable interpretation of the word.

[I'm not sure which "financial aid calculator" you used, but it's always a good idea to check the numbers for yourself before posting them.  Not to do so is like copying-and-pasting a summer associate's work product into a motion without checking the research.]

Fourth, if the OP takes a job working for the government (at any level) or for a qualified non-profit organization, the OP can take advantage of the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 1997.  At an adjusted gross income of $50,000, monthly loan payments for that $150k debt would only be $430/month, and the entire balance of the loan (principal + interest) will be canceled after 10 years.

What is your ideal lifestyle / compensation balance?