| Topic Name: |
Medical School or Law School? |
| Message Name: |
Bad advice |
| Date Posted: |
10/30/2001 |
| In Reply To: |
The problem with law is that 99% of attorneys do it wrong. Most of what you will read here is complete myth. Here's my story -- take it for what it's worth. I went to a great law school, but it is considered by most to be a third-tier school. I studied my brains out and did so well that I received a full scholarship for my second and third years. I was already on a partial scholarship based on my LSAT score. Thus, I graduated with very little debt as a result. It was never my intention to work at a big firm, and I had heard all the claims that only graduates from the top schools get hired by the top firms, but that was not true. I had standing offers at the top firms before I even interviewed, because I was Editor in Chief of the law review. I stuck it out at the big firm for four years. What no one seems to understand is that even though it is true that you make a great salary, that salary translates to about $35 per hour based on the insane number of hours you are required to bill. (Do the math -- to bill the 2200 to 2400 hours most firms expect, you need to work around 3000 hours per year.) I was smart enough to realize that working on my own, or even as a contract attorney, I could make a lot more than $35 per hour. I started my own firm, expecting to take a big pay hit for the first few years. I was wrong. My first year on my own I made THREE TIMES what I was earning at the big firm, working far fewer hours. The next year was not quite as good, but still more than my prior big firm wage. This year has been one of my best ever. On top of all my hourly fee cases, I took in three contingency fees in the $50,000 range this year, and a number of smaller ones. Yesterday I wrote myself a check for $118,000 from my trust account for another contingency fee. My advice to future attorneys: Get over yourself. The "prestige" law firm nonsense is a myth created by the attorneys at those firms in order to try and rationalize their horrible lifestyle. Forget the top schools, forget the "top firms." No client has ever asked me where I went to school or where I have practiced. Get your degree at a good, inexpensive state school, and then do your "residency" at a small firm where you will actually learn how to practice law (I cringe when a big firm is on the other side of a case since I know I will be spending my time teaching the attorney the most fundamental litigation procedures.) When you are ready, start your own firm and pocket all the profits instead of making the profits for someone else. Good luck to you all. |
| Message: |
Well-intentioned, but wrong - simply wrong. The surest means of success is to emulate success, to duplicate it, to COPY it.
Mr Rhodes advice is to forget about the BIGLAW route and instead go to the smaller firms, learn everything, and then strike out on your own. But this is NOT WHAT HE DID. Why should someone expect similar success, or ANY success, doing something different?? Why?
First, he was Editor-In-Chief of his schools' Law Review. How many are there for each law school? One at any given time. Odds are it WON'T be you....
Second, he had a partial and then a full scholarship. Not very many law students will be lucky or good enough to merit that. Law schools make money by charging tuition. Most graduating law students will face a MOUNTAIN OF DEBT. Trust me, it's bigger than a breadbasket....
Third, he worked at BIGLAW for four years. He was IN THE ENVIRONMENT. He had ACCESS to clients, paperwork, procedures, partners, knowledge, contacts that small-firm attorneys DO NOT HAVE.
Despite knocking the prestige of BIGLAW, he HAS IT. It is to his BENEFIT. In sum, he has a "pedigree" of success - a track record. No client has asked where he went to school? They DON'T NEED TO.
This is a well-intentioned post but logically it makes no sense.
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