| Topic Name: |
Why so many hours for so little money? |
| Message Name: |
Don't worry |
| Date Posted: |
03/19/2006 |
| In Reply To: |
Law is very different from auditing but still a service business.
3 extra years of education cost you what - say $150,000 all in? 3 years of not working cost you what another $170,000 in lost pay. When you make up the $320,000 differential let me know. |
| Message: |
I do transactional work and it's somewhat similar to what I'd do at an accounting firm, only more interesting. Making up the pay differential is pretty easy. I took a large scholarship at Duke instead of going to one of the higher ranked schools I got into, so I only have around $30k in debt. Here's how it will work out for me. I included the bonus with the salary since it would be pretty hard to bill so few hours that I don't get it.
LAW ACCOUNTING
Year 1 -10k 50k
Year 2 -10k 55k
Year 3 -10k 60k
Year 4 170k 70k
Year 5 185k 80k
Year 6 200k 90k
Those raises might even be more aggresive than what accountants get, but even under this comparison you can see that there is already a huge gap after 3 years in a firm. It only gets more compelling in later years. The law raises start getting bigger and bigger to help firms keep the valuable people who are starting to get sick of the firm life.
There just isn't any way to rationalize working for a paltry Big 4 salary. In my opinion, IF someone is smart enough to nail the LSAT and get into some top law schools, they would be foolish to accept a Big 4 offer. On the other hand, if someone bombs the LSAT it's probably a better idea not to go to law school because employment prospects outside the top 20 or so schools are VERY bad.
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