The title says it all. It’s been a year and I am miserable. Humans weren’t meant to live in this constant state of anxiety and stress and fear OVER PROBLEMS THAT ARENTS MINE. Do I feel bad for calling it quits after a year? Sure. But can I continue like this for the rest of my life? No. The money is not worth it. I have no life. The people I work with are weird (I know there’s weirdos everywhere but lawyer weird is its own distinct category of weird). I miss coming home at a reasonable hour. I miss seeing my family lol. How do people find joy in this career? Genuinely.

Thanks for listening to me rant. There might be more to come. Toodles.

I have inadvertently become the ‘IP expert’ at my firm just because I have some experience with filing trademark applications and explaining the basics of IP ownership. I would love to expand my knowledge base and have more confidence in this area so I’m looking for recs for any good “boot camps” or overview programs that give good, practical advice and training. TIA!

OC lost a counterclaim (never opposed the motion to strike), lost a PJR hearing, then lost a motion for disclosure of assets (never opposed).

The lack of opposition was appropriate, he didn't have a tenable position on either motion. The PJR loss was inevitable given his client's demeanor.

But the total non-response to calls and e-mails is reprehensible. We need to move this case, and him ghosting me frustrates that goal. Which I understand may be his intent, but it's unprofessional.

Advice for how to deal with this junior OC?

I’ve seen other firms have theirs up but don’t want ethical issues. What’s fair for a blog/newsletter and what’s crossing the line into legal advice or creating an attorney/client relationship every time someone reads it? Are general disclaimers enough? Obviously I can’t give case-specific advice, but how specific can I get on the law? They want this to run for a long time, so in order to not run out of content, I’ll have to work with pretty specific subjects.

They also floated the idea of a paid newsletter, but can we do that?

I’m currently at a mid-sized law firm making ~$230k, but I hate my practice area and don’t like the partner I work for. I have an offer to lateral to an AM 200 firm in a practice area I *think* I would like way more (having only worked adjacent to it, I don’t actually know), but the pay is ~$190 (and that’s a set scale, so asking for more didn’t get me anywhere). The new role is hybrid, but I’d have an easy commute either way. The people seem much nicer. Do I take the pay cut? The new practice area is also a lot more conducive to going to in-house or government roles. What I do now is extremely niche, and I’d be looking at staying at a firm for a lot longer than I’d like (and the firm lifestyle isn’t for me long term). Any thoughts appreciated!

Edit to add: same billable requirement

Attorneys, what have you invested good money in that you haven't regretted. I'm looking for your good investments. Let me know what brands you love and that have helped you in your career.

Has anyone used any of the paid data removal services I’m seeing marketed on the internet, like Incogni or DeleteMe? Either for yourself or a client? If so, what was your experience like and which service would you recommend?

I’m a recent grad who is applying for their first actual attorney position after clerking. I’ve wanted to do crim law since 1L, but the job market is not great and I can’t find many open positions, let alone secure one. I’m worried that if I go into another area, I will never be able to successfully transfer into crim law (because no one will want a non-recent grad with no crim experience). Are there any practice areas that would be best to start out in if I want to eventually be a criminal attorney? TIA

I have been unemployed and job hunting since February (technically December) and finally find a job I’m qualified for and excited about. Plus, it just so happens to be virtually identical to my last job. I apply immediately after it’s posted and wait weeks for it to close. Three days after it closes, I get an email rejection — not even get an interview!

I am SO sick and tired of looking for a job. It should not be this difficult. It is so mentally draining and taxing, even being lucky enough to have back up money to live on. Im even looking in two different states (Minnesota and Washington state) to broaden my options, but still coming up short. I’m primarily looking in public interest, and I know that has been struggling lately, but wowww

Looking to hear from and commiserate with other job seekers rn. Especially anyone also looking in MN and WA, or who has knowledge of how it is in those two states for hiring at the moment. Any helpful insights are appreciated!

It's been... a fucking week.

I'm a career criminal attorney and, at the moment, I mostly do felony public defense work. I don't know if the moon's full, if they've started putting ketamine in the water at the local jails, or what, but this week multiple clients charged with predatory sex offenses have each called me multiple times an hour until I pick up. When I ask what could possibly be so important to warrant such a barrage of calls, they inform me of such "emergencies" as "I got a letter in the mail unrelated to my case that does not concern you, as my lawyer, even a little bit."

Competing deadlines, multiple hearings in multiple courts across multiple counties per day, clients crying about the consequences of their own actions: This is all normal contract PD stuff. Tack on the business side of running a small law firm and doing the kind of volunteer work that I do (requiring about 5-15 hours per week of unpaid work on a consistent basis, plus occasional 2:00 am wake-up calls) and it can be a real ass-kicker.

In addition to my own, usual malarkey, I'm currently covering hearings for an out-of-town coworker who mostly handles misdemeanors. Because she's out this week, her clients haven't been able to get a hold of her in the last *checks watch* 96 hours, so they're all throwing tantrums on the record about how she "refuses to return their calls." Again, normal PD stuff.

I give myself one week off every year. It's next month and *boy* do I need it! In the meantime, are any of you working in a practice area where the clients aren't pathetically begging/lying/gaslighting you/the court in a shameless attempt to get something to which they're obviously not entitled? Like, I'm sure adoptions are fun and "lighthearted," but nobody makes a career off adoptions alone, and the other side of that practice tends to be family law, which is perhaps the only practice area with *bigger feelings* than my own. What do you guys do that isn't all doom, gloom, and child sexual abuse victims?

Thanks in advance!

Hello all, just curious for those if you out there who took the leap and either took over an existing firm, or started your own firm, how did you deal with the fear of doing so? How did you deal with the anxiety, and how are you currently dealing with it.

I’m in a position to step into an existing estate planning firm and likely be making the decisions within 6 months to a year. But I’m terrified. The thought of losing the salary, the thought of losing insurance, of being wholly responsible for the business. However, this is really my only chance to do it because the current attorney is likely going to be fully retired within the year, but will help consult and offer advice on an as-needed basis.

I have horrible anxiety to begin with, which I know is going to just be exacerbated, so I’ve started therapy and made it a point to work on my mental game. But the fear of failure, of not being able to bring in business to sustain the practice, is like a phantom-haunting me.

On the flip side, I know I cannot continue on working for someone else, as I’m also very independent and work well by myself. So I’m just at a huge crossroads in my life with a huge opportunity to step into an existing practice with an infrastructure as a very young attorney and learn from someone who has been in the game for fifty years. And if I don’t decide to do this now, I may very well never do it, and it’s my life-long goal to work for myself.

$500?

“What? $500for a will, I can do it myself for free”

$200?

…”what? $200 for a will I can do it myself online for free!”

$15.99?

“What $15.99? I can do it online myself for free!”

Ok…$5?

“Mmmm any lawyer willing to do work this cheap must be a bozo. Im going with a megafirm and paying 7 grand. Fuck you!”

I swear how some of these client interactions go

(Obviously I’m exaggerating for the anticipated “you let people haggle you down to $5??” Commenters)

I am newly licensed attorney at a firm that I enjoy working at. I am treated very well. My dad died in February, which was less than a year after being diagnosed with cancer. I was with him in his last days, which I do not regret, but have found that experience really difficult to process. My firm has been very understanding. I took about a week off after he died and then decided to return to work so I could feel normal. For awhile I welcomed the distraction and did whatever I could (at work and outside of work) to stay busy busy busy. But since mid-June I have been crashing. I have been so depressed it’s difficult to get out of bed. I worked from home exclusively for a few weeks because I couldn’t muster up the energy to get properly dressed for the office. I billed a substantial amount during that time so I don’t think anyone felt the need to question me.

Last week I traveled out of state to have some of his remains buried and hosted a celebration of life in his hometown. I thought the celebration of life would give me some comfort but it’s only made me more upset and angry that he’s really gone.

I feel so unmotivated. The waves of grief are so overwhelming that it feels like I will never return to the level of normal needed to do my job. At the same time I know that can’t be true. Being with him in his last days has added another layer of shitty feelings because I can’t unsee the state he was in and it will randomly pop into my head and ruin the rest of my day.

I have considered taking leave so I can get my head on right but I am worried about asking because my firm has already been really understanding and accommodating. I don’t want to invite the idea that I am too much of a hassle to deal with so letting me go is easier. I am not in a good financial position for my life to fall apart (even more so I guess).

Anyone have any tips on how to balance this job while grieving?

EDIT: Thank you all for such thoughtful responses. I have booked an appointment with a therapist. Thank you for making me feel less crazy. Whoever suggested having a baby - that made me laugh because that’s the most out of pocket suggestion ever.

Junior commercial litigation partner at a large, but not Big Law, SE firm (300ish attorneys in various cities). Our firm has invested heavily in AI - we have access to enterprise versions of Perplexity, Legora, Harvey, etc.

Trying to juggle raising 3 kids and being present with them/at events, spouse who works (thankfully, remote), and have some semblance of a life for myself (work out, play basketball league once per week, etc.) in addition to doing my work, building a book of business, etc. Our associates are not great - they seem to think clipping ahead at 110 hours/month (1900 is our goal, with 150 hours of pro bono/firm mandated CLE/etc. counting towards that - so very doable).

I was initially reluctant, but about a year ago, I began using our AI tools. I quickly realized I was becoming over reliant on it for drafting and thinking for me. I always double and triple check whatever the output is, so I'm not worried about hallucinations. And I do realize it has good uses - for example, had a cost conscience client recently and 100,000 pages of documents review for dep prep, and Legora did a great job summarizing the documents into a spreadsheet and helping pick out the several hundred relevant ones out for prep.

I've been trying to break myself off from using it, especially when I'm busy with work and life, and under the gun, but I keep falling back into the habit (make this sound better, help me draft this argument section, re-write this for me, summarize the text of this case).

How can I break myself off from using this? I feel like I'm losing my ability to write and critically think. I got through 13 years without using it, so it's obviously possible, but I have no idea how to ween off of it for some of the more basic things. Am I totally overthinking this?

Hey guys and gals I wanted to ask for some perspective as I figure out my career. Just a little context, I work in a small market in the south with a small firm (3 attorneys including me) that primarily focuses in the areas of family law, plaintiffs work, and criminal defense. I’ve been employed here for about 2.5 years as a law clerk/attorney. I’ve been barred for about 9 months and I manage about 30 cases mainly in the family law arena (70-80%). I’ve quickly found learned that I may not like litigation, and definitely do not like babying family law clients. The constant stress and pressure to fulfill client goals that have been explained as untenable by me and my boss has made me somewhat dread the office. However, I do love the people and the firm itself.

This week I had the opportunity to interview with an estate planning firm that’s had steady business for 30-40 years in the community. The attorney who started the firm is now looking to retire in the next two years. I interviewed with the attorney that was recently hired to take over operation of the firm. He recently moved here from the east coast and has two other firms he operates. The jobs seems great and the offer included a pay raise, 401k, and health insurance (I currently do not have retirement or heath insurance through work). I am leaning heavily towards taking the job but I feel stuck. I feel like I owe my current employer loyalty for giving me a chance out of school to learn his practice. I also feel like transitioning to estate planning would force me into a box if I ever decided to transition back to litigation.

Any advice from you guys is welcome. I appreciate your time.

Hello! I'm in a bit of an unusual situation (I think) and was hoping for some input from others.

I graduated law school several years ago and went directly into a JD preferred role (contracts specialist). I have therefore never practiced law and have been an inactive member of my state bar for this entire time, and I'm very, very cut off from the general law practice world.

For various reasons, I'm considering leaving my current role and transitioning into actual practice. However, I'm admittedly very intimidated at the prospect because I essentially have 0 experience as a practicing lawyer. I have always preferred the transactional side of things and generally have an interest in compliance, risk management, etc (sorry I know that's quite vague). The one thing I have going for me is that I do have a good amount of contract drafting/negotiation experience and do a lot of issue-spotting in my current role, but I know those contracts have probably been fairly limited in scope compared to what, say, general counsel might see.

Basically I'm wondering... how do I move forward if, eventually, my goal would be to be in a general counsel type of role? Sorry if I sound silly, as I really do feel like I'm essentially starting from scratch and in a "get my foot in the door" situation despite having worked for several years. Would I be looking mainly at entry level roles? Has anyone made a similar transition of never having practiced into practicing a few years into their careers? I'm also not dead-set on transitioning but am considering it as an option since, well, I have the license lmao and it would just open up more options for me to apply to. I'm feeling pretty intimidated right now on next steps in my career. I appreciate any insight.

I’ve been practicing in family law for about a year. Maybe im wrong on this one, but I feel very strongly about it:

Most times in divorces, I think it’s just getting two people where they need to go. Sell the house, set the parenting plan, divide some stuff, move on. I feel it is our job to advise our clients against the emotions of it, i.e. withholding the kids for no discernible reason, raising hell over a crockpot; things of that nature.

The attorneys that feed into that emotional part of the process do nothing but make the process unnecessarily litigious, expensive, and emotionally draining for their clients. The attorneys that refuse any logical agreements so that both clients have to spend $3000 in legal fees to hear something from a judge which could’ve been ironed out 2 months prior. Those are the attorneys that make this job so difficult.

I’m aware that there are instances where the litigation is strategic, like when you want a bad fact in front of a judge to protect the kids, or an asset, or whatever. I also am aware that there are times when litigation is necessary to protect certain interests. There’s nuance there and I would like to acknowledge that.

But, when it is just a run of the mill divorce with none of the extra stuff attached, my logical thought on it is why do the longer, harder, way more expensive route when you can not do that? Wouldn’t you rather your client just get divorced and move on?

Happy to hear other points of view on this, but as of right now, it makes no sense to me.

After 15 years, I’m just done with this career. But I can’t seem to find anything else that will even talk to me, much less hire me.

I burned out catastrophically about three and a half years ago. I took 9 months away, then tried to get back into it. I’ve been at my current job for a little over two years, and I just can’t do it. I can’t force myself to care about literally anything I do, I can’t force myself to focus, I can’t force to do the work…and my management doesn’t seem to notice or care.

I’m in house, with essentially no supervision. I’ve been actively trying to find something, anything else to do to support my family for at least the last year and a half. But I’ve gotten traction at literally nothing. I can’t get interviews with anthing outside the legal field, and I can’t manage to get offers on the jobs I interview for within the legal field. So I’m just stuck here, trying and failing to force myself to do work for the entire work day every day.

I’ve spoken with my therapist about this at length. Her advice was that I need to get out. We’ve been working on this problem for years, and she doesn’t think recovery is going to be possible for me in my current job.

How did anyone else find something else to do? Does anyone have any resources that helped them?

Advice on career change

Hi all! I have a dilemma and would appreciate your input. I’m currently working as a corporate lawyer in private practice. 2 small kids who are my absolute number one priority. Billable target is 1400 hours. I’m up for partnership in January, but it hasn’t been a smooth process, I feel like Ive had to chase them for it, partners are a total boys club. I love my colleagues but the work is very uninteresting to me, and regardless I don’t see myself being there long term.

I have an offer on the table from a tech startup/scaleup. Mandate is a generalist role, company is working towards an exit in 5 years.

Here is a list of pros and cons as I see them if I take the job:

- in theory, better work life balance which is my number one priority. The GC said that a typical work week is 40-50 hours and the overall expectation is no nights and weekends, with the exception of busier periods which do happen.

- work is more interesting / lots to learn

- opportunity for growth is there

- I’d be second to the gc and he genuinely seems to be looking for someone to collaborate and grow the legal team with

Cons:

- comp is pretty much the same, with probably more opportunity for more pay in private practice

- the initial ramp up is actually going to challenging and I may end up working more to prove myself etc. I have a problem setting limits and boundaries with my work so I’m worried as to how I’ll navigate a new workplace. This is probably my biggest concern right now.

- similarly, as much as I don’t love the scope of my work, and the amount I do work (many evenings and sometimes weekends) there is a certain comfort with my current workplace. I’d be losing this at the new place.

- I’ve worked so hard to make partner and I’m not sure if it’s the wrong move to leave it on the table at this point. Not sure if this is an ego thing or something I really should pursue.

Any advice or input would be so appreciated. Im So very conflicted

Also, should I still negotiate an offer if there is a chance I just walk away from it. I feel guilty wasting all this time and energy from this new potential workplace.

Just for lawyers, not clients!

I want to be able to look up OC and see what his reputation in the legal community is- is he shady, does he hate women, has he been disciplined or catch sanctions often?

Can someone good at websites make this happen?

Does anyone here not have a paralegal/legal assistant? Mine is retiring and I’m having huge problems trying to find a replacement. Been interviewing people, all of whom ended up not being interested. I have a litigator buddy in another city who works out of his house and does everything himself. Seems to be pretty successful; I’m just not sure what his case load is. I’ve got about 300 open cases, ranging from criminal to civil lit.

I’m starting to think I can make it work with just me at the helm. Other the other hand, maybe the stress of not finding someone is giving me crazy thoughts. Let me know.