When I graduate, I want a job that comes as close to a 40-hour work week as I can reasonably get. I'm not afraid of hard work, but I have a family and I don't want to be penalized for it. Is there such a thing in the legal field?
Although I don't live in a big city, the bigger firms we have treat you like they own you. I don't want to be treated like a juvenile and I also don't want to start at $30,000 a year. Is there any hope?
SJ, Syracuses
DEAR SJ,
Of course there is hope, SJ; LawCrossing never says otherwise. Let's see what you ought to consider doing.
First, however, LawCrossing feels compelled to defend the bigger law firms you condemn. Simply put, in law, the words "hard work" are a euphemism for "long hours." When law firms tell you they work hard, it doesn't mean that they hew stone into legal briefs. It means that, like Dracula, they eschew daylight. Some simple economics explain why the big bucks of large firms come at a big price.
If you start at $80,000, that means that as a rule of thumb the firm will have to charge clients about $240,000 to cover your salary, benefits, overhead, profit, and so on. If they bill you out at, say, $100 an hour, they've got to bill out 2400 hours on you for a year. And if you add an average 300 hours a year for training, interviewing, and so on, and tack on an additional 20% for time you blow at work on talking with colleagues and other nonbillable time, you're talking a six-day week at 11 hours a day. Of course firms don't all follow this exact formula, but it does show that the "sweatshop" atmosphere of many firms is directly traceable to the bucks they pay. And that is, of course, why many large firm associates say that what they really have are two $80,000- a-year jobs.
For instance, in private practice, you could consider working for a large firm on a part-time basis. As Laura Rowe Lane points out, "Many large firms offer part-time and flex-time work, but many people don't take them up on it." Even on a part-time basis the pay is good, and so are the benefits.
You could also be a contract attorney for a larger firm. As a contract attorney you sign on for a project for a period of time, say between six months and two years (and you can do this over and over again). Laura Rowe Lane says that, "You can get one aspect of a case, like discovery, or a whole project. You might get benefits, and the pay is typically attractive, between $20 and $45 an hour." Although you don't want to be an associate at a large firm, SJ, many contract associates are invited to stay as permanent associates by the firms they work for.
You could also consider smaller firms, which typically require fewer hours, but the pay is commensu- rately less. The $30,000 salary you're trying to avoid wouldn't be an unusual starting point for a smaller firm, but it's important to note that where you start doesn't say anything about what you'll make in six months or a year. You can up the ante by negotiating for a salary plus a portion of the business you bring in, or a bonus based on cases you win (if you want to litigate). If you have questions about whether the hours at a given firm really are what you're looking for, you can typically "Smoke it out from associates," says Laura Rowe Lane. Or you can do your own detective work. If a firm tells you it expects a 40-hour week from its associates, and you call or stop by at 6:30 p.m. and the attorneys are still there, they're probably not putting in a 40-hour week, no matter what they tell you.
You might consider avoiding a firm altogether by freelancing for many small firms. You can do research or write briefs, for instance. This works because the workload of many sole practitioners and small firms is unpre-dictable, so they can't take on a full-time associate but may have plenty of projects for freelancers. Or, as Laura Rowe Lane suggests, you could latch onto just one sole practitioner who needs help; she knows a law school graduate with small children who works from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. for a lawyer, and tends her children the rest of the time. And LawCrossing knows of women law graduates with family concerns who ensure a reasonable week by banding together and opening their own firms straight out of law school. It lacks security, to be sure, but makes up for that in autonomy and excitement. If you have an entrepreneurial bent and similar-minded friends, it might be an idea for you.
You may also consider clerking for a judge. Clerkship hours are typically very attractive, and most judicial clerks love their jobs-interesting work, schmoozing with judges, getting great respect from lawyers-it's a great life. Court administration jobs, like being a staff attorney as opposed to clerking for a particular judge, is also a great alternative, if doing legal research rings your chimes.
So there is more than hope of finding a great job that won't own you-there's a big, bold, inviting reality
