Be Careful What You Wish For... Again!

Okay, so I'd been assigned a number of cases that were in a deep lull... well all that changed, today! Now I have some of the most time-intensive cases thrust upon me, and I have to get up to speed quickly. I really will start earning my pay... while it isn't much, it's fair for a small firm. This is a strange existence. In a (handsomely paying) big firm, I'd have tons of document-oriented, time-intensive projects that could easily burn 7-8 billable hours a day. In a small firm, not so much. But you get to work a lot of the processes and get more exposure to the judicial system. Given the choice, I'd rather be learning to litigate at a small firm than being some document bitch at a big firm. Litigator, or Document Bitch... Litigator, or Document Bitch... which would you choose? For me, that's an easy call. I'm excited about the thought of becoming a litigator... a real advocate for my clients. I can't wait for the day when I can stand up there and argue the facts and law to crush my opponents under my heels. I can't wait for the day when people ask for me to represent them. Should I be careful once more for what I wish? The pay would go up - I'd get 20% of whatever my clients bring in. That could get me up to 70 or 80k if I brought enough stuff or got to the point where ALL my business (25-30 cases) were mine alone. And if I got into personal injury work, it could pay very handsomely. PI is usually done on contingency, I believe, and 33% of a large settlement could make a very nice year. We'll see. I have yet to pass the bar! Some good news - my gf just landed a great job. The commute sucks bc it's long, but it should be relatively frustration-free as she gets to travel against traffic. I'm so happy for her. She's really needed something that would engage her brain, something that would actually start building a career - as opposed to being in admin for the rest of her life. She's got a degree, a paralegal certification, and a real estate license. She has no experience as a paralegal, but she enjoyed learning in her class. Now she actually has a paralegal job - she'll be doing stuff that is echelons above the junk she'd been doing to pay the bills. It's not a classic paralegal job, but it melds a bunch of things together for her - her interest in real estate (the position is with a realty company), she will have some legal-oriented duties, and the company is flexible enough about her commute and traveling to make her hours flexible and provide some extra pay, and throw in a laptop for work. How awesome is that? All those snooty law firms missed out. They all wanted to make her Yet Another Admin Bitch, as opposed to taking advantage of her college degree, paralegal certification, AND years of practical real estate experience. Large law firms lack vision when it comes to hiring; they are so cookie-cutter when it comes to "experience". All they care about are grades and schools (for attorneys) and years experience as a paralegal/legal secretary - that is, unless you are some straight A student out of an ivy league college. Again, the stupid grades and schools. Pedigree can be such a bitch when you're on the wrong side of it. Big firms are such myopic whores for big-name schools, they miss the big picture. They lack the vision to realize that: 1. A person with a professional license knows things that a brand new ivy would take years to learn; 2. Any monkey can use Lexis or Westlaw if they know the right keywords, which comes from substantive knowledge (see bullet #1); and 3. A more mature person without the ivy isn't a lesser creature than one with the ivy. Elitist pricks. Yay, the return of my 3-bullet list! :) But in keeping with tonight's theme... yes, law firms must beware what they ask for. Because it takes more time, more pain of attrition and turnover, and more energy to be a myopic grade/school whore. And they miss out on some really good people. But that's okay. Because there are wonderful opportunities (and greater opportunities to live life) outside the cubicle farms of the big firms. And that, I think, is a choice I would make any day.