About to enter 3rd year of law school, just realized I don't like the profession

[TheBigQuestion]

So here I am, about to go into my third and final year of law school. My summer job ends in ten days and, unlike a good portion of my classmates who have been schlepping around with unpaid internships, I actually made decent money working at a firm that focuses on commercial litigation. In that sense, I am very lucky, as I’m still a pretty middle-of-the-road law student. I learned a ton and did a lot of hands-on work, even though the actual mentoring and supervision was sorely lacking. So what’s the problem?

 

Despite the fact that I also worked at this firm last summer and did far more low-level “intern”-like work back then, it was only this summer that made me realize that I don’t really like working in a law firm. At all. I actually had to do the work that lawyers do to realize that I dislike it. Now, one could say that it was just the firm I worked for, or the types of law the firm practiced. I admit these are possibilities, but I also have a sneaking suspicion that it is the very nature of the work and the personalities that the law attracts that are really concerning me right now.

 

I’ve found that working in a law firm simply does not challenge me in ways that I find productive or enjoyable, despite the fact that this firm actually DOES task me with some relatively “high-level” legal work. I’ve had to draft extensive research memos on fairly obscure bankruptcy procedures. I’ve written depositions, drafted notices and motions that have been successfully filed in court, and so forth. Most of my clients are extremely high profile commercial creditors.

 

The problem is that my idea of a good work day doesn’t include sorting through tens of thousands of pages of emails in PDF form, trying to locate the ones relevant to a case. I do not get a whole lot of satisfaction tweaking search strings in LexisNexis for hours at a time. I do not enjoy being micromanaged by the partners. I’ve been asked to write letters to courts and/or opposing attorneys, only to be asked to make extensive edits to them, the vast, vast majority of which include changing some of the wording, but almost never their actual meaning. “That’s just my style,” they say. Well if that’s the case, why waste your client’s time asking me to write something that you’re just going to scribble over, barely legibly of course, when you could just write it exactly the way you want it the first time around?

 

I don’t like the fact that there seem to be very few attorneys who actually can articulate what a task entails. I had been doing short research assignments for the founding partner for several weeks where emails a few paragraphs in length sufficed. Then all of a sudden, a slightly more weighty topic comes up, and I provide a slightly longer memo. Then I get an email back telling me that I needed to dig much deeper and that my research was “thoroughly inadequate.” Well, good sir, if you wanted me to write you a treatise, I would have gladly done so. Just say so. I’m not a mind reader, especially when you consider that what I’d been doing for weeks was just fine, according to you. I’ve found that the longer the person has been practicing law, the more their ability to actually communicate has been eroded.

 

This may sound like some very petty whining on my part, but the truth is, most of what I’ve described appears to be intrinsic to the practice of law in general. It’s long been known as the most miserable profession in the United States for a reason: we are on the whole a deeply unsatisfied lot. The mental disorders, physical illnesses, and social problems that so many lawyers face are no longer tucked away. The incredibly poor job prospects and underwhelming pay are finally getting some mainstream exposure. The long hours, the endless tedium, the micromanaging, sniveling partners who despite their experience still make serious blunders on a regular basis and still act like their sh** doesn’t stink. All of these are things I can do without.

 

I’m not alone. There are many people on my law school’s law review (pretty big deal, for those not in the know) who have actively discouraged younger friends and acquaintances from going to law school. With the abysmal job market and the realization that, hey, practicing law actually kind of sucks (especially the really high-paying jobs, believe it or not), most of my peers either now consider going to law school a complete mistake or are ambivalent about it. Many are planning on doing it for only a few years to pay the bills and then network into another career entirely.

 

I can’t lay all the blame on the world, however. I suppose in some respects, I might not be a good fit, although I really don’t think ANY lawyer or law student enjoys doing many of a lawyer’s typical tasks. I’ve come to 3 important realizations: (1) Fine print and details bore the sh** out of me; (2) I don’t have the best attention span, and although the prescription stimulants help, they give me headaches; (3) I do not respond well to condescending criticism, nor do I actually get motivated by fear. Being condescended to and/or being subjected to thinly-veiled threats make me defiant and actually leads me to not care as much about the quality of my work. Fear and condescension are the two main weapons in a senior lawyer’s motivational arsenal. Even though I didn’t think so previously, it turns out I really am one of those “I need to be my own boss” kinds of people.

 

So… any advice? Is there light at the end of the tunnel? Has anyone here successfully transitioned from a law career to something that doesn’t suck? Has anyone stayed in law and managed to survive the tedium and blowhard superiors? If so, how? Any tips on picking a practice area that isn’t sleep-and-headache inducing on a daily basis? My firm has dabbled in nearly all areas, so good luck picking one.

[TaraMaiden]

Please - don't quit Law school! See it through - and I promise you, a Law Degree at the end of it will open doors into other professions... simply because you have a Law Degree, doesn't mean you are confined to working purely in the legal sector - other jobs will beckon, and they will pounce on the fact that you have legal savvy under your belt.

My H went through 4 years of study to get himself a 1st Class Honours. He's 50. He wants to lecture, but he's held a couple of posts in the past two years, which although nowhere near the realm of Law per se he achieved by having that little gem on his CV.

 

don't give up -

Law has so many different avenues - from Marine and Shipping to Human rights - it can take you far....

[USMCHokie]

don't give up -

Law has so many different avenues - from Marine and Shipping to Human rights - it can take you far....

 

Yes indeedy...

 

But seriously though, I had such an epiphany during my final exam of Administrative Law at the end of my second year...I sat in the exam for 3 and a half hours alternating between contemplating life, napping, playing tic tac toe with myself, and going to the bathroom. I turned in a blank blue book.

 

I wish I could have convinced you before you started not to go at all, as law school isn't really the golden road it used to be. But now that you're this far, you must as well finish the last year. I had to be convinced by peers in my class to finish my last year as well. And as Tara says, it does open up new avenues. Just don't expect it to give you much of a leg up above the competition. Employers value experience more than education.

[gaius]

You're not really supposed to enjoy work. It's supposed to be the meal ticket to the things you do enjoy. Family, friends, hobbies. Also, if you think there's no condescending behavior and fear in most other professions you're crazy. Everyone else is right, you've got a decent thing going. Keep up with it.

[Els]

How close are you to the end of law school? Not sure how long that takes in the USA - I'm guessing 4 years?

 

If you've already put 2 years into it and can handle the actual schooling, I would strongly suggest you complete the degree first. There are many types of law and several options for people with a law degree, and you have only tried one of them in one company. Even if you eventually find that you really dislike working in any law-related professions, when you already have a degree it will be easier to branch into other sectors than if you don't have one. There are companies who have hired mathematics, physics, etc grads for highly intellectual jobs such as financial analysis, etc, instead of restricting the job to finance grads. Even though those other grads did not have a 'relevant' degree, the fact that they had one in such a challenging field was one of the things that impressed the employer and revealed an intelligent, hardworking and motivated person who knew how to solve problems and think logically. A law degree might give you a similar edge.

 

Worst comes to worst, there are programs that allow you to get a second degree in a much shorter time, if you already have a primary degree. Not sure what they are called in the USA, you would need to do your own research about those.

[SarahRose]

definitely finish the law school. there are many things you can do with it.

 

i realised at the end of nursing school when i worked in surgery, that i hated it and i was top of my class. i didn't practice but it did allow me to specialise in health information IT.

[turnera]

I agree. Finish the degree. Trust me, being able to say you have a law degree will be huge in opening doors into other things you DO want to do. I know of tons of people with a law degree who go and do other things. But getting that degree puts you in a higher plane in terms of ability to focus, work hard, learn, etc.

 

Once you get the degree, you can go back for a MS in something else.

[TheBigQuestion]

Hmm. I never said that dropping out was an option for me. I fully intend to finish the degree. I guess I was looking more along the lines of advice on how to transition from training for one career into another, some interesting accounts of people blazing their own paths in the industry, tips for finding a legal practice area that isn't sleep inducing, and so forth.

[denise_xo]

Hmm. I never said that dropping out was an option for me. I fully intend to finish the degree. I guess I was looking more along the lines of advice on how to transition from training for one career into another, some interesting accounts of people blazing their own paths in the industry, tips for finding a legal practice area that isn't sleep inducing, and so forth.

 

Get into working with NGOs, legal advice for asylum seekers, the poor, the homeless, etc. Get involved with legal campaigns for good causes. Find an issue that you are really interested in, THEN find out how your legal expertise can contribute within that field. Most non commercial fields are not going to give you the 17 hour work days you want to avoid.

 

A lot of the experiences you outline that you are annoyed with sound like typical intern stuff and less to do with a profession per se. I've done my fair share of rewriting other people's emails and doing other people's research and working for stroppy people so on. Things usually change when you get to a position where you are more in charge of your own work flow/processes and your energies are set towards a target that you find meaningful.

[Radu]

Finish it.

It's not that you dislike law, it's that you dislike the ppl who practice it.

 

Well, me too.

I'm going to law school this autumn, and i've sat in courtrooms before to get a feel for it.

The ppl who practice it are ... wow, i can't believe these ppl are getting payed for it.

But it's still a job that you can practice on your own, it's a liberal profession.

If you don't need tons and tons of money that is.

 

And even if you don't practice it, it is a profession that is a focus point of networking, from which you can branch out in other things.

It is a profession that is heavy on ppl skills as well as being a bookworm, and most ppl who practice it are bad on their ppl skills.

It's also a profession that you can do anywhere in the world.

[USMCHokie]

And even if you don't practice it, it is a profession that is a focus point of networking, from which you can branch out in other things.

 

In my opinion, unless you're dead set on becoming a lawyer, law school is one of the worst possible paths you can take...contrary to popular belief, it doesn't open any doors to anywhere other than the law...people with law degrees are honestly a dime a dozen, and it's not really going to impress very many employers. The "education" received at law school isn't necessarily going to provide you any useful skill sets. Additionally, the $150-200K in student debt, combined with the lost time and income with a full-time program, make it a financial cluster f*ck...

 

With the state of the job market today, people clamoring to stall their life with higher education has simply diluted the value of education.

[GorillaTheater]

My first two years after law school were spent at a firm that did nothing but defend silicosis and asbestosis cases. It sucked donkey schlong. Between the tedium and unethical overbilling of the insurance companies (I know, it's tough to generate much sympathy for insurance companies, but still), I hated going to work and I hated every minute at the office.

 

So I bailed. I went to work for a DA's office, handling mostly their civil docket: personal injury and civil rights litigation involving the sheriff's office, condemnation suits, ADA litigation, contract disputes, an abused animal civil seizure/criminal action that made it's way to Vernon's, wrongful termination, you name it. And I was pretty much left to handle the cases any way I saw fit, with minimal supervision and no billing pressure.

 

I loved it. Did it for five years then moved on to another public sector job where I now primarily deal with employment suits. It's kind of boring at this point, but with the same benefits: minimal supervision and no billing pressure. And it pays pretty well.

 

The trick is to find your niche. I really recommend public sector jobs. You'll have the opportunity to try your hand at a variety of tasks, and find the one(s) which suit you the best.

 

As far as transitioning to non-legal, I went to school with a guy who owned a plumbing business, of all things. He felt that a law degree would help him out with his business, and apparently it did; he's very successful now.

[Fugu]

Finish law school. Get your degree. If nothing else, once you pass the bar, you have a license to f*ck with people legally. lol!

 

Seriously, though, I think GorillaTheater's post was pretty much spot on. I really have nothing to add. Find your niche indeed.

[SoleMate]

Also please consider the following areas:

 

* Environmental law

* Employment law

* Civil rights

* Personal injury

* Worker's compensation

* Public defender

* Public entity defense

* City attorney

* Legal aid

* Foreclosure defense

* Children's rights

etc.

 

The above areas aren't the big money makers like corporate transactional law (except maybe personal injury), but they have greater chance of being personally fulfilling and also bringing you a very different type of collaborator and other fresh faces.

[TheBigQuestion]

Also please consider the following areas:

 

* Environmental law

* Employment law

* Civil rights

* Personal injury

* Worker's compensation

* Public defender

* Public entity defense

* City attorney

* Legal aid

* Foreclosure defense

* Children's rights

etc.

 

The above areas aren't the big money makers like corporate transactional law (except maybe personal injury), but they have greater chance of being personally fulfilling and also bringing you a very different type of collaborator and other fresh faces.

 

Environmental - Typically require Chemistry or Environmenal Science backgrounds. I don't qualify.

Employment - My current firm already dabbles in it. Sleep inducing.

Civil Rights - Would love to!

Personal Injury - A pretty awesome field, it's just a shame that it's so looked-down upon.

Workers Comp - No jobs whatsoever

Public Defender - I wouldn't mind, that and proseuctions. Public Entity Defense - Firm dabbles in it. Actually very interesting.

City Attorney - High on my list of places I'll be applying to.

Legal Aid - I volunteer for Legal Services in my state about 10-15 hours a week during the school year. It's good work, but they've laid everyone off due to state budget cuts. Hence why they need so many volunteers.

Foreclosure defense - Real estate law of any kind triggers my gag reflex.

 

In the past few days, I've more or less backed off from my rather strong stance in my OP that the very nature of the profession pisses me off. I'm starting to think it really is more the practice area and the people who run the firm. The practice area is dogsh**, to put it lightly. It's low-level work for high-level clients, the legal equivalent of being a loan shark's "muscle." The firm, while netting close to $15 million a year, is pretty dysfunctional. Since working here last summer, 2 partners and 3 associates have left on their own volition. And it's a 12-13 person firm. And it's apparently not a rare occurrence for them to either fire or lose multiple attorneys a year. Of the 6-7 paralegals they have, only 1 stayed from last summer to this summer. They've been through 2 HR directors. When they re-introduced me on my first day this summer, I was meeting half the office for the first time.

[Star Gazer]

I’ve found that working in a law firm simply does not challenge me in ways that I find productive or enjoyable, despite the fact that this firm actually DOES task me with some relatively “high-level” legal work. I’ve had to draft extensive research memos on fairly obscure bankruptcy procedures. I’ve written depositions, drafted notices and motions that have been successfully filed in court, and so forth. Most of my clients are extremely high profile commercial creditors.

 

The problem is that my idea of a good work day doesn’t include sorting through tens of thousands of pages of emails in PDF form, trying to locate the ones relevant to a case. I do not get a whole lot of satisfaction tweaking search strings in LexisNexis for hours at a time. I do not enjoy being micromanaged by the partners. I’ve been asked to write letters to courts and/or opposing attorneys, only to be asked to make extensive edits to them, the vast, vast majority of which include changing some of the wording, but almost never their actual meaning. “That’s just my style,” they say. Well if that’s the case, why waste your client’s time asking me to write something that you’re just going to scribble over, barely legibly of course, when you could just write it exactly the way you want it the first time around?

 

That's FAR from "high-level" legal work. That's grunt work. Law clerk/summer associate/1st and 2nd year associate work. I haven't done that stuff since 2005, 2 years after I graduated. The fun stuff comes later, much later, once you actually know what you're doing.

 

Everything in law, from law school, to practice, is foundational... step by step.

 

The rest of your complaints are similar to those every summer associate across the country gripes about, including those who love the practice of law. You have to put your time in before you'll be handed something you enjoy and find worthwhile. It's not intrinsic to the practice of law; it's intrinsic to being a baby not-even-attorney who wants to do the big stuff but who is in no way qualified to do so...yet.

 

You think neurosurgeons perform brain surgery when in med school?

[Star Gazer]

In my opinion, unless you're dead set on becoming a lawyer, law school is one of the worst possible paths you can take...contrary to popular belief, it doesn't open any doors to anywhere other than the law.

 

You hate lawyering, so it makes sense you'd say something like this.

 

And of course, I totally disagree. Being a "lawyer" involves a lot more than litigation.

 

The President of the United States is a lawyer. As is the Secretary of State. John Grisham. Ben Stein. Jerry Springer (). Tim Zagat. Ghandi. Henri Matisse. Steve Young.

 

There are plenty of career paths out there for someone with legal training/admitted to a bar of any jurisdiction that doesn't involve traditional lawyering as we know it.

[Star Gazer]

Yes indeedy...

 

I believe the reference was to Maritime, not something involving the Marines or the UCMJ.

[Star Gazer]

My first two years after law school were spent at a firm that did nothing but defend silicosis and asbestosis cases. It sucked donkey schlong. Between the tedium and unethical overbilling of the insurance companies (I know, it's tough to generate much sympathy for insurance companies, but still), I hated going to work and I hated every minute at the office.

 

So I bailed. I went to work for a DA's office, handling mostly their civil docket: personal injury and civil rights litigation involving the sheriff's office, condemnation suits, ADA litigation, contract disputes, an abused animal civil seizure/criminal action that made it's way to Vernon's, wrongful termination, you name it. And I was pretty much left to handle the cases any way I saw fit, with minimal supervision and no billing pressure.

 

I loved it. Did it for five years then moved on to another public sector job where I now primarily deal with employment suits. It's kind of boring at this point, but with the same benefits: minimal supervision and no billing pressure. And it pays pretty well.

 

The trick is to find your niche. I really recommend public sector jobs. You'll have the opportunity to try your hand at a variety of tasks, and find the one(s) which suit you the best.

 

As far as transitioning to non-legal, I went to school with a guy who owned a plumbing business, of all things. He felt that a law degree would help him out with his business, and apparently it did; he's very successful now.

 

My path has been very similar. I would also recommend public sector jobs.

[USMCHokie]

You hate lawyering, so it makes sense you'd say something like this.

 

And of course, I totally disagree. Being a "lawyer" involves a lot more than litigation.

 

The President of the United States is a lawyer. As is the Secretary of State. John Grisham. Ben Stein. Jerry Springer (). Tim Zagat. Ghandi. Henri Matisse. Steve Young.

 

There are plenty of career paths out there for someone with legal training/admitted to a bar of any jurisdiction that doesn't involve traditional lawyering as we know it.

 

You left out one small, yet very important factor...none of these men just graduated from law school. Law degrees just don't hold the same value they did 10 to 20 years ago, and the amount of debt incurred today versus the potential earning power just doesn't make it a sound investment. That's why I still recommend that unless you are specifically looking to the field of law, a law degree just isn't worth it. And all of those other non-legal career paths can be entered into without the law degree...a person would be better served spending the three years earning money and gaining actual experience.

 

But to each his or her own.

[TheBigQuestion]

That's FAR from "high-level" legal work. That's grunt work. Law clerk/summer associate/1st and 2nd year associate work. I haven't done that stuff since 2005, 2 years after I graduated. The fun stuff comes later, much later, once you actually know what you're doing.

 

Everything in law, from law school, to practice, is foundational... step by step.

 

The rest of your complaints are similar to those every summer associate across the country gripes about, including those who love the practice of law. You have to put your time in before you'll be handed something you enjoy and find worthwhile. It's not intrinsic to the practice of law; it's intrinsic to being a baby not-even-attorney who wants to do the big stuff but who is in no way qualified to do so...yet.

 

You think neurosurgeons perform brain surgery when in med school?

 

Like I said, I've more or less backed off from what I said in my OP. I don't (and never did have) the expectation of working on something extremely important or high profile. I fully understand that you have to crawl before you walk. With that said, I've been doing quite a bit of bankruptcy work right along with lawyers 7 or 8 years out of law school, and truthfully, they really do not understand it any better than I do, by their own admission. I'll reiterate that the problem is most likely where I'm working. Yes, it's successful, but the practice area is tedious, copy-and-paste commercial litigation, i.e. lender borrows from commercial creditor, fails to pay, defaults, BOOM, burn a forest down and drown them in paper. The firm does not have a formal summer associate/clerkship program. The assignments I get are the assignments associates would be required to do in my absence, and no one there has been out of law school less than 5 or 6 years.

[TheBigQuestion]

You left out one small, yet very important factor...none of these men just graduated from law school. Law degrees just don't hold the same value they did 10 to 20 years ago, and the amount of debt incurred today versus the potential earning power just doesn't make it a sound investment. That's why I still recommend that unless you are specifically looking to the field of law, a law degree just isn't worth it. And all of those other non-legal career paths can be entered into without the law degree...a person would be better served spending the three years earning money and gaining actual experience.

 

But to each his or her own.

 

More or less in agreement. Here is the problem though. Although criticism of the current state of legal education is increasing to the point where the number of LSAT takers plummeted recently, a lot of people (current lawyers included) are still pretty clueless as to the actual costs and value of a Juris Doctor. They still like to parrot the old truism that a J.D. qualifies one for a variety of careers outside of the law, or at least loosely related to the law.

 

The truth is that no, it really does not, and to the extent that it does, your undergraduate degree is what really makes the difference. No one is going to hire me to do finance work because I'll have a JD and a transcript with business law and corporate finance/tax courses on it. They MIGHT hire me if I also have a B.S. in Accounting. Truthfully, other than a lot of information I forget at the end of each semester, the only thing law school really teaches someone how to do is to work very hard and manage time. A fine end result, perhaps, but is it really worth the 6-figure debt when you can learn the same skills doing a job and actually making money rather than spending money?

 

You know that things are dire when people on the law review are the doomsayers. Even though I cannot stand 90%+ of my classmates, I take no joy in seeing anyone else struggle.

 

A good read, in case you haven't seen it already: Inside the Law School Scam

[Star Gazer]

You left out one small, yet very important factor...none of these men just graduated from law school. Law degrees just don't hold the same value they did 10 to 20 years ago, and the amount of debt incurred today versus the potential earning power just doesn't make it a sound investment. That's why I still recommend that unless you are specifically looking to the field of law, a law degree just isn't worth it. And all of those other non-legal career paths can be entered into without the law degree...a person would be better served spending the three years earning money and gaining actual experience.

 

But to each his or her own.

 

Says the guy who never even attempted to practice law with his law degree.

 

Engineer to law school to Marines... not exactly a stable career path.

[Star Gazer]

Like I said, I've more or less backed off from what I said in my OP. I don't (and never did have) the expectation of working on something extremely important or high profile. I fully understand that you have to crawl before you walk. With that said, I've been doing quite a bit of bankruptcy work right along with lawyers 7 or 8 years out of law school, and truthfully, they really do not understand it any better than I do, by their own admission. I'll reiterate that the problem is most likely where I'm working. Yes, it's successful, but the practice area is tedious, copy-and-paste commercial litigation, i.e. lender borrows from commercial creditor, fails to pay, defaults, BOOM, burn a forest down and drown them in paper. The firm does not have a formal summer associate/clerkship program. The assignments I get are the assignments associates would be required to do in my absence, and no one there has been out of law school less than 5 or 6 years.

 

The type of work you're doing would bore me to tears, so I don't blame you for not enjoying it.

 

Thing is, there are soooo many areas of law - there's something for everyone. What drew you to law in the first place? What vision did you have of yourself as a lawyer?

 

It took me 7 years out of law school to even figure it out, but I'm now finally where I had the "vision" that I would be. Those first 7 years, I was drawn in by the $$$ and allure of the fancy firms who handled complex litigation, rather than doing the type of work I had envisioned so long ago. I wish I'd made the move a lot sooner.

 

I still handle complex litigation; but in the public sector, case management is sooooooo different. Controlling your case load, minimal supervision, no billables, a true 9-to-5 with tons of vacation... it's a completely different experience.

Edited August 9, 2012 by Star Gazer

[TheBigQuestion]

 

Thing is, there are soooo many areas of law - there's something for everyone. What drew you to law in the first place? What vision did you have of yourself as a lawyer?

 

 

Full disclosure: The answer to your question is, "I don't really know." I've tended to make my most significant life choices in a very conscious and deliberate (but not always 100% informed) manner, rather than basing those decisions on grand plans or visions I've had for my life. I've always had a vague notion that going to law school was the right decision for me, and I always had confidence that "my future self" would be wise and experienced enough to figure out the details. A lot of it had to do with the fact that I do not possess the skills (or perhaps the will, in retrospect) to do any work in the hard sciences or anything with a complicated quantitative component. At the same time, I've always been considered fairly intelligent, and I didn't want to settle for a line of work that I felt would have never challenged my analytical side. Unlike many 2009 college grads, I actually DID have job offers upon graduation despite being a liberal arts guy, three in total, and two of which could have eventually been rather lucrative. The problem with the latter two is that they both involved being in sales of "financial services," which sounds fancy, but in reality just means being "the douche who tries to get all his friends, family, and acquaintances to buy his company's insurance products." My 21-year-old self felt that working in sales was beneath me and I turned those offers down. (I'm sure I sound arrogant, but I am practically Jesus compared to most of my law school classmates.) One of my undergraduate majors was philosophy, and for a while I wanted nothing more than to teach and publish in philosophy professionally. The only people who actually get into and succeed in top 15 philosophy Ph.D. programs are the rarest form of genius (and you need to get into one of those programs so that you don't end up as an untenured adjunct lecturer the rest of your life). After taking a few graduate classes as an undergrad, I knew I was out of my element.

 

After being in law school for two years, my idea of being a lawyer is having a job that keeps me afloat plus affords me a little luxury here and there, and affords me enough time to pursue my non-professional goals: i.e. music, both playing and listening, staying in good shape, and actually getting around to reading the 4,000 or so books I've been meaning to read since law school started. Would I like to be intellectually challenged by my work? Sure. Do I realistically expect it? Not really, but that isn't a huge deal to me. My girlfriend was a molecular biology major with an IQ of 150+ and most of her work is dreadfully repetitive lab work that they could train a monkey to do, even though she gets paid rather well to do it. My primary expectation out of work nowadays is simply (1) to not despise it and (2) to not have it substantially interfere with my life.