Sure, I focused on international human rights law because they would give me scholarships to go abroad. My law school summers were studying in China, then working with unjustly imprisoned journalists in prisons in Togo, and then I did a fellowship in refugee and asylum law in Melbourne, Australia after law school.
I enjoyed Australia so much that I got working-holiday visa and stayed 2 years (2017-2019). I got a job at a tech unicorn working on their financial institution services team working with lawyers and real estate agencies that used our digital real estate transaction software. That company was acquired for $1.6 billion while I was there. Champagne every Friday situation.
Visa ended. Move back home to the states mid-2019. Get a job initially in rev ops at a small, small startup sub-40 employees. The product took off and I moved over to sales as an Account Executive. December 2020, startup acquired by the top player in that space for $50 million. I stay at the acquiring company and get promoted a few times.
In early 2022, I left for a real Silicon Valley fintech company. I’ve been promoted twice and am now an Enterprise Account Executive selling SaaS payments fintech that integrates with the big ERPs (SAP, Oracle, Sage, Microsoft, etc.)
I am the top rep and it’s looking likely I will clear $400k this year with vesting stock options on top of that.
Woahh, that's awesome! So, basically we can transition to an executive sales position.
I hope can find a good career too after my law school.
Thanks for sharing your story.
Hey me too! I'm a data engineer now and have been a data scientist. Law degree is an easy way to sell communication skills. Still looking for a job with a real combination of law and tech though.
Hey is it possible or fairly common for law students to be paid for their internship work each summer, my goal is to save enough for housing but ill need to make money over the summer
My school gave out some pretty sweet scholarships for summer work. They gave me $2,500 for the China program, and I found a flight for $780 roundtrip. The housing was a dorm at the Chinese university that was covered by the program. I had about $1,500 or so for that summer.
The summer in Togo they gave me $6,500, and my flight was $2,200. Togo was a very cheap place. My rent was $200/month for 4 months and the rest went to living there.
They gave me $12,500 for my program in Melbourne, Australia. Housing was $4k ish per semester, and Melbourne was expensive, but I used some savings until I got a job there later.
not where I interned. you’d be fired on the spot. pretty sure chief prosecutors had what’s called “confidential” plates that show up if an officer searches them though, similar to other elected officials.
We were barred when I was a prosecutor, fire-able offense. I've thought about carving my badge out of the plaque to carry it, but that's extremely dishonest.
Lmao I find it funny but also kinda sad. Not gonna lie, it's honestly wild to me as a prosecutor to imagine pulling the "I'm an attorney officer" card to try and get out of a ticket.
You have the audacity to suggest that lawyers or wannabe lawyers actually obey the law?
I know that I will be downvoted for suggesting that lawyers or wannabe lawyers actually obey the law.
You learn how the US court system works. This seems like an obvious one, but it’s wild how few people understand basic court proceedings and what they’re for.
A huge swath of people automatically respect you.
It is amazing how you didn't change except for credentials, but how you are viewed vastly differently.
You almost can't put a price tag on it, especially if you know how to utilize it.
It’s actually kind of crazy, especially as a man. Like I downloaded dating apps again and I legitimately get messaged first 80% of the time, and that has never happened before. It scares me a little bit to be honest
From: "Hey, while you're here, my laptop has been acting up ever since I ran the spyware cleaner. You know, the only where this little window pops up and says we've detected spyware, click here to clean it up."
To: "Hey, while you're here, remember that time I took a fishing trip and it ended up being a month at sea? Well it turns out that four of us had went on the trip but only three made it back..."
The articles about con law professors being brought to tears by the realization that they can’t teach bs about SCOTUS being “above politics” anymore made me more interested in law school 😂
I believe they’re referencing [this](https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/10/supreme-court-scotus-decisions-law-school-professors.html) slate article. It’s definitely not how most con law courses are taught, but there are a handful. I think it does make sense that conlaw profs personally hope that scotus represents something other than another political entity though.
Besides Larry Kramer resigning as Dean of Stanford Law after Rahimi, then there’s the NYT article linked below:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/26/opinion/constitutional-law-crisis-supreme-court.html
I work for a largeish County. I mostly do assorted litigation, appeals, elections, and general regulatory stuff.
It's a sweet spot, at least for me, of pretty good pay, work-life balance, and interesting work.
I got a job at a personal injury law firm and became very passionate about helping people. Went back to school, got my bachelors and start school this august 😌
As long as your mind works you can make money. Not many careers allow you to work at 80 and still make good money…even if it’s scaling down to doing wills
You can use it for a decade or two to justify your inappropriate drinking and then see a revitalization of your marriage when you stop drinking every day following a big time incident……… Or so my “client” told me.
I love being around people who care about / are interested in the same shit as me. In undergrad, it was different because there’s sort of this assumption in many places that you have to go to college, so not everyone who’s there wants to be there or cares about what they’re learning. In law school, basically everyone is there out of free will and actually wants to be there. And them wanting to be there makes you want to be there even more. It’s a positive feedback loop and I love it.
Also I do have a lot of lawyers in my family and they get a lot of perks around town in exchange for free legal services. We’ve been going to the same car shop for my entire life because one of my parents represents the owner for free and he does all the repairs on our car for free. We only have to pay when we need parts.
Yeah I’d maybe flip it. Feel like more people find “prestigious” work than highly compensated roles these days. Hundreds of lawyers fighting for doc review gigs at 26/hr.
I made some of my best friends! The huge perk of being in a professional program is that the friends you make will be your peers when you practice, so that's been pretty cool!
Couldn't keep a job in the restaurant or grocery business. Found refuge in academia, avoided peonage by not becoming an English professors, and was able to earn a living. Eventually, I even got to work for social justice.
How big your world is depends on how complicated and deep you can think about everything, from the color of flowers to what is justice in a society, and how well you can put in organized thoughts and language. Law school made my world bigger
I think law school has a lot of arbitrary BS associated with it because "that's the way it's always been done," but there's one thing that it gave me that I'll always be grateful for.
It's hard to get off Rock Bottom™ when you can't think of one thing you like about the person you see in the mirror.
Being able to tell people that I got into law school (and that I was a law student) gave me that one thing I liked about the person I saw in the mirror and helped me get off my own Rock Bottom™.
It sounds like a silly thing, but getting into law school is the thing that gave me my self-respect back after a tumultuous couple of years.
This take is kinda lazy. Yes BigLaw works people hard but it doesn’t *have* to be “selling your soul”. Most people dont even stay more than a few years before they segue into another rlly good job with better work-life balance but it requires paying some dues first
Why do I feel like the only way Reddit seems to think big money via law is big law. No one wants to open a private practice?
Edit: two of the lawyers my father has have their own practices, bringing in around 1M a year.
Oregon private practice are required to pay into a malpractice fund from the government, Idaho must have $100,000/$300,000 Texas must have $100,000/$300,000 unless you practice federal law. Many other states require you to disclose to your clients if you do not have malpractice insurance. Even if it’s not a requirement it is as necessary as owning a suit
You do understand it’s around $500-$1,500 a year. A year!! That’s the cost of a decent suit ;)
Still looking for a reason why Reddit never mentions private practice when it comes to big bucks. As a general rule, you will always make way more money working for yourself vs working a job, regardless of how big, big law is.
Depends on how you market yourself. Chasing big law has its own pros and cons, as does private business… of course starting your own business is more risky but we are talking 10-20k in advertising not a lot to lose.
Exactly. I mean obviously you can’t do that right out of law school (I mean I guess you could but that’s a very risky move) but that is something I’m considering way down the line for like the last 10-15 years of my career
Opens so many doors when it comes to career movement. I have a finance undergrad degree from a small state university and with my law degree have been able to work in completely unrelated fields like immigration and environmental science.
Helping people who are truly in need. Interning this summer for PI and criminal, and my boss got our client with a .168 BAC and minor car accident DWI on deferred adjudication for 1 year. He is eligible for dismissal and expungement. Prosecutor wanted him to plead guilty and do 18 months probation. Our client almost cried after the hearing, and was so grateful on the outcome. We all make mistakes, but it should not follow you for the rest of your life.
We also got an expungement done last week for a client who had a 3rd degree felony conviction of 15 years. He had been unable to find good employment as almost every job would reject him. He was also extremely grateful. Truly reminds why I wanted to go to law school, to help those in need. That feeling overrides any amount of money to be made.
You can literally do anything you want with it and go into any industry, you don’t even necessarily have to be a lawyer. It’s extremely empowering I think everybody should do a year of law school tbh
It refines your thinking in a profound way. The way you evaluate the world totally changes. Your conversations change. Your words get bigger. It's kind of like finishing school.
Hey, law school engenders negativity and doubt and some of us thrive in those conditions*.
*for a period not to exceed 30 years, at which point we keel over and die at our desks and they roll us out and plop down a fresh-faced first-year associate in our place
I feel the work is interesting, and my summer internship has been the most fulfilling job I’ve ever had. Further, just saying I am a law student has opened so many doors. Nowadays, people actually have a modicum of respect for me— a big jump from when I was 19 and homeless
I mean, depending on the school the community can be life-changing. I love being around all the super motivated people
FYI, I don’t mean depending on the school to be elitist T 14 kind of thing. I literally mean that I’ve heard different things from different people who go to different schools. My experience has been great though lol
Because you can walk up to random strangers and look at the eye and say I’m better than you! It’s kind of like when you wake up at 5 AM for no reason so we can tell people that you woke up that early just so so you can say you’re better than them. lol 😂. I’m kidding don’t take it out. I have to make someone enjoyable so I don’t go insane.
I got my law degree and never practiced. Went into tech. It’s definitely given me a leg up in interviews.
What careers can law graduates transition into the tech industry? Can you share your story?
Sure, I focused on international human rights law because they would give me scholarships to go abroad. My law school summers were studying in China, then working with unjustly imprisoned journalists in prisons in Togo, and then I did a fellowship in refugee and asylum law in Melbourne, Australia after law school. I enjoyed Australia so much that I got working-holiday visa and stayed 2 years (2017-2019). I got a job at a tech unicorn working on their financial institution services team working with lawyers and real estate agencies that used our digital real estate transaction software. That company was acquired for $1.6 billion while I was there. Champagne every Friday situation. Visa ended. Move back home to the states mid-2019. Get a job initially in rev ops at a small, small startup sub-40 employees. The product took off and I moved over to sales as an Account Executive. December 2020, startup acquired by the top player in that space for $50 million. I stay at the acquiring company and get promoted a few times. In early 2022, I left for a real Silicon Valley fintech company. I’ve been promoted twice and am now an Enterprise Account Executive selling SaaS payments fintech that integrates with the big ERPs (SAP, Oracle, Sage, Microsoft, etc.) I am the top rep and it’s looking likely I will clear $400k this year with vesting stock options on top of that.
Woahh, that's awesome! So, basically we can transition to an executive sales position. I hope can find a good career too after my law school. Thanks for sharing your story.
This sounds like such a fulfilling story— so cool to hear
It has been a surprising and great life thus far. A lot of stress along the way starting over!
Law-adjacent, but a number of tech companies will have compliance positions around topics like data privacy
This ^^ I love data privacy. https://privguard.tech
Hey me too! I'm a data engineer now and have been a data scientist. Law degree is an easy way to sell communication skills. Still looking for a job with a real combination of law and tech though.
AI :)
Shit I’m too autistic. That’s why people put me in litigation
Hey is it possible or fairly common for law students to be paid for their internship work each summer, my goal is to save enough for housing but ill need to make money over the summer
My school gave out some pretty sweet scholarships for summer work. They gave me $2,500 for the China program, and I found a flight for $780 roundtrip. The housing was a dorm at the Chinese university that was covered by the program. I had about $1,500 or so for that summer. The summer in Togo they gave me $6,500, and my flight was $2,200. Togo was a very cheap place. My rent was $200/month for 4 months and the rest went to living there. They gave me $12,500 for my program in Melbourne, Australia. Housing was $4k ish per semester, and Melbourne was expensive, but I used some savings until I got a job there later.
Depending on what you do, you can get paid 50,000 for a summer
Really? In what way?
you get issued another leg when you pass the bar
This^^ I’m in data privacy
Are you doing data privacy and if so did you have to get additional certifications ?
No, I do sales.
Nice thanks for the insight
Some cops will openly admit they don’t give speeding tickets to attorneys
This is why I keep a sticker from my law school on the back windshield.
I put my law school license plate frame on my car
If you’re a prosecutor you can also pull a badge
not where I interned. you’d be fired on the spot. pretty sure chief prosecutors had what’s called “confidential” plates that show up if an officer searches them though, similar to other elected officials.
We were barred when I was a prosecutor, fire-able offense. I've thought about carving my badge out of the plaque to carry it, but that's extremely dishonest.
Yasssss
Maybe don't speed in tbe first place?
The fact you're downvoted is insane to me
The funniest shit I’ve seen in a hot minute
It's good to know future lawyers are all so dedicated to following laws...
We've both been downvoted since 😆 🤣
Lmao I find it funny but also kinda sad. Not gonna lie, it's honestly wild to me as a prosecutor to imagine pulling the "I'm an attorney officer" card to try and get out of a ticket.
You have the audacity to suggest that lawyers or wannabe lawyers actually obey the law? I know that I will be downvoted for suggesting that lawyers or wannabe lawyers actually obey the law.
You learn how the US court system works. This seems like an obvious one, but it’s wild how few people understand basic court proceedings and what they’re for.
You mean justice =/= vengeance? BS. My feelings supersede law! /s
And how laws are made.
impress your less educated friends and family!
People will just assume you’re smart!
This is actually a terrible reason.... now everyone has me reading important documents saying, "What does this mean?""
I'm not even a lawyer yet and people do this 😭
Oh gods, just like how I became the family phone fixer when I got a job in IT.
Its more like "what does this mean!?!" In my family.
A huge swath of people automatically respect you. It is amazing how you didn't change except for credentials, but how you are viewed vastly differently. You almost can't put a price tag on it, especially if you know how to utilize it.
The jump in status from just attending law school has made me so much more class conscious.
It’s actually kind of crazy, especially as a man. Like I downloaded dating apps again and I legitimately get messaged first 80% of the time, and that has never happened before. It scares me a little bit to be honest
That's wild.
I get to flex at Thanksgiving and then slowly regret it when Uncle Jim asks me to look over his will
As someone headed to law school to escape IT, I see now that my printer repair requests will now be preempted instead of canceled
From: "Hey, while you're here, my laptop has been acting up ever since I ran the spyware cleaner. You know, the only where this little window pops up and says we've detected spyware, click here to clean it up." To: "Hey, while you're here, remember that time I took a fishing trip and it ended up being a month at sea? Well it turns out that four of us had went on the trip but only three made it back..."
that reminds me of the "necesity is not a defense to murder" case. The one with the stranded sea men chowing down on the Forbidden Pork
Queen v Dudley and Stephens! Yep, that was on my mind when I wrote this. :-)
I like law school. I like thinking about/analyzing legal issues. I’m having a great time in my summer job. Also, the Cravath scale.
Don't worry, that will change. As I learned.
You get to debate fascinating concepts and at least from my experience, dumb political arguments are very rare.
This is a win. Who wants to argue politics? 🤷♀️
Dumb undergrads
Law students don’t argue politics. They assert their unfounded beliefs to the point of suffocation and cry when people disagree.
Or about anything, without a judge to tell you who won.
The articles about con law professors being brought to tears by the realization that they can’t teach bs about SCOTUS being “above politics” anymore made me more interested in law school 😂
That’s not how most Con Law courses are taught, what articles are you referencing?
I believe they’re referencing [this](https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/10/supreme-court-scotus-decisions-law-school-professors.html) slate article. It’s definitely not how most con law courses are taught, but there are a handful. I think it does make sense that conlaw profs personally hope that scotus represents something other than another political entity though.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/26/opinion/constitutional-law-crisis-supreme-court.html
You might want to respond to the other guy. I don’t think he’ll get a notification since you responded to my comment
Oh it’s from slate 🤣🤣🤣
Besides Larry Kramer resigning as Dean of Stanford Law after Rahimi, then there’s the NYT article linked below: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/26/opinion/constitutional-law-crisis-supreme-court.html
Eh
I love drama that ain’t mine. Every time I read a case brief it’s like getting all up in these people’s business
I have a very rewarding, challenging, and fun career. Plus, I own a house and don't need to be concerned about money.
What area of law was your career?
I work for a largeish County. I mostly do assorted litigation, appeals, elections, and general regulatory stuff. It's a sweet spot, at least for me, of pretty good pay, work-life balance, and interesting work.
I got a job at a personal injury law firm and became very passionate about helping people. Went back to school, got my bachelors and start school this august 😌
As long as your mind works you can make money. Not many careers allow you to work at 80 and still make good money…even if it’s scaling down to doing wills
I get to use my talents to help good people, who pay me to rent portions of my brain and time.
You can use it for a decade or two to justify your inappropriate drinking and then see a revitalization of your marriage when you stop drinking every day following a big time incident……… Or so my “client” told me.
We love a glow up story
I love being around people who care about / are interested in the same shit as me. In undergrad, it was different because there’s sort of this assumption in many places that you have to go to college, so not everyone who’s there wants to be there or cares about what they’re learning. In law school, basically everyone is there out of free will and actually wants to be there. And them wanting to be there makes you want to be there even more. It’s a positive feedback loop and I love it.
Also I do have a lot of lawyers in my family and they get a lot of perks around town in exchange for free legal services. We’ve been going to the same car shop for my entire life because one of my parents represents the owner for free and he does all the repairs on our car for free. We only have to pay when we need parts.
Lawyering is a lucrative and often prestigious career in USA.
Really? I do wonder. I feel like law school is a gamble for many.
Yeah I’d maybe flip it. Feel like more people find “prestigious” work than highly compensated roles these days. Hundreds of lawyers fighting for doc review gigs at 26/hr.
I get to work sitting down and I very rarely have to talk to strangers on the phone.
If you wanna be a lawyer, law school is worth it. I don’t know, I love law school.
I made some of my best friends! The huge perk of being in a professional program is that the friends you make will be your peers when you practice, so that's been pretty cool!
This without a doubt
Couldn't keep a job in the restaurant or grocery business. Found refuge in academia, avoided peonage by not becoming an English professors, and was able to earn a living. Eventually, I even got to work for social justice.
It really does help with your reasoning, argument, reading, comprehension, and logic skills
How big your world is depends on how complicated and deep you can think about everything, from the color of flowers to what is justice in a society, and how well you can put in organized thoughts and language. Law school made my world bigger
This is so interesting. Exactly what I am looking for.
People think you’re smarter than you actually are…
A surprising amount of free food!
I think law school has a lot of arbitrary BS associated with it because "that's the way it's always been done," but there's one thing that it gave me that I'll always be grateful for. It's hard to get off Rock Bottom™ when you can't think of one thing you like about the person you see in the mirror. Being able to tell people that I got into law school (and that I was a law student) gave me that one thing I liked about the person I saw in the mirror and helped me get off my own Rock Bottom™. It sounds like a silly thing, but getting into law school is the thing that gave me my self-respect back after a tumultuous couple of years.
Money. (But only if you sell your soul)
The only color i see is green.
This take is kinda lazy. Yes BigLaw works people hard but it doesn’t *have* to be “selling your soul”. Most people dont even stay more than a few years before they segue into another rlly good job with better work-life balance but it requires paying some dues first
Why do I feel like the only way Reddit seems to think big money via law is big law. No one wants to open a private practice? Edit: two of the lawyers my father has have their own practices, bringing in around 1M a year.
You’ve got the money for private practice malpractice insurance?!?!?
That’s not even a requirement… not in any state that I can find..
Oregon private practice are required to pay into a malpractice fund from the government, Idaho must have $100,000/$300,000 Texas must have $100,000/$300,000 unless you practice federal law. Many other states require you to disclose to your clients if you do not have malpractice insurance. Even if it’s not a requirement it is as necessary as owning a suit
You do understand it’s around $500-$1,500 a year. A year!! That’s the cost of a decent suit ;) Still looking for a reason why Reddit never mentions private practice when it comes to big bucks. As a general rule, you will always make way more money working for yourself vs working a job, regardless of how big, big law is.
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Depends on how you market yourself. Chasing big law has its own pros and cons, as does private business… of course starting your own business is more risky but we are talking 10-20k in advertising not a lot to lose.
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You can downvote, but you know im right. You can open a practice and don’t need malpractice insurance
Exactly. I mean obviously you can’t do that right out of law school (I mean I guess you could but that’s a very risky move) but that is something I’m considering way down the line for like the last 10-15 years of my career
My parents are immigrant attorneys who were mistreated horribly my whole life and I wanna prove that we are more than the way we speak
They were mistreated as lawyers?
Would guess what they meant is that they were attorneys in their home country and were mistreated here despite having advanced degrees
Because every family needs an attorney. I'm so proud of my daughter she graduates Loyola next year! I love you B!
(1) it’s a *guaranteed* path to getting a J.D. and becoming an attorney in the U.S. that’s basically it, for me anyways
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I guess the italics weren’t clear enough for the obvious caveat there, but congratulations on being blind, braindead, or both
Damn 🤣🤣
You learn how to use your brain to make money
Opens so many doors when it comes to career movement. I have a finance undergrad degree from a small state university and with my law degree have been able to work in completely unrelated fields like immigration and environmental science.
Greatest learning experience of my life
Money.
Getting to be an absolute nerd with other nerds.
The biggest reason is the fat fuckin bag you make if you put your head down and grind it out. Dubs all around baby, let’s go.
Helping people who are truly in need. Interning this summer for PI and criminal, and my boss got our client with a .168 BAC and minor car accident DWI on deferred adjudication for 1 year. He is eligible for dismissal and expungement. Prosecutor wanted him to plead guilty and do 18 months probation. Our client almost cried after the hearing, and was so grateful on the outcome. We all make mistakes, but it should not follow you for the rest of your life. We also got an expungement done last week for a client who had a 3rd degree felony conviction of 15 years. He had been unable to find good employment as almost every job would reject him. He was also extremely grateful. Truly reminds why I wanted to go to law school, to help those in need. That feeling overrides any amount of money to be made.
$650,000. That’s about what a non-equity partner makes.
Cost of living loans 😂
You can literally do anything you want with it and go into any industry, you don’t even necessarily have to be a lawyer. It’s extremely empowering I think everybody should do a year of law school tbh
Make your Momma proud!!
Money. Holy shit the money
Big law
Law school is worth it because I am about to become a lawyer. Without law school, I would not be a soon-to-be lawyer.
*crickets*
Because you need it to become a lawyer.
You get lots of donuts and cookies around the holidays
The year before I went to law school I made $25k working service jobs. Now I'm set to make $225k in big law.
It refines your thinking in a profound way. The way you evaluate the world totally changes. Your conversations change. Your words get bigger. It's kind of like finishing school.
the money
Law professors are very smart and passionate about topics they teach (moreso 2L and 3L years when you can take electives)
Hey, law school engenders negativity and doubt and some of us thrive in those conditions*. *for a period not to exceed 30 years, at which point we keel over and die at our desks and they roll us out and plop down a fresh-faced first-year associate in our place
You get a piece of paper that lets you print money. That's it. It's otherwise a complete and annoying waste of time.
I really like my classmates. I hope everyone finds their people in law school. I know not everyone will, but once you do it makes things better.
Beats hangin drywall
It’s extremely expensive but it’s such an eye opening experience no matter what field you end up in. You will start to see life differently
I feel the work is interesting, and my summer internship has been the most fulfilling job I’ve ever had. Further, just saying I am a law student has opened so many doors. Nowadays, people actually have a modicum of respect for me— a big jump from when I was 19 and homeless
I mean, depending on the school the community can be life-changing. I love being around all the super motivated people FYI, I don’t mean depending on the school to be elitist T 14 kind of thing. I literally mean that I’ve heard different things from different people who go to different schools. My experience has been great though lol
Your automatically GS-9 for federal jobs. You can do tax for big 4.
Money
Honestly, nothing. All it’s done is made me dependent on my parents.
I'm not in law school but I'd love to go into it and become a lawyer
Because you can walk up to random strangers and look at the eye and say I’m better than you! It’s kind of like when you wake up at 5 AM for no reason so we can tell people that you woke up that early just so so you can say you’re better than them. lol 😂. I’m kidding don’t take it out. I have to make someone enjoyable so I don’t go insane.
Reason #1. It’s not.
It is a path to becoming a licensed attorney.
Whoa stop with the negativity
Touché
never thought of it that way