There are many ways to make a living. It's true as a lawyer, you can make a very good living, but please consider this chart and then consider the odds of making a good living:
Discussion
Feel dumb, but what is this chart showing me? Lawyer salaries are not in this scale from what I gather
Total comp*
This is an old chart describing the distribution of first year lawyer salaries. As you can see, most are extremely modest to the point of being a Sally McStruggleford, on the far right are the fancy top-10 law firm salaries which are absurd and unjustifiable.
I see, makes more sense now. To be fair I've heard the big firms are a real shark tank/grind, with partnership carrot always in one's mind.
But I know, for example, a humble personal injury guy who takes in some solid commissions and seems to have a fairly chill 9-5 type of schedule with work from home an option many days. And some of the payouts they shared with me are a little disgusting 😳
The entrepreneurial lawyer is the only thriving lawyer. Also, most of those "partners" don't actually have equity in their lawfirms. The partner track is basically dead. My firm, on the other hand, has a clear and internally published partner track that explains exactly what you need to do if you want to be an owner some day. I'm not sure any other firm does this anymore. We are trying to do things better here.
Oh I see, never really thought to make that distinction. Ez money, and I get a lil jealous and tell myself "heh, it's not very fulfilling work!" Then, I consider my work's fulfillment level ... and realize I should maybe chase ambulances instead 😓
During the GFC there was a lawyer who was "robo signing" foreclosure complaints, and filing shit loads of foreclosures for the banks. He made millions but was forced to give up his license to practice law. I saw his boat down in the bahamas, her name: Tu casa es mi casa
Burn it all to the ground 🔥🔥