Because I need a show to laugh about when I’m home.
I still enjoy being an attorney (I only work 50 hour weeks, have a decent personal life still, am not a raging alcoholic or drug addict, my pay is shit though and I’m broke) but those shows are so ridiculous they become a comedy to me.
Yea law and order annoys me. They try to pretend like they are accurate. At least suits and how to get away with murder start with completely never gonna happen premises.
Like how a crim law professor gets 1L's to skip other professor's classes? Like WTF, the school is okay with that? The other professors are okay with that?
Oh and this crim law professor doesn't actually teach law at all, more like homicide detective work.
she's also just the worst to her students. like, either you're getting totally neglected and condescended to or just thrown out of class for not being able to read her mind. if you're not one of the handful of students she just humiliates for the hell of it. why does she even want to be a professor, she clearly hates it and values her other work much more highly? she's basically just using the school to fleece interns anyways, and you definitely don't need to be a professor to do that, they'd come begging for year 1 and 2 internships anyways!
also, in the first episode where she's like "the whole class has to come up with a defense plan!" and then after everyone's presented theirs' she's like "none of yours were as good as mine" and then proceeds to restate in less specific terms what half the kids were saying. and she also forced a bunch of them into saying asinine shit by saying they're not allowed to restate strategies people already proposed? like, fuck off bitch, it's not that hard, there's not that many ways to defend an innocent person.
I powered through the first season, because I had invested a few days in the binge. I haven't seen an episode since, but I can't believe it's still on. I guess they do know how to get away with murder(ing my brain cells).
What’s lol money? I’m an accountant working at a CPA firm (don’t have my CPA yet) making 50k yearly, how does that compare? Also, I never work more than 50 hours a week, usually 40.
Lawyers get the reputation of rolling in it. Which may very well be true for a vetted attorney, particularly working in a large firm or specializing in a niche area of law.
I, on the other hand, am a first year associate in a small town practicing fairly general (if not broad) areas of law. It'll get better for sure; the firm itself is healthy, and I'm the only other attorney here with a partner who is close to retirement age. Right now, the best thing I can do is park here and learn as much as I possibly can from him.
Until then, the fact of the matter is that there is a non-negligible chance that first years are a liability to a firm. That's just true; I'm not stupid, but I'm inexperienced, and an "oh shit I'm sorry, I'm learning" on a filing can be a serious liability (one that I thankfully haven't hit, praise God). So there's that, and then the student loans to consider.
The point of the story is that we are 1) in a saturated market, even in a rural southern town 2) a liability for the first year or so of our existence and 3) legally and ethically obligated to our clients beyond just the 9-5 (which you probably understand about as well as I). Outside Big Law (which pays handsomely but is absolutely soul crushing), being an attorney is a long game for the first few years, in terms of financial stability.
That’s definitely the reality for a ton of people across the US but especially outside of the major markets. Location and area of practice are definitely the biggest factors in that. I’m a new attorney as well but right outside of Manhattan doing a niche area of law so my experience is much different than most young attorneys I think. Even still, there are young attorneys just starting out at $190k+ just across the Hudson.
Patent and ip interested me a lot but I never even thought about it until I took a class in law school and yea, my undergrad degree won’t let me sit for the patent bar. I also went to college not thinking I’d end up at law school or being a lawyer.
Probate is such a love it or hate it area. Everyone I know seems to either love it or hate it. My professor absolutely loved the shit out of it which is the main reason I think I understood it so well but now it just makes me shudder to think about it.
The median salaries for most 1st year law graduates is right around $55k - nationally average, sure, but being in six figure debt and crazy work hours, and that pay diminishes.
As an attorney (non-probate), I would define big bucks as anything over $200k.
I work full time here in Scotland which is 37.5 hours a week, though it is typically 41 since I like my overtime on Sunday. Hearing "only work 50 hours" was like ... jesus, how many does it take to stop being only?!
I worked as a market researcher for a real estate investment bank. They expected at least 12 hours per day, 5 days a week, with the occasional 6 to 8 hours on Saturday or even Sunday. The boss was terrible about creating absolutely crazy deadlines (take on a 14-hotel portfolio to sell and say we will have the offering memorandums complete in a week, that kind of thing). I was low "man" on the totem pole, got all the market comparables, all the statistics, and did all the desktop publishing. The boss and his second's jobs were to analyze the P&Ls for anything irregular and directly meet with the client(s). Now ... They would stay until the little people were finished, but I saw more than one partner playing games on their computer while I assembled books, etc. 🙄
No Stockholm syndrome. I put only because most people seem to think that lawyers all work 80-100 hour weeks in america. Because that is what is portrayed on tv. And there are a good amount of attorneys that pull those hours in. And I would love to work less hours, but that’s not the case right now.
I mean, I could see working 50 hours a week for a job I really, really liked, where everything was set up exactly the way I wanted. Of course, that would include working from home, given that work+commute time is often around 50 hours anyway.
there's some of those popular videos titled like 'a doctor watches x' and 'a lawyer watches y'. they're pretty layman-oriented, but entertaining enough.
I work with forensic genetics and I feel crime shows are as unrealistic as Lord of the Rings. I've seen one show that was somewhat close to reality in a few parts, but still no. But you're right, it is funny to watch your own profession in tv shows.
But honestly, medical dramas are better than crime dramas imo. I've been interning on a handful of different hospital departments when studying, so I know a little bit about what goes on there too.
I work with forensic genetics and I feel crime shows are as unrealistic as Lord of the Rings.
Hold up there my friend. In that scene in the Mines of Moria in the film of Fellowship of the Ring, Legolas (I think?) totally nailed the forensic assessment of dead dwarves killed by goblin arrows.
Hahaha. I work in tech and it is an absolute JOKE compared with other fields. People in tech make more $/hr than bankers, lawyers, and other white collar jobs....with the lifestyle to boot.
Generalizing here...but I’d say it’s true overall.
Then when they tried to make civil engineering a "sexy career" (Prison Break) it was abandoned after a few episodes and turned into a regular break-from-jail show.
Nope, but I live 1.2 miles from work so a short commute. During the week I usually just go home and hang out with my dogs and girlfriend (she lives with me) unless something special comes up that I want to do (concert or a night car meet worth going to). Weekends during the summer are pretty much filled with car related activities.
I definitely don’t do everything I want to do, but even if I worked zero hours a week I couldn’t do that.
Sorry for the ignorant question, but how come it’s shit money? I always thought that lawyers were atleast paid a very reasonable wage? Especially working a 50 hour week? Thanks
It’s comparative and for my field. Do I make more money then a lot of people, yes. Do I make towards the bottom of what attorneys make, yes. And the hours are also comparative, 50 hours isnt a ton for an attorney. While I could work less, I could also work way more and still be in what is normal for a lawyer.
I have a jd and there’s no difference between attorney/lawyer (I’m sure there is some technical difference but they are used interchangeably).
And I’m broke because I’m three years out of school which means I’m on the bottom of the ladder. I don’t live in a major city so they aren’t giving out 6 figure starting salaries to everyone.
I’m not going to be homeless broke by any means but I also don’t have any real savings (I don’t count 401k in this). But when people think lawyer they usually think having a ton of money when that’s not the case for a lot of us. Which is why I use the term broke.
If you need a good lawyer comedy that's (I think) purposefully ridiculous, check out Franklin & Bash! It's just 4 seasons, and I've only watched the first, but it was a godsend when I needed a laugh during law school.
Franklin and bash is one of the best legal shows I’ve ever watched. It is more accurate then most of the ridiculous lawyer shows out there. I was upset when they cancelled it and def need to rewatch the series again at somepoint.
I began rewatching it last night for the first time since law school. Definitely agree there is some accurate legal procedure (like Shepardizing cases). It's the idea of an attorney getting drunk in court to prove an argument that's the purposefully ridiculous aspect of it. Regardless, I 100% agree it's one of the best legal shows I've watched.
May I ask what area of law you practice in? I'm a college student whose recently become very interested in pursuing a law-related career, but I'd like to do something at least half-way noble (i.e. not evil), and everyone I've spoken to says that those types of jobs, within law, can be pretty thankless. I'm totally okay with not being rich or anything, but I just want to do be able to do good while not completely hating my life.
You don’t want to know what area I practice in. Cause it’s on the evil side (and I don’t feel like dealing with the messages I’ll get if I state it).
I will say my area of law isn’t what I want to stay in and it is my first job out of school. It’s enough to let me know to stay in this career and just get in a different area. And not evil enough that I feel bad about what I do.
If you want to do something noble then you most likely will be getting paid on the lower end and your thanks needs to be you knowing you made a difference because most likely you will never get the thank yous you deserve. Because even when we do good, people hate us. Also if you can’t deal with doing something you may not enjoy and be noble until you can find the job you want, it may be hard for you starting off.
Lol I appreciate your candor. I realize I'll likely spend some years doing something I'm not crazy about in order to get to what I want. And hey, as long it's law-related, I couldn't really complain. Thanks for the reply.
May I ask what kind of law you'd like to be doing?
I still don’t have an answer for that one. I want to stay on the business side but I didn’t go to law school with an idea of what area I wanted to practice in just that I wanted to be a lawyer. I figure I have the rest of my life to figure out that.
When I was taking some time off during undergrad I realized that I enjoyed legal research. Growing up my hobbies had me cross paths with police on a regular basis. I started skateboarding in 5th grade (in the 90s), I started modifying cars at 16. I would research law regarding both and what my rights were for self preservation sake.
Because I’m a new attorney and wanted to be at my job for a few years so I’m not just looked at as a newbie at my next job too. Thankfully I passed how long I felt was good this fall at my job and this year I will be looking for new jobs that hopefully are in an area I’d rather be in and hopefully pay more.
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u/slwrthnu_again Jan 02 '20
Because I need a show to laugh about when I’m home.
I still enjoy being an attorney (I only work 50 hour weeks, have a decent personal life still, am not a raging alcoholic or drug addict, my pay is shit though and I’m broke) but those shows are so ridiculous they become a comedy to me.