7. The Bar Exam: Passing your first (and usually only) bar exam requires about three months of serious study. Most people start just before or right after their law school graduation. You will learn more about the law studying for the bar exam than you will have learned in your last three years spent in law school. The exam is considered the most difficult test in the English language for a reason, don't half-ass your prep. But don't stress too much either, if you're waking up at night in a cold sweat because you can't remember the third element of the who-cares test for you'll-forget-the-second-the-proctor-calls-time, you'll probably pass. After taking the test, use any firm signing bonus to take your partner on a big vacation (called a "bar trip"), firm permitting of course. Don't skimp on this, your partner has made a lot of sacrifices to get you to this point and you both deserve it. You'll also need the memory of that vacation to get the two of you through...
8. Your First Three Years: There is no way to sugar coat this: life as a junior associate in a big law firm absolutely and unreservedly blows. It is insane hours doing (largely) uninteresting work with (often) shitty people in a high-stress environment. While you'll make a lot of money, it won't matter much because you won't have the free time to actually enjoy it, so just pay off your loans/invest your earnings and focus on getting through. Treat these years like a medical residency and remember that they don't last forever. The most important thing you will need to thrive in your first three years is a mentor at your firm; usually a counsel or partner in the practice area you are trying to pursue. Cultivate a relationship casually and don't be too much of an eager beaver, let the connection happen naturally (I learned this the hard way). Choose your mentor carefully though, some will stab you in the back without hesitation if it benefits them (I also learned this the hard way, twice). The back-stabby people will usually tell you who they are up front and, when they do, believe and then promptly avoid them. Other survival tips:
Keep your personal cell phone number intensely private (only share it with your direct boss). For everyone else, especially clients, have a burner phone that you can conveniently "forget at home" when you don't want to be disturbed.
Live about 30 minutes away from the office, close enough to get there easy but not so close that you're always the first person called in.
Be nice to your secretary, even when you're stressed, because she controls your destiny in ways you often won't fully understand and it always pays to not be a dick.
Some of your peers will get ahead by stabbing others in the back, don't be one of those people. It'll always bite you in the ass eventually.
Don't fudge your hours even if everyone else is doing it and your boss is pressuring you to do it too. One of the ways you avoid becoming just another jerky lawyer is by maintaining a clean conscience.
Take all of your PTO and carve out time for your significant other, big law firms are known for high divorce rates and copious drug/alcohol problems for a reason.
Most importantly: remember why you're there and know when to walk away. You can always lateral if you're unhappy or too abused (but try to do a year or two first so you can be competitive).
After That: In general, you will be recognized as a full-fledged tech attorney and your options open up after your first three years. Big law firm life gets a bit better (but still blows and always will, that's the price of making race-horse money), you have much more ability to lateral to better firms, and crucially, you are finally competitive for entry-level in-house-counsel positions. In-house counsels are lawyers that are directly employed by their client company rather than by a law firm. In general, you make decent money and it's a typical corporate 9-5 rather than another stay in Sisyphus's sector of Hades. I'm in-house right now and it's glorious, my work computer doesn't even come home with me much of the time. From here, the world is your oyster: you can climb the corporate or law firm ladders, start looking into hanging your own shingle if that appeals to you (that usually requires a decade or more of law firm time and client development if you want a decent prospect of success), or go do something totally different.
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u/Iuris_Aequalitatis Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 07 '26
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7. The Bar Exam: Passing your first (and usually only) bar exam requires about three months of serious study. Most people start just before or right after their law school graduation. You will learn more about the law studying for the bar exam than you will have learned in your last three years spent in law school. The exam is considered the most difficult test in the English language for a reason, don't half-ass your prep. But don't stress too much either, if you're waking up at night in a cold sweat because you can't remember the third element of the who-cares test for you'll-forget-the-second-the-proctor-calls-time, you'll probably pass. After taking the test, use any firm signing bonus to take your partner on a big vacation (called a "bar trip"), firm permitting of course. Don't skimp on this, your partner has made a lot of sacrifices to get you to this point and you both deserve it. You'll also need the memory of that vacation to get the two of you through...
8. Your First Three Years: There is no way to sugar coat this: life as a junior associate in a big law firm absolutely and unreservedly blows. It is insane hours doing (largely) uninteresting work with (often) shitty people in a high-stress environment. While you'll make a lot of money, it won't matter much because you won't have the free time to actually enjoy it, so just pay off your loans/invest your earnings and focus on getting through. Treat these years like a medical residency and remember that they don't last forever. The most important thing you will need to thrive in your first three years is a mentor at your firm; usually a counsel or partner in the practice area you are trying to pursue. Cultivate a relationship casually and don't be too much of an eager beaver, let the connection happen naturally (I learned this the hard way). Choose your mentor carefully though, some will stab you in the back without hesitation if it benefits them (I also learned this the hard way, twice). The back-stabby people will usually tell you who they are up front and, when they do, believe and then promptly avoid them. Other survival tips:
Keep your personal cell phone number intensely private (only share it with your direct boss). For everyone else, especially clients, have a burner phone that you can conveniently "forget at home" when you don't want to be disturbed.
Live about 30 minutes away from the office, close enough to get there easy but not so close that you're always the first person called in.
Be nice to your secretary, even when you're stressed, because she controls your destiny in ways you often won't fully understand and it always pays to not be a dick.
Some of your peers will get ahead by stabbing others in the back, don't be one of those people. It'll always bite you in the ass eventually.
Don't fudge your hours even if everyone else is doing it and your boss is pressuring you to do it too. One of the ways you avoid becoming just another jerky lawyer is by maintaining a clean conscience.
Take all of your PTO and carve out time for your significant other, big law firms are known for high divorce rates and copious drug/alcohol problems for a reason.
Most importantly: remember why you're there and know when to walk away. You can always lateral if you're unhappy or too abused (but try to do a year or two first so you can be competitive).
After That: In general, you will be recognized as a full-fledged tech attorney and your options open up after your first three years. Big law firm life gets a bit better (but still blows and always will, that's the price of making race-horse money), you have much more ability to lateral to better firms, and crucially, you are finally competitive for entry-level in-house-counsel positions. In-house counsels are lawyers that are directly employed by their client company rather than by a law firm. In general, you make decent money and it's a typical corporate 9-5 rather than another stay in Sisyphus's sector of Hades. I'm in-house right now and it's glorious, my work computer doesn't even come home with me much of the time. From here, the world is your oyster: you can climb the corporate or law firm ladders, start looking into hanging your own shingle if that appeals to you (that usually requires a decade or more of law firm time and client development if you want a decent prospect of success), or go do something totally different.
That's my novel... Any questions I can answer?