You’re out of law school, so now what? Welcome to reality.
How can you deal with students loans and settle into a satisfactory life as an attorney? Read on for suggestions!
Student Loans and Debt
- Freaking Out About Your Law School Loans? Get Help From a Debt Guru If you’re like most law students, you’ve got massive debt to keep you awake at night. It’s scary, right? Luckily, you’re not alone. Anna Newell Jones, debt guru extraordinaire, talks about how to get your debt under control so you can live the life you want.
- 5 Non-Obvious Ways Law School Loan Debt Will Impact Your Life If you’re considering law school, there’s a very good chance you’re planning to take out student loans. (About 80% of law students graduate with some debt, and the average amount borrowed is over $100,000. That works out to over $1,000/month in loan payments on a standard 10 year repayment schedule.) But what about the less obvious impact of borrowing tons of money?
- Struggling With Your Student Loan Debt? The Law School Loan Expert is Here to Help Heather Jarvis, capital defense attorney turned student loan expert, shares great advice on handling your student loans — even when they seem really overwhelming!
- Law School Deans, You Are the Problem Is law school worth the money? We evaluate this claim by some law school deans.
- How Do I Keep From Declaring Bankruptcy After Law School? An Interview with Bankruptcy Lawyer Jeena Cho Let’s face it — law school is expensive (very expensive) and most students graduate with a ton of debt. Pair that with a lousy job market, and it’s easy to start thinking about ways to make your student loans go away, but bankruptcy is not a simple solution.
- My Federal Debt and Me: The Truth About Income Based Repayment Do you know about Income Based Repayment (IBR)? If not, don't miss this first-hand account of how it really works (or doesn't).
Lawyer Quality of Life
- Collaboration vs. Competition The legal profession seems to reward competition, but maybe collaboration is the way to go?
- How to Manage a Medical Issue When You Have a Full Time, Demanding, Legal Job Marissa Geannette talks about balancing a personal, medical issue with a full time, stressful legal job.
- The Pros and Cons of Quitting Your Job After Less Than a Year Marissa Geannette discusses some reasons to think about when considering leaving a job after less than a year working there.
- What is the Billable Hour? An Overview and Practical Tips for New Lawyers Marissa Geannette talks about the basics of the billable hour as a practicing attorney.
- How to Balance Your Child While You Work Hillary Vaillancourt discusses some tricks she's learned for juggling her children and her legal practice - particularly when everyone is at home together!
- Young Lawyer Perspective - My First Year Practicing in Review Shirlene Brown gives us an update on her first year as a practicing lawyer, which happens to coincide with a global pandemic.
- Manifesting the Life You Want - Law School Edition Alexandra Muskat discusses some ideas for creating the life you want - both personally and professionally.
- The Graveyards are Full of Indispensable People If your work is fundamentally pointless (which much BigLaw associate work is), becoming indispensable will ruin your life. Read on to understand why!
- Is Balance Possible in the Legal Profession? We Interview Lawyer/Yogi Flynn Coleman Feeling stressed out and unsure of your path? Check out this fantastic interview with a very centered lawyer/yogi.
- Are Lawyers Destined to Either Be Miserable or Broke? Are lawyers destined to either be unhappy and/or unemployed? Here's what we think.
- One Reason the Legal Profession Is So Screwed Up There seems to be something uniquely lawyer-like in the quest for safety. It's why many lawyers and law students make the decisions they do, and sometimes these aren't the right decisions!
- If I Could Choose Again, Would I Still Wait To Have Children? If you're thinking about how to balance your career and family, don't miss this story about how one lawyer decided to do it (in a non-traditional way), and why she wouldn't change a thing.
- Will You Be a Happy Lawyer? A fantastic interview with Jennifer Alvey, lawyer turned career coach for "thwarted creative" lawyer types. She’s got great insight to share about what personality types are most likely to be miserable working in the law. Check it out!
- Had Enough? Time To Quit And Hit The Open Road Forget about this whole law thing! The open road is calling. Check out this funny and insightful interview with Tyler Coulson, a law firm associate who quit his job to — wait for it — walk across the country. Yeah, the whole country. By himself, with only his dog for company.
- Lessons Learned While Preparing for Parental Leave An attorney shares her experience preparing for her second parental leave and the lessons she learned after her first leave.
- Parental Leave: What to Expect When You Return to Work Whether you’re returning to work after a few weeks, a few months, or even a full year, resuming your professional life as a new parent can be a difficult transition. Everyone will face different challenges depending on their work requirements, financial situation, and family support, but there are a few common scenarios that you can expect to encounter upon returning to work from parental leave.
- FYI: A Helpful Webinar for Depressed Lawyers Dan Lukasik of Lawyers with Depression stops by to talk about depression in the legal profession and some options for struggling lawyers.