This week we welcome back guest writer Shirlene Brown to discuss how to budget as a new lawyer.
Congrats! You have graduated from law school, passed the bar exam, have been sworn-in as a practicing lawyer, and you landed your first “big girl/boy/gender-noncomforming” job! With a new job and more income comes additional responsibilities, including (but definitely not limited to) managing your finances! Personally, I am an attorney at a small-medium sized law firm that specializes in personal injury. I have been officially working at the firm as an attorney for about a year now, however I started at my office in my first year of law school as a law clerk/paralegal. I am also a first-generation college student and the only lawyer in my family. My husband and I both come from very working-class backgrounds and have had jobs since the age of 16. So it should suffice to say that we “ball on a budget.” When I graduated from law school and passed the bar, I started working as an attorney and made more money than I had ever before in my life.
However, I also had to start paying my student loans and managing all my other finances. So what are some tips and tricks to budgeting, especially after you first become an attorney? And how can you best manage your finances at your new lawyer pay rate? Here is my advice to young lawyers on how to budget and be a financial all-star!
With all the gloom and doom reporting out lately (
Today’s interview is with 
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.)
Today’s interview is with 
Lots of people start law school thinking they’d eventually like to do public interest work. Unfortunately, many of them soon encounter the harsh financial realities of such a path.
Law school debt is a huge issue these days. Not surprising, when the average borrower has over $100K in loans by the time graduation rolls around!
People often say you shouldn’t worry about student loan debt — that it’s “good debt.” In some cases, this might be true.
