Any Lawyers out there in the MP world?

I'm looking for some advice.

I'm a 3rd year law student. School is fine, relatively easy, but boring. My internships/clinical experience/externships have all been painful. They are boring and slow. I am like I assume many other climbers are a "brass tacks" sort of individual. I like to get things in, get them done, and get them out the door so I can go pursue what I really enjoy doing (i.e. women, beer, climbing, snowboarding, etc.)I feel like oftentimes, I get punished for being an efficient worker because the work never ends. I do things right the first time and I do them quickly so I can go do the things that life is really about. Unfortunately, in the legal field this doesn't result in additional free time. Instead, you either have to look busy or more work gets dumped on you. I don't like that my high productivity output is basically a bad thing because other employees who work much more slowly earn the same amount of credits and/or pay.
I'm in my last semester and the time has come to decide whether to take the bar and continue down this road. Fortunately, I worked as a few years as a bartender making cash money and was able to pay for school so I am not saddled with soul-crushing student debt. I regret leaving that bartending job every day but when I was doing it all I heard was, "You can't be a bartender the rest of your life." I do well in school but the legal job market has arguably been one of the hardest hit by the recession so the earning potential, at least for the first few years, is comparable to any construction or restaurant job which I used to truly enjoy doing. My question to those attorneys with a little more experience in the field and life in general is how far down this path do I go? I have to graduate, I'm only a few months away. Do I take the bar or not? Do I take the bar and then take some time off? Do you regret being an attorney or has it been satisfying? Do you ever have the time to climb or pursue other passions in life? I'm not looking to make millions. I'm a single guy with no debt and no kids, just a dog. I mean, do I just consider the last three years a mistake, get in my car, and start the climbing road trip or do I keep banging my head against the wall hoping something will change down the road? Hopefully, there is someone out there who has experienced something similar and can offer some salient advice.

Welcome to the real world. A lot of people, myself included, come out of school ready to take on the world. We work twice as hard as anyone else, produce four times as much, and get paid half as much. Eventually you burn out, become frustrated, and become one of them. Best to find a middle ground before getting pissed off and burnt out; do your work, find an outlet *cough*climbingwebsites*cough*, and put in some face time. I'm not going to say there aren't career options where you can work just the hours you need to get stuff done, but unless you decide to work for yourself, that's the reality of most of the office environment. Especially in a career like legal where it's all billable hours.

Here's my advice: Just finish what you started. Maybe you'll never use it or maybe later in life. It's like a hard route, finish it in style and move on.

Take the bar. If you don't, you never will. Or, if you do at a later time, you will have a more difficult time passing it. Then take some time to figure out what path you want to follow. As an associate with a family and with student loans, I still struggle with many of the same questions you have now. My advice, pursue what ever it is that you are passionate about. Everything else will fall into place.

Like everyone has said, if you don't take the bar now, you likely never will. Plus, if you do ever get an opportunity to work in the legal profession, people are going to want to hire an attorney, not just some dude who graduated from law school.

You don't rap off El Cap two pitches from the top. Put a cap on all that hard work you've been putting in for the past three years. You may not see the benefits immediately, but if you ever practice law you will.

While I agree with what everyone has said about finishing what I started, my concern is just that I don't really see myself ever practicing law. None of my experiences have been good. I'm hopeful there is an attorney out there who frequents MP and can validly say, "Law school sucks, the bar sucks, but now that I'm here, I like my job and I would do it all over again. And I get to climb a lot."

I'll likely take the bar for many of the reasons already stated. I'm just questioning the legal field in general, particularly with the grim employment statistics that continue to emerge.

Take the BAR before you begin to forget things. Those who don't (ex:brother, dad) take it right out of school, tend to never do it. While you can be fully succesful w/o it (ex: brother, dad), it never hurts to have it under your belt and behind you.

What have you got to lose by taking the Bar? I'm on my 3rd career that has nothing to do with my undergrad or MS. You never know where the road will take you, but at least you'd have something to fall back on.
If you practice law and find it's not for you you'll find something else. Don't get stuck in the trap that so many others fall in to. Always be open to opportunity. Don't feel like you are trapped. There are always options if you ask for them. May not come how you want it to or how you like it, but it will come.

I can't speak from my own personal experience but a few years back my younger brother went through the same experience as yourself. He was studying with a family and young daughter and toying with packing it in. He pushed through, took the bar and now works as an Assistant State Attorney in Florida loving every minute of it. When you get to prosecute people for Molesting Vending machines, how could you not!

Sit the bar while ti's fresh and then move on to whatever floats your boat...

I'm not a lawyer but I have a friend that I used to climb with that is. He is ~40 and climbs 4-5 times a week. He seemed to enjoy his job (patent law) but kind of made fun of it. He would always refer to it as, "Whatever, it is that I do", but he sure wasn't stressed and never compalined about work, and he was a pretty sick climber. I would say suck it up, take the bar, take some time off, then sort it.

Although now you can't imagine practicing law, that may change if your values change, aka you have a family and need to earn more money, or have a friend that wants to start a company and needs a lawyer on board, ect.

I understand your reservations about practicing. I was there too. I worked at a large firm when graduating, knew from the first week it wasn't for me but stayed on for the $. Eventually, I couldn't take it anymore and quit, and took an extended leave of absence, traveling to Nepal, India, the Western U.S. for about six months, wondering what I was going to do with my life.

Eventually I found a job with a non-profit that I found really rewarding (personally yes, financially no). When that ended for reasons beyond my control, I hung out my own shingle and took cases that had meaning for me, that I could feel good about working on. Almost 20 yrs. later I'm still at it. It's a grind sometimes, but it still has it's moments when I feel really good about what I'm doing. I'm able to support my family comfortably and I make a far better living than lots of other folks who work really hard and have little to show for it.

Fat Dad wrote: You don't rap off El Cap two pitches from the top.

Exactly.

Birdman - There's one place where your efficiency is appreciated and you will have time to do what you want, and that is working for yourself. I started out as a bank lawyer in Chicago. Gray, Brooks Brothers suit, etc. etc. In '79 I went to Outward Bound in North Carolina and had an epiphany. "Move to Boulder," the spirits told me and I did. Never been back, never regretted it.
Practicing law can be very gratifying if you find the area you are interested in. If you hang out your shingle for a year and keep your rates low, you will do a little of everything. Then you can specialize or go back to bar tending.
I stopped practicing a few years and went into mediating, another gratifying field: helping people sort out their conflicts. The pay can be adequate to substantial, but it is very competitive. The law degree definitely helps to get clients.
I admire your approach in asking for advice. I was never that smart.

Wayne

JLP wrote:Sounds like you are more or less right on track with the experience of every other college graduate out there. Suggest you don't sabotage your successes thus far. Quitting before you get a few years experience working tells the Man you can't hack it and you'll get tossed by the wayside. The more experience you get, the more freedom.

Another "exactly". I felt the same way after so many years in school... sick of what I was studying and doing, wondering if I spent all this time doing something I wasn't interested in. It might be because I wasn't really creating anything, just doing what was writ and required to get a degree.

You won't ever regret finishing, but you might regret not finishing.

I'll probably walk away from a field I got a doctorate in but I would have felt like a jackass not finishing it. Take the bar, go on vacation afterwards, then decide.

Nothing you do is self-esteem neutral. Take the bar, get your first job, and

Actually, hanging a shingle is the one thing I've thought of that could potentially work. Problem is, that's scary as hell to a freshly graduated law student who has little experience in the private sector. Most of my experience is in the public sector, specifically environmental.

Wayne, did you hang a shingle with anyone? Did you have any clue what you were doing? Since I paid off my loans I can great a line of credit but don't want to take out a small business loan to hang a shingle unless I have some idea what I'm doing. Did you have a mentor or did you just figure it out as you went? Hanging a shingle and being my own boss sounds great, I'm just not sure law school actually prepares you to be a solo practitioner. I understand a lot of the doctrinal aspects of law, but the practical stuff is still mostly alien. That is my hesitation in regards to hanging a shingle.

My bro finished law school but never took the bar exam. Still, he has found his JD degree very useful as he's progressed through an interesting career path.

Take the bar, think about what you want to do and look for a job in that field. A law license opens many doors besides practicing law. I took 2 years off after law school, refinished furniture and climbed. When I got tired of being broke I sent out one resume, got a job in a personal injury firm and have now been helping people for over 20 years. And yes, despite being married with two kids and my own firm, I still get out climbing on a weekly basis. Heading out the door for a 2 day FA binge right now in fact.....

definitely finish it and pass the bar. this would be a good spring-board to other things.

TAKE THE BAR. Do your work now while you are young and you will never regret it. Stay in shape and you can climb till you are past 50 at least. By that time you will be retired and living the good life. Not to many folks are able to do that.