Why You Should Think about More than Money When Picking a Law Firm

It's no revelation that you can make big bucks at a top-tier firm. But at what cost? Remember that these firms are paying you for your labor. They're doing so because they think they can get their money's worth from it.

Consider the People
Enjoying the people you work with is perhaps the single most important ingredient in overall job satisfaction. Your interactions with your supervisor and coworkers will shape your experience at a firm. A good mentor in a law firm can help develop you into a top-notch attorney and push your career forward. And quality relationships with colleagues can grow into the network that you'll depend on to get the jobs you want in the future.

On the other hand, if the senior associate or partner you work for is unreasonable or needs some serious face time with a therapist, your daily life will be miserable. The problem will affect your relationships, your social life, and, ultimately, your self-esteem. No amount of cash will compensate you.

How can you find out if you'll get along with your coworkers? During the interview process, try to get a feeling for the people behind the suits. Do you like them? Do you respect them? Would you feel comfortable being around them 50 or 60 hours a week? Trust your intuition, and use that intuition to guide your decision-making—it's worth more to you than money.

Assess the Work and the Firm
If you're at a large law firm, chances are you'll be doing unglamorous research and writing assignments to start. First- and second-year associates are low on the food chain, sometimes working under three or more layers of senior attorneys. That usually means limited exposure to clients and little or no input into strategic decisions. In many large firms, you're basically a warm body—a well-paid warm body—for some time.

Smaller firms generally ask more of young lawyers because they don't have the extra resources not to. However, small law firms (with the exception of some high-profile boutique firms) can't afford to pay salaries the way the larger firms do. And small firms typically, though not always, draw from a less lucrative pool of clients and do different types of work from larger firms.

If you go to work in a small litigation firm, you probably won't get to defend corporate behemoths such as Microsoft. But you'll have more client contact early on and you'll enjoy more equal footing with senior associates than you would at a large firm.

When deciding between firms, consider the work you'd do and the way that work would fit into the firm. What kinds of projects will you spend your time working on? Will the work be interesting and the cases challenge you, or will they put you to sleep? While having a reputable firm's name on your resume can open doors later on, reputation isn't everything—and it won't necessarily guarantee you a satisfying day-to-day work life should you accept the offer.

Understand the Culture
Whether or not you're going to be happy at a particular firm will depend on how well you fit into its culture. The culture and work environment can profoundly affect your state of mind. You should choose a firm that feels consistent with your identity and values.

Some people really go in for the dark-wood-and-antiques decor of traditional law firms, for instance, while others find such decor stifling and oppressive. Do you really want to spend 70 hours a week in an environment you don't like?

And then there's the attire. Do the attorneys mostly wear suits or is casual the norm? On the West Coast, the ultracasual Internet culture has driven a trend away from suits. Some people lament this while others celebrate it.

Learn about the unspoken rules of the office. Does the firm promote cooperation or competition among associates? Will you be part of a team effort or will you be pitted against other members of your associate class in a Machiavellian contest for bonuses? How late do people work? Is leaving the firm at six p.m. considered slacking off? These issues will affect you, and you should consider them now, before you accept an offer.

Know the Hours You'll Need to Bill
If you're fortunate enough to be sought after by firms in the top salary tier, you're also going to be facing some very steep billable-hour requirements. After all, how do you think these firms pay for those salaries?

While some firms (such as Day Casebeer) play down rigid hourly quotas, others are explicit about them. For example, the San Francisco law firm of Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison recently instituted a generous bonus structure for those associates who bill at least 2,400 hours in one year. But stop for a moment and think about that. What does billing 2,400 hours actually mean?

If you divide 2,400 by twelve months, it comes out to 200 billable hours per month. While that may not sound too hard to achieve in theory—approximately 50 hours per week—it's very difficult to do in practice without sacrificing most if not all of your social life.

Lawyers can't ethically bill all their time to clients. They can legitimately bill only the time they have worked on a particular matter. And even the most efficient lawyers spend many office hours doing tasks that can't be billed to any client. Billing an eight-hour day may therefore require anywhere from ten to 14 hours of actual time in the office, depending on the matter and the circumstances.

There's a direct correlation between salary and hourly billing requirements. The more you make, the more you can expect to work. Working such long hours can be difficult. But if the work is compelling and the people are interesting and friendly, it will make the experience far easier.

Do What's Right for You
What you need to consider is what you're getting out of the deal. Money's certainly a part of it, but you might find yourself happier—and with a longer life and career—if you take the job where you're going to enjoy yourself more, rather than be worked the hardest. Consider the money, but consider more than the money, too—then make a career choice based on what feels right to you.