A few weeks ago, I ran into a colleague of mine from my old law firm. After exchanging the normal pleasantries, we got to talking about who from our class was still working there. Â It wasn’t many. Â I graduated law school back in 2013 and started my first biglaw gig soon after. Â Just four years later, only a handful of people from my class still remain.
This is pretty common in the biglaw world. Â Talk to any biglaw attorney four or five years out of law school and you’ll probably find that many – if not most of them – have either left biglaw or know a lot of people that have made that leap.
Indeed, I made the decision to jump ship just three years into my biglaw career. Â It wasn’t the right fit for me, but I stuck it out because I needed the paycheck in order to pay back my student loans. Â You hear people complaining about the biglaw work environment all the time. Â With so much complaining, I can only imagine that a lot of people working in biglaw must be in the same position that I was in. Â They stick it out because they need the money, not because they like the job.
This high attrition rate isn’t just supported anecdotally – the stats bear out this high attrition rate too. According to this American Lawyer article, 46 percent of associates leave their firm within the first three years and 81% leave within the first five.  That’s even higher than I expected.  In essence, there’s a good chance you’ll be done with your firm in the first three years of your career, and you’re extremely likely to be gone by year five.  You might end up going to a new firm that pays the big bucks.  But, maybe not.  If you’re like me, you might value other things instead of earning the most money you can at a job you might not like that much.  Maybe you want work-life balance.  Or you want to try something more meaningful.  Or maybe you just get tired of practicing law.
Whatever the reason, the high rate of biglaw attrition means you need to make those first few years in practice count.
Your Biglaw Salary Is Unique – Use It Wisely
It’s important to remember just how unique a biglaw salary really is. Â Lawyers sometimes lose sight of this fact. Your typical young lawyer might graduate law school at 25 years old and start making a $180k salary with no real work experience. Â Outside of something like Silicon Valley engineer people, I don’t think there are a lot of jobs that pay that much to folks who could literally have never worked a real job in their life.
This is a lot different compared to other high paying careers like medicine, where you might not start making a significant sum of money until you’re in your 30s. Â My wife, after 4 years of dental school and 4 years of post-dental school training, won’t start making her first real income until she’s 32 years old! Â As a point of comparison, last year, at 30 years old, my wife made a grand total of $4,000 for the year.
That’s why I always tell new lawyers to treasure that salary. Â Not only is it ridiculously high, it might not be very long lasting. Â If you waste it now, you might never get that chance again. Â One of the best things you can do with that salary is to remove as many of your fixed expenses as possible. Â For most of you just starting out your legal career, student loans are going to be the big monkey on your back. Â If you’re starting out in biglaw, you’re in a unique position to possibly pay for all of your legal training in just a few years. Â But you can’t dawdle if you want to do that. Â You need to make it a conscious goal as soon as possible.
Flexibility Is King
Law is a field with a pretty high dissatisfaction rate. Â You can see why. Â It’s tedious. Â It’s often pretty boring. Â The very nature of being a lawyer – at least a litigator, anyway – means that we only really deal with people at their worst times.
I’ve actually been pretty dissatisfied with my own career as a lawyer – I think I don’t have the personality for it. Â But, because of how I used my biglaw salary, I’m in a position where I can try different legal career paths and look for a gig that is the best fit for me. Â A lot of people don’t put themselves in that position.
Getting rid of fixed expenses like your student loans means you give yourself many more choices.  And there’s no easier time to hustle to pay off your student loans than right at the beginning of your career.  My friend, Biglaw Investor, wrote a sample budget for a first year associate in NYC. Even with a not particularly frugal lifestyle, it looks like any lawyer starting out in biglaw should be able to pay off $200k of student loans in just a few years.  Removing a huge fixed cost, like student loans, gives you untold flexibility.
The key is to remember that your biglaw salary isn’t going to last forever. Â You might start off making $180k now, but five years from now, you might be making much less. Â Indeed, I took a $50k paycut when I left my biglaw gig last year. In the legal world, there aren’t a lot of jobs out there that pay the way a biglaw gig pays. Â If you live like the biglaw gravy train will never end, you’ll make things much harder for yourself.
Make Yourself Feel Rich
I don’t make a biglaw salary anymore. Â In fact, due to another career change I’ve got coming up, my income is going to decrease again, but with the tradeoff of a much healthier work-life balance. Â (Don’t worry, I’ll share more about what’s going on with my own legal career in a future post).
What’s amazing to me is that, even without my biglaw salary, I still feel pretty darn rich. Â Maybe it’s because I’ve got a fully paid for legal education. Â Or maybe it’s because I don’t really have a lot of bills that I have to pay, no matter what. Â Instead, a lot of the money I earn comes right back to me to do with as I please.
Most people I know aren’t even halfway through paying their student loans.  I couldn’t imagine a decade or more of paying my loans back.  And I don’t know what they do when they leave biglaw.  I guess they either figure out how to make do with less at that point and just keep dragging those loans out for decades.  That’s not something that I’d want to do.
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More Recommended Ebike/Scooters
Check out these other ebikes and scooters I've reviewed:
- Urban Arrow Ebike – Last year, I made one of the largest purchases I’ve ever made – I bought a $9,000 electric cargo bike from Urban Arrow. In my Urban Arrow review, I will discuss what it is and why I decided to buy this bike, as well as discuss how impactful a bike like this can be on your journey to financial independence.
- Troxus Explorer Step-Thru Ebike – The Troxus Explorer Step-Thru is a fat-tire ebike that I’ve had the pleasure of riding for a while now. It has amazing power, great looks, and awesome range. If you’re looking for a great fat-tire ebike that offers a lot for the price, the Troxus Explorer Step-Thru is definitely one for you to consider. Check out my Troxus Explorer Step-Thru Review.
- Hovsco HovBeta Ebike – The HovBeta is a folding ebike with great specs and a lot of interesting features, and importantly, it’s sold at a good price point. I’ve had a blast commuting with it and using it to do deliveries with DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. Check out my Hovsco HovBeta Ebike Review.
- Vanpowers Manidae Ebike – The Vanpowers Manidae is a fat tire ebike that I’ve been riding as my primary winter commuting bike and have also been using it to do food delivery with apps like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. After clocking in a decent number of miles with this ebike, I wanted to write a post sharing what my experience with the Vanpowers Manidae ebike has been like. Check out my Vanpowers Manidae Review.
- Sohamo S3 Step-Thru Folding EBike Review – A Great Value Folding Ebike – The Sohamo S3 Step-Thru Folding Ebike is an entry-level folding ebike that offers a lot of value for the price point. I’ve been riding the Sohamo S3 for a while now, putting the bike through its paces, and I have to say, this bike has exceeded all of my expectations. Check out my Sohamo Review.
- KBO Flip Ebike – The KBO Flip is an excellent bike. I’ve had a great time riding it and think it’s a versatile bike that can be used for a lot of purposes and can fit a variety of lifestyles. It’s worked out great for me as a general commuter bike and as a food delivery bike. Check out my KBO Flip Review.
- Hiboy P7 Commuter Ebike – The Hiboy P7 is an excellent electric commuter bike that’s offered at an affordable price point. The range and speed of this bike are both very good, so you won’t have any trouble getting anywhere you need to go with it. As a food delivery vehicle, this is also good – with how much range it offers, you’ll be able to work all day on a single charge. Check out my Hiboy P7 Commuter Electric Bike Review.
- Himiway Escape Ebike – The Himiway Escape is an interesting bike for anyone looking for a moped-style ebike. If you’re a gig economy worker, the Himiway Escape is particularly interesting and it’s possible to think of it as an investment, especially if you can opt to do deliveries with the Himiway versus using a car. It’s not cheap, but you can definitely make your money back when you compare the mileage you’ll put on your car versus using an ebike. Check out my Himiway Escape Bike Review.
- Espin Sport Ebike – The Espin Sport is a good ebike for someone who is looking for an ebike that feels and rides more like a regular bike. There are many ebikes that are really only bikes in name. In reality, they’re basically electric mopeds. The Espin Sport, by contrast, is a bike you could probably ride without the battery and you’d feel like you’re just riding a regular bike. Check out my Espin Sport Review.
- Varla Eagle One Scooter – The Varla Eagle One is an excellent scooter that can make sense for a lot of people. It can work as a primary mode of transportation. You can use it to work on gig economy apps like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. And it can also be a recreational vehicle if you’d prefer to use it for that. Check out my Varla Eagle One Review.
- Varla Falcon Scooter – The Varla Falcon is an excellent scooter that offers a good amount of power at a lower price point compared to more powerful scooters. It’s not exactly an entry-level scooter, nor is it a high-powered scooter. I think it fits somewhere in-between those two categories – an intermediate scooter if I had to give it a category. Check out my Varla Falcon Review.
- Hiboy S2 Scooter – The Hiboy S2 is an excellent entry-level commuter scooter that's perfect for someone looking to save some money in transportation costs and improve their commute. Check out my Hiboy S2 Review.
- Hiboy S2R Scooter – The Hiboy S2R is one of the more interesting electric scooters I’ve been able to test out. It’s not a high-powered scooter, but for an everyday transport option, it’s very useful, especially given some of the unique features that it has. Indeed, for the price, the Hiboy S2R might be the best value scooter I’ve used. Check out my Hiboy S2R Review.
- Fucare H3 Scooter – The Fucare H3 is a fun scooter and I’ve enjoyed testing it out. For a daily commuter or quick trips or errands, the Fucare H3 is probably the scooter I’ll use. It’s portable and easy to maneuver, so it’s just easier to take on the road when I need it. Check out my Fucare H3 Scooter Review.
More Recommended Investing App Bonuses
For additional investing app bonuses, be sure to check out the ones below:
- M1 Finance ($100) – This is a great robo-advisor that has no fees and allows you to create a customized portfolio based on your risk tolerance. You also get $100 for opening an account. Check out my M1 Finance Referral Bonus – Step-By-Step Guide.
- SoFi Invest ($25) – SoFi Invest is an easy brokerage account bonus that you can earn with just a few minutes of work. Use my SoFi Invest referral link, fund your SoFi Invest brokerage account with just $10 and you’ll get $25 of free stock. I also have a step-by-step guide for the SoFi Invest referral bonus.
- Webull (20 free stock shares) – Webull's current promotion gives you 20 free shares valued between $3-$3,000 each if you open an account using my referral link. Here’s a guide I wrote about how to earn your free shares using Webull.
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More Recommended Bank Account Bonuses
If you’re looking for more easy bank bonuses, check out the below options. These bonuses are all easy to earn and have no fees or minimum balance requirements to worry about.
- SoFi Money ($325) – SoFi Money is a free checking account from SoFi. They’re currently offering a $25 referral bonus if you open a SoFi account with a referral link and deposit $10. You can also make an additional $300 as well if you complete a direct deposit. This is a good bank that is also 100% free, so you won’t have to worry about managing this account. Here’s a post I wrote with instructions on how to earn your SoFi Money bonus: SoFi Money Referral Bonus: Step By Step Guide.
- Upgrade ($300) – Upgrade is a free checking account that’s currently offering a $300 referral bonus if you open an account and complete a direct deposit. These bonus terms are easy to meet, so it’s well worth doing this bonus as soon as you can. Here’s a post I wrote with more details: Upgrade $300 Referral Bonus – Step By Step Directions.
- Fairwinds Credit Union ($175) – Fairwinds Credit Union is offering a referral bonus for users that sign up using a referral link. Fairwinds has no fees or minimum balance, so this is a particularly easy bonus to earn. Since this is a smaller credit union, my gut instinct tells me this offer won’t be around long, so if you’re in a position to meet the bonus requirements, grab this bonus before it’s gone. Here is my step-by-step guide on how to earn your Fairwinds Credit Union bonus.
- Chime ($100) - Chime is a free bank account that offers a referral bonus if you use a referral link and complete a direct deposit of $200 or more. In practice, any ACH transfer into this account triggers the bonus. This bonus is easy to earn and posts instantly, so you’ll know if you met the requirements as soon as you move money into the account. I wrote a step-by-step guide on how to earn your Chime referral bonus that I recommend you check out.
- US Bank Business ($800) – This is a fairly easy bank bonus to earn, since there are no direct deposit requirements. In addition, you can open the Silver Business Checking account, which comes with no monthly fees. Check out how to earn this big bonus here.
- Fifth Third Bank ($200) – This offer is limited to customers in the following states: Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, West Virginia, and South Carolina. If you don’t live in one of those states, you won’t be able to open an account online but you can still open an account in-branch if you happen to be visiting a city that has a branch. This is a fairly easy bank bonus to earn, especially since there are plenty of data points showing what will trigger the direct deposit requirement. In addition, you can open the Fifth Third Momentum Checking bank account, which comes with no monthly fees or minimum balance requirements. Read my guide on this bonus here.
- GO2Bank ($50) - GO2Bank is an easy bank bonus that I recommend people take advantage of if they have an easy way of meeting the direct deposit requirement. I like that it’s easy to open the account and that the bonus pays out quickly. Check out my step-by-step guide on how to earn your GO2Bank $50 referral bonus.
- Current ($50) – Current is a free fintech bank that’s offering new users a $50 referral bonus after signing up for an account using a referral link. Current is an easy bonus to earn and also gives you access to three savings accounts that pay you 4% interest on up to $2,000. That means you can put away up to $6,000 earning 4% interest. That’s very good and makes Current an account I recommend to everyone. Check out my step-by-step guide on how to earn your Current Bank bonus.
- Novo Bank ($40) - Novo bank is a free business checking account that’s currently offering a $40 bonus if you open a Novo business checking account using a referral link. In addition to being a good bank bonus, Novo is also a good business checking account. It has no monthly fees or minimum balance requirements and operates a good app and website. Indeed, it’s the business checking account I currently use for this blog. Check out my post on how to easily open a Novo account.
- Varo ($25) – Varo is a free fintech banking app similar to Chime or Current. It’s currently offering a $25 bonus to new users that open a new Varo account with a referral link. The bonus for this bank is very easy to meet, all you need to do is spend $20 within 30 days of opening your Varo account. Check out my step-by-step guide to learn how to earn this bonus.
Kevin is an attorney and the blogger behind Financial Panther, a blog about personal finance, travel hacking, and side hustling using the gig economy. He paid off $87,000 worth of student loans in just 2.5 years by choosing not to live like a big shot lawyer.
Kevin is passionate about earning money using the gig economy and you can see all the ways he makes extra income every month in his side hustle reports.
Kevin is also big on using the latest fintech apps to improve his finances. Some of Kevin's favorite fintech apps include:
- SoFi Money. A really good checking account with absolutely no fees. You'll get a $25 referral bonus if you open a SoFi Money account with a referral link, and an additional $300 if you complete a direct deposit.
- 5% Savings Accounts. I'm currently getting 5.24% interest on my savings through a company called Raisin. Opening a Raisin account takes minutes to complete, it's free, and all of your funds are FDIC-insured. I explain how it works, why I'm now using it to store my emergency fund and any other cash savings I have, and why I recommend everyone check it out in this review.
- US Bank Business. US Bank is currently offering new business customers a $800 signup bonus after opening a new account and meeting certain requirements.
- M1 Finance. This is a great robo-advisor that has no fees and allows you to create a customized portfolio based on your risk tolerance. You also get $100 for opening an account.
- Empower. One of best free apps you can use to monitor your portfolio and track your net worth. This is one of the apps I use to track my financial accounts.
Feel free to send Kevin a message here.
I’m only now just seeing this post, but your experience reflects my outsider’s perspective on Big Law. During my days in NYC, I worked as a legal proofreader for many Big Law firms. Those places NEVER close, and we freelancers had our choice of shifts. Staying up all night to read those endless boring documents was a challenge, but I spent many nights doing exactly that. I had friends who were attorneys in Big Law and they all hated it within the first year. One friend hated it as soon as he started, but with $400k of student loan debt from undergrad and grad schools, he had no choice but to stay in Big Law.
From what I saw and heard, many of those young attorneys got sucked into the career for the salary and stayed as long as possible. Lifestyle inflation caught up very quickly to those new salaries. And if they had a wife who liked living the high life and maybe children in private school, they were stuck indefinitely. Who wants to live like that though? You definitely made the right choices!
The key is giving yourself options – more power to folks who can handle it. I couldn’t and was horrible in that environment, but that’s just me.
One thing interesting about lawyers that I think is pretty unique is that if you start out in biglaw, it’s one of the few jobs where your salary can actually drop a lot during your career. Most careers see a steady rise – but not necessarily the case for lawyers. Even a big shot lawyer in private practice that becomes a judge ends up taking a massive pay cut.
What this means is you gotta treat that money like a bonus and use it wisely. It’s almost like being an athlete.
Very interesting. That sounds similar to my career where some surveys show that approximately half of nurses plan on changing careers within five years of entering the nursing field.
Nursing definitely seems like a high burnout field. The question is, if nurses do leave the profession, I imagine many of them go on to higher paying careers. Biglaw is a weird beast because it’s possible, and even pretty likely, that you end up making less immediately after leaving the biglaw world.
Great analysis, Panther! Pay for cops starts low and blossoms over time, but for lawyers that big injection of income after a decade of school debt is a heady brew to overcome. I’m fascinated to hear about your upcoming career shift, too. Neat cliffhanger.
Haha, didn’t mean to make it a cliffhanger. I was just too lazy to get a post written up about it yet.
A few of my law school classmates who graduated a year before I did, live and work in NYC, and live similar somewhat frugal lifestyles (spending less than Biglaw Investor’s hypothetical budget, which still allows a lot of eating out, a nice apartment, and a international vacation a year) have found that it’s taken roughly two years, four months in biglaw to hit “net worth zero” on loan balances of roughly $170k at the time of graduation. They now have enough cash savings to finish paying down their loans at any time, and they’ve generally been saving for retirement as well (though kind of aimlessly and usually not that close to the 401K maximum amount per year).
I myself am not on the schedule, alas, thanks to doing a federal clerkship after about a year at my biglaw firm. I should be getting back on track pretty quick after, though, with my clerkship bonus.
Hey Xin! That’s pretty interesting how fast folks from your class are hitting net worth zero. I feel like that’s a real minority position to be in for most young lawyers. The clerkship you did will put you behind, but since you’re used to living on less, you’ll probably get back on track very quickly. And clerking – another good example of how that income can drop, especially if you opted not to go back to the biglaw life and instead hit up government or something.
Amen. Even if you think you’ll stick around in biglaw, having the option to make a different life change is a pretty big deal. If you have to cover a monthly student loan payment of $1500, it WILL influence your future career choices. I liked how you phrased using your time in biglaw to remove fixed expenses because things change dramatically when your fixed expenses disappear.
Looking forward and intrigued to hear about this new career change. I thought you had found the perfect work/life balance!
I’ll definitely be sharing what’s going on with my career. I’m still a JD, but won’t be representing clients anymore.
Great article! A lot of people have the mindset that they’ll always make as much, or more, as they currently do. That’s a fallacy and I like the fact that you recommend that people pay off debt like it’s about to catch their house on fire. I was talking to an attorney friend of mine recently, and she was telling me that her husband (a partner at a big law firm) has been working 100 hour weeks on a big project. I gently asked when he expected to quit that crazy life that might kill him and she said, “Oh, I don’t really expect him ever to retire.” I realized that our family’s priorities are vastly different. Because we have an “enough” number in our head. But making money just for the sake of making money? I think that’s part of the problem with lawyers. I read a great article in the NYT, don’t know if you’ve seen it:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/15/business/lawyers-addiction-mental-health.html
Reminded me of my friend. It shows it’s very difficult to sustain those crazy work hours over about five years without some kind of chemical help. Ugh.
Biglaw is an interesting thing – it’s like a pie eating contest where the prize is more pie. There are definitely people who enjoy the work, and if you can last it out and keep making the big bucks, then great! But it’s still better to put yourself in the position where you’ll at least have options if you can’t make it.
Thanks for sharing that NY Times article. Lawyers have a higher than normal substance abuse rate from what I’ve read. Really important to keep an eye out for our friends and family.
Good advice. I have seen similar story in high tech world where I worked for 20 years as an engineer. I used to watch new kids out of college with no work experience, start making 100k+ salaries while not understanding how quickly the time will go and before they know it, it could be all gone. They could become obsolete in just a few years, replaced by younger generation, or worst burnout. Yet they waste money on expensive cars and other unnecessary things rather than saving and investing for the future.
It’s crazy how fast things can change. I imagine the burnout rate isn’t quite as bad with silicon valley people – or they probably have more ways to keep the good times rolling. Still important to take care of business early on, just in case.