Another Article on Disatisfaction in the Legal Profession

This article, Web site tells of woes of attorneys (SF Chronicle 1/8/05) reports on the Anonymous Lawyer phenonenom, speculating that the site may “make you feel sorry for lawyers.”  The article then goes on to describe the grind of the large law firm, working hard and deferring gratification until the big payoff of partnership:

Although most of us nonlegal types probably didn’t know it, this month is a time of critical mass for many budding attorneys. Traditionally, this is when partnerships are handed out in the big firms. After six or seven years of forgoing social life, family time and sleep, this is when it all pays off.

Or it doesn’t.

“That brass ring,” says Daniel Binstock, managing director of the Washington, D.C., bureau of BCG Search, a national firm specializing in placing partners and associates, “can turn out to be a mirage.”

Frankly, these kinds of articles about the hard lives of young people earning $125,000+ embarrass me; it’s hard for other people (even other lawyers) to feel badly for those earning so much money.  People make choices; sometimes biglaw is the wrong choice and sometimes it’s not.  If it’s the wrong choice, change it and when enough people do, we’ll find that the face of our profession has changed as well.