/biz/ - Business & Finance

>>931834

Just remember the only real lawyers are those who work in private arbitration.

>>931843

What is that? Like lawyers that work for private companies?

Yeah, my eventual goal is to work for a corporation, not for a law firm or something like that, but I'll have to work at a few firms while building a reputation to eventually work at one of those big corporations.

I'm not really worried about the supposed 'low income' in the beginning of law, because my parents are well to do financially and can support me through school easily with the help of some minor loans.

I'm not even about making tonnes of money, I just want the satisfaction of winning, because money has never mattered in my life, but winning always has.

http://futurestudents.yorku.ca/program/law-society

That's the program I'd do for an undergrad probably in the Social Sciences faculty I guess. It's a very interesting program I think.

>>931834
I am literally in the exact same situation as you are in if i started this month which i plann doing i will have to study 8 years And pay 11.000 euros for the institution alone

>>931918

My cost is around $6,000/year in institution (tuition) and then I have to pay extra for driving (car, gas, insurance) so like another $3,000 for the 8 months.

Basically I'm looking at $10k/year with food and transport and tuition, I'll get government loan for $6k, and the rest $4k I'll have to take line of credit or personal loan, but if I get a scholarship for $3500/year, school will basically be "free" for me

So working hard to get the average up now lol

>>931834

Almost 2nd year associate here

Let me tell you what being a lawyer is like

You sit in front of a screen all day and do boring shit that sucks.

Today I spent most of my day typing out 5 letters and scouring through our archive because a case file has gone missing.

>I also have a knack for picking at people and finding things out, as well as arguing, it's like a drug for me.

This job is mostly kissing ass, constructing documents and if you are any good; selling.

Ironic because I went into law instead of IT as I wanted to work with people, but most days I hardly talk to anyone except my responsible partner when he comes to give me more work.

At least I got into a small office with just 4 lawyers, so I get to work on different types of cases. My classmate who got in at the biggest national firm here is doing nothing but real estate correcting lease agreements all day long.

Right now I'm just looking at exit options because I have not seen a single person in this business live a happy fulfilling life. Wish I'd gone into nerd shit instead. Or sales - at least I would've been making money for the past 6 years instead of picking up a massive debt.

>>931942
Barely started 1 year associate here
I can confirm every single thing.
One tiny thing the law school forgot to tell me was that GPA and connections are king in this job. All those rich and connected collagues are now walking in their fancy suits heading to court hearing with their attorney fathers/mothers/close relatives/friends
Those of my collagues who didn't had much luck GPA wise are unemployed, eternaly interned or waiters.
As a first generation lawyer with a decent GPA, I do basically the same as >>931942 for an intern's "salary" that is enough to cover my travel expenses to work.
I guess its the same shit everywhere.

BTW, I see my exit strategy in entrepreneurship.
I'm learning web dev in my free time and am pretty optimistic.

Why cant you study law as an undergrad in usa? Seems like a waste of time and money to me..

>>931834
>e people are all stuck up snobs

Underage detected. Why do you blame your insecurities on other people?

>>931942
I'm in first year, studying criminology and planning to go into law but I'm having doubts. Should I go for engineering instead? It has been eating at me for months now, not sure if I should change. What do you think? Is a legal profession or an engineering profession more fulfilling?

I studied law in the Netherlands. Master degree in tax law.

If you can bring up the discipline to read your books, and if you can read slowly so you understand every word, then you can easily manage. It's not hard. It just required discipline.

>>931974

I reckon all academic professions are the same at the entry level tier because you end up being someone's bottom bitch. My guess would be that engineers have more exit options early on due to actual marketable skills.

>>931961

I feel you brother.

Worst part is seeing SEO-'experts' 3-5 years younger than me making several times my pay by sellingshit you can learn from youtube. I keep telling myself that it's bound to curve off somewhere, but man oh man is it hard to keep going.

>>931971

I don't have insecurities, I just don't like snobs lol

>>931993
*study
I'll be done in a month or two.

>>931993
*study
I'll be done in a month or two. I still have to hand over a paper.

>>932056

I see, so how old are you now? I'm 19 atm, and I'll be 22 when I graduate, so I'll be like 25/26 before I'm actually an 'associate' lawyer

>>932058
28. Some guys in my class are over 50 years old. So I don't think age really matters a lot.

Some work places offer students a part time job while they study, for example 1 or 2 days a week, in hope they can employ them when they are done. If you feel like you're getting old you could even gain experience through such things while you still study.

A lot of legal professions aren't actually court work. I did an intership at city hall and the legal department there just represented the city in court cases, not as a lawyer but as the city, so they didn't need any qualifications at all. If you make contracts, give advice to clients or have to check other departments you might not even a degree. If you prepare work to go to court you don't need a degree. If you end up in a management function you don't need a degree. If you need to enforce regulations for the government you don't need a degree. If you give advice about legal structures.. you get the idea. So you can do lots of stuff before you're actually qualified.

>>932070

Yeah, that's what I love about the profession, you can do a lot while you're a student, which I'm very interested in doing!

>>932070
I also did some volunteer work at an expertise center that helps disabled students get adjustments to make their student life easier. Employers love that shit. You can do it whenever you want and you have no hole in your resume.

>>931961
>BTW, I see my exit strategy in entrepreneurship.
>I'm learning web dev in my free time and am pretty optimistic.
The funny thing is I also set up a webshop this very year for the same reasons. There is nothing stopping you from doing it all and spread your chances and sources of income. Especially when you're just a student you've got plenty of time to experiment with these things.

And it looks good on your resume.

>>932088

Web developers come at a dime a dozen these days, at least PHP developers.

I do datawarehousing / occasionally Java frontends and, with one year experience, I'm already making more bank than a friend of mine who's been a PHP developer for 8 years.

>>932097
That's why I want to move goods. You can only sell your time once, but you can sell an infinite number of goods.

bump

>>931834
OP, literally in the exact same position, studying Econ right now and looking at law. Some of it is shitty, and you do end up being someone's bitch for a while, but there are so many small law firms that sprout up everywhere, you can do the same.

>>931834
>I also have a knack for picking at people and finding things out, as well as arguing, it's like a drug for me.

My autism alarm is going off

Made it through 1L and quit. I enjoyed the research, the case building, and the logic, but I FUCKING despised everything else about it. I hated what kind of person I was becoming, so I made the decision to get out while I could.

You will meet all kinds of fucked up people in law school.

>One girl, 2 weeks before finals had her locker broken into, and all of her master notes stolen
>She dropped out
>Another guy had his laptop with all of his notes stolen, found it smashed in the fountain
>After midterms, another guy was drinking at the bar, had a breakdown, went to his apartment and threw all of his shit into his car
>Drove off, nobody heard from him again
>One girl, probably 30th in the class, can't find work
>Still a clerk for the judge she interned for during the summers

And my absolute favorite story

>East coast school
>3 kids from CA, all Asian
>Born in the US
>All claim English as a second language
>Given unlimited time on their exams
>At midterm, we all had 2 hours per exam
>2 of them took 6, one kid took 9 hours on one of his exams
>They all scored in the top 5
>Student went to the Dean about them abusing the system
>"The system is there to be abused. Tough shit."

>>931834
>>931942
>>931961
>>932070


haha.

> Hollywood's effect on life decisions

The older I get the more I realize just how big of an impact Hollywood has had on so many people's life decisions.

Where did you get this idea about lawyers? TV? Film?

75% of what lawyers do is either look through documents or look/type at a computer screen. 20% meeting with people, where they use big words, and try to sound smart and powerful, and that they have a grasp on everything, and 5% actually going to court and speaking in front of people (which for the first few years is pretty nerve wracking).

Most lawyers have a drug or alcohol problem for a reason.

My brother is a lawyer. He wishes he had done computer science instead.

>>933577
> what kind of person am I becoming

that's another thing. Lawyers stop thinking about things as right & wrong, but instead what can be proven and what can't be proven.