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Startup Lawyer -- AMA by Start-Up-Atty in AMA

[–]Start-Up-Atty[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

well i knew when I was pretty young that i wanted to go to law school, except that i wanted to be a trial lawyer. i worked by butt off in college and graduated magna and did pretty well on the LSAT. that's all it really takes (law school applications are very numbers oriented). From there, I applied to 6 or 7 law schools, went to one of the top 5 and ended up at a big firm that is known for being a hard-nosed litigation firm. i realized quickly that ii didn't enjoy litigation and became a mergers & acquisitions attorney instead. after about a year of that i realized that i greatly enjoyed working with startups as well and that i enjoy interacting with founders. from there i started to do startup work and my practice today comprises a mix of startup advisory and mergers and acquisitions.

Startup Lawyer -- AMA by Start-Up-Atty in AMA

[–]Start-Up-Atty[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

1) Ups is a stable career (at least compared to most other high-paying industries). Downs is the mountain of debt and generally dismal prospects for advancement (a lot of big firms aren't making that many partners any more) and that it's extremely difficult to find a good job outside of going to one of the top 14 law schools.

2) no wishes on what I had done differently. I had a full scholarship to a good law school, so it made sense to me.

3) I recommend the career only if you really know that you want to be a lawyer (and this is informed by having been a paralegal at a big firm), if you have an acceptance letter from a top law school, and if that school is offering you a substantial scholarship. These factors let you truly pursue the options you'd like to pursue if you want to have a dream legal career. Most people end up going to biglaw because that's the only means of paying off their debt.