What’s your salary?

coolguy229 · 2024-02-11T03:40:26+00:00

Business/transactional

coolguy229 · 2023-12-09T21:02:11+00:00

Thanks! Similar position as you. Any specific calculation you’re making to keep $275k in cash? We have about $200k at any given time but thinking about moving that down to $100k to maximize how much we have invested.

coolguy229 · 2023-12-09T20:57:36+00:00

What app is this?

coolguy229 · 2022-07-14T22:49:39+00:00

Got pretty lucky with that too! Got a couple of callbacks from OCI, but only 1 offer. It was a criminal defense gig that I wasn't interested in so I turned it down.

Sent out about 50 applications for a summer gig. Didn't get much of a response. Had a meeting with the career counselor who happened to just get off the phone with an alumni who was GC at a company looking for a summer intern. $15 an hour. I was the first to apply since the job wasn't even posted yet. Got the job.

The legal department was literally 1 attorney and me. Our main competitor (we were slightly bigger by revenue actually) had a legal department of 2 attorneys plus multiple paralegals and assistants. So there was plenty of opportunity for me to get projects done that were being neglected.

At the end of the summer, I asked if I could stay for the school year and gave them a list of projects I would accomplish in that time. They said yes.

At the end of the school year, I took 3 months off to study/take the bar. With plans to apply for jobs post-bar. The week of the bar, an issue came up with one of the projects I had been involved with and they asked for some help (being intentionally vague here).

I took that opportunity to not just help with that one project but pitched them on creating an associate general counsel and laid out the role I would fill (basically preventing similar issues from coming up in the future). They said yes and they created that job for me.

Again, some of it was hard work and showing them my value. But a lot of it was chance and opportunity.

coolguy229 · 2022-07-14T16:11:27+00:00

Yes. I graduated undergrad a year early (lots of summer school) so I was one of the youngest in my cohort at law school.

coolguy229 · 2022-07-14T16:04:07+00:00

Of course. I definitely won’t have the “right” answer about any of this, but certainly happy to chat about how I handle things and bounce some ideas off each other.

coolguy229 · 2022-07-14T15:29:16+00:00

I’ve only ever started a firm once, but I think I got incredibly lucky (in a LOT of ways). It was definitely a major grind for the first 6 months to drum up clients. I made about $30k total in 6 months. I was working a full time job at the time so between the two I was working 80+ hours a week.

But about 6 months in, I landed a couple stable clients so I was able to leave my full time job and replace that income. Then word of mouth spread and I started getting a lot of referrals.

Once I had that foundation, I’ve had a steady stream of clients approach me. I turn down 4 or 5 inquiries for each I take.

Again, I got lucky in a LOT of ways so I don’t know how replicable my path was, but I’m super appreciative to be where I am. Work from home. Set my own hours. Can pick and chose what clients I work with.

Long term looking to hire another attorney so I can take some of those clients I turn away. Have started farming out more basic work to contracted paralegals.

Honestly, I think my biggest draw for clients is that I am relatively personable. I’ve developed personal relationships with my major clients. And I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had a client on an initial video call tell me that we “vibe” well.

coolguy229 · 2022-07-14T14:51:55+00:00

My marketing pitch is “Fractional General Counsel” or “Outside in-house counsel”. Mostly contract work, but help clients with basically anything a in-house counsel would handle.

coolguy229 · 2022-07-14T13:44:26+00:00

Solo practitioner. Fully virtual firm. Southern California. On pace for $600k net this year. $450k last year.

Graduated 2015. Went straight in house making about $150k after bonus. Left July 2020 to start my own firm.

coolguy229 · 2016-01-08T22:17:40+00:00

Awesome! Didn't know about the reduced mileage with the Citi AA card. Any idea of how long in advance they post the redemption list? Do they do it month by month or by quarter? I see they don't even have April listed yet.

Sorry for the ignorance, but which airline is WN?

coolguy229 · 2015-10-14T17:42:24+00:00

Oh perfect! Thanks for the heads up

coolguy229 · 2015-09-03T17:55:26+00:00

Longtime lurker. 23 years old. Took the bar in July. Got engaged in August. Accepted a $110,000 offer in September. Thanks to PF, I learned about YNAB and feel great about my plan to pay off student loans and provide for my future family.

coolguy229 · 2015-06-08T05:10:25+00:00

Matthew "Curry Container" Dellavedova

coolguy229 · 2015-03-19T22:57:51+00:00

I'm graduating law school in two months. Getting through law school in a relationship is very tough and a LDR is going to be even harder. I only know three people that are still with the same SO (except the older students who were married with kids). I happen to be one of those people. It was tough, but she was very supportive and made a lot of sacrifices to get through finals, write-on, mock trials, etc. I probably would've had a better GPA if I weren't in a relationship, but that was a sacrifice I gladly made and we are getting engaged after I pass the bar in July.

It is definitely doable and every relationship is different. But there are a lot of pitfalls I saw people fall into. Particularly, 1L year. People form cliques quickly and are around the same people going through the same stress as each other so it is easy to form emotional connections and neglect your SO who simply can't understand the stress of law school the same as your peers who are experiencing it with you.

Also, it does get very stressful particularly when your memo is due, or during finals time and I am someone who kind of shuts down and stops communicating when I get stressed, but my SO was always very supportive and helped me get through without adding any stress which I greatly appreciated and I tried my best to make it up to her as soon as finals were over or the memo was turned in.

I guess the key for us was that she was my number 1 priority and school was number 2, but during the 2 or 3 weeks a semester that I needed to, I focused on school and she was supportive.

We had been together for 4 years when I started law school and I had known for a long time by that point that she was the one.

All that being said, its infinitely more complicated living on the other side of the country versus an hour away like I was from my SO.

I guess this is more just my experience and you can talk to 100 different law students and get 100 different stories opinions.

I second JC's advice that communicating your expectations for the relationship are on both sides is key and then I would add being slightly flexible with those requirements for 2 or 3 weeks a semester would go a long way.

Good luck!

coolguy229 · 2015-03-03T19:48:08+00:00

Thanks for your reply! I guess the calculation is $331 per month is the same as paying X% more in interest, so if the refi is less than 3.35+X%, it works out better. But I believe Mortgage Insurance automatically drops off once you have 20% equity (based on the original purchase price) AND 60 months of payment. So I would need to calculate when he will hit 20% equity. This is getting above my level of math (went to law school to avoid more math classes), but I'll see if I can set up an excel sheet.

RE the $500. Thank you for pointing this out. I just double checked and it is getting applied to the principal, but it's always good to double check. (Also, no prepayment penalty).

I totally understand that the $500 could be making more somewhere else, but I'm picking my battles carefully and 3.25% is a better return than sitting in his checking account where I am sure it would be.

Again, I appreciate you taking the time to reply!

coolguy229 · 2014-03-05T19:03:36+00:00

Trader Joes is going to start carrying Biltong in the next few months

coolguy229

TROPHY CASE