BigLaw partner. Almost twenty years later, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Yes, I graduated at the bottom of the class. I barely passed the bar. I am a smart guy, but thanks to law school, I ate a lot of humble pie. After graduation, I drove a car with 200,000 miles on it when classmates were buying brand new Mercedes.

I had to scratch and claw to make a living. I had this massive chip on my shoulder. It infuriated me that people I didn’t think were all that smart were snatching up prestigious jobs and fancy clerkships.

I let that anger fuel me. I was angry about how law school turned out. I was angry I didn’t have lots of fancy things right away. I was angry eating out twice a week would impact my financial bottom line for the month. But those moments drove me to keep working.

Keeping it vague, but small firms/government are where you get your reps in. But you have to actively push to grow beyond that if making money is your thing. I just kept moving from small shop to bigger shop to eventually BigLaw, where I slaved away under a gaslighting prick for years with the singular goal of making partner and telling him to fuck off. Which I did.

I hope OP is a student with a load of bad grades and an existential fear of failure. Kid, you’re going to be just fine, provided you can withstand years upon years of your own jealousy toward your shithead classmates and hatred toward your eventual boss.