Introduction
As an seasoned corporate attorney reflecting on my career, I vividly recall the competitive rush of landing a job at a prestigious Manhattan mergers and acquisitions boutique after graduating Columbia Law School. Joining an elite profession stride with history‘s greatest dealmakers and white shoe firms promised a gateway to wealth, power and validation after three intense academic years. I felt the long hours and personal sacrifices routinely demanded of corporate lawyers amounted to paying expected dues enroute to eventual seven figure salaries and envy inducing client rosters.
In those early years, 16 hour days immersed in heady IPOs and bet-the-company lawsuits whizzed by intoxicatingly. My bank account swelled faster than I could drain it on Masa tasting menus and ski weekends to Deer Valley paid for with bonus checks bigger than some Americans’ annual salaries. Sure, girlfriends came and went unable to grasp my routinely cancelled dinner plans and perpetually silenced phone. But the wins – massive deals, killer cross examinations, promotions – fueled belief that this high adrenaline lifestyle constituted my dream career.
After nearly seven years though, the stimulant became the fatigue. The seventh all-nighter in a month. The third vacation deferred. Missing a close relative’s funeral thanks to an emergency filing. I started needing a second line of cocaine just to jolt through client conference calls. Law continued seducing with its challenges and rewards, but its necessary sacrifices increasingly carried crippling effects outside the office. My identity and self worth slowly fused solely with billable hours targets and nonexistent personal connections. On pace for partnership, I seemingly “had it all.” Yet crossing that finish line required prolonging a soul draining routine already outpacing my physical and emotional reserves. At 37, I needed a quadruple bypass and a divorce lawyer more than another multimillion dollar closing party.
Body
Pros: Huge Earning Potential
Litigation partners at top New York firms frequently clear over $3 million annually. Wachtell deal lawyers take home up to $7 million in busy M&A years. Even junior lawyers nationwide earn over 3-4 times median wages for American households ($67,521 per U.S. Census data). Big Law packages enable fast high end car and luxury apartment purchases together impossible among childhood friends.
"I cant afford kids now. But in 5 years as counsel making $800k+ in Phoenix, you bet I’ll have a stay at home wife and send my daughters to private school," insists one midlevel associate seeking to balance family sacrifices today against future excess earnings.
And business is booming at profitable firms. The latest Partner Compensation Survey shows average profits per equity law firm partner jumped 22% last year. McDermott Will & Emery partners saw compensation climb 55% to over $3 million on average.
Pros: Professional Purpose
Beyond money, talented law graduates thrive on participating daily in sophisticated fields animating American commerce. Partners lead high profile proceedings shaping entire industries. Recent examples include the Purdue Pharma opioids bankruptcy, Uber’s dismissal of employment discrimination claims, and the DOJ’s antitrust lawsuit opposing Penguin Random House’s publishing acquisition. Leading partners like David Boies even achieve Hollywood style notoriety for big wins in courtrooms and boardrooms.
And at the junior level, "even mundane research and document review teaches emerging business, finance and regulation," explains one former summer associate. " Understanding how complex deals and lawsuits take shape proved invaluable when I later founded a startup."
Cons: 80 Hour Weeks
Yet glory and riches come at the cost of extreme hours and persistent client demands. Formal hourly requirements do not convey the ceaseless grind of corporate law. Partners must constantly originate new business, interfacing extensively with current clients and prospects. Junior lawyers tackle grinding due diligence, proofs of claim, and interrogatories with meticulous care monitoring daily billable targets.
"As a fourth year associate, I have only taken 3 vacations totaling maybe 2 weeks," laments one Big Law survivor. "And I worked during all them them. This job never stops."
Cons: Health Hazards
Eventually prolonged stress manifests physically. Cardiovascular disease, insomnia, sexual dysfunction, hypertension and addiction run rampant among lawyers. A recent Johns Hopkins study found attorneys suffer depression at a rate 3.6 times higher than non-lawyers.
"Fatigue and stimulants made the days blur by age 30. I was 100 pounds overweight with chest pains daily," admits one former law firm counsel. "I hid acquaintances’ deaths from relatives to keep deals moving. The human toll never hit me."
Lawyer suicides specifically jump 30% higher than other professions. What’s worse, lawyers immortalize mental trauma and substance abuse. F. Scott Fitzgerald authored The Great Gatsby while battling alcoholism. Celebrated attorney Charles Reich threw himself off the George Washington Bridge. Even fictional icons like Mad Men’s Don Draper succumb depressed and disgraced. The profession’s vaunted success stories frequently end in tragedy.
No wonder over 75% of attorneys indicate extreme career dissatisfaction in an American Bar Association study.
Cons: No Personal Life
And finally, insane lawyer hours breed absenteeism from normal human connectivity. Children recognize their parents mostly as empty seats at Christmas dinners and piano recitals. Spouses feel neglected among crews working late at the office. Friends’ texts get lost in hundreds of hourly emails and calls.
"I have 3 kids now. But I could not pick them out of a lineup confidently," admits a former law firm equity partner still in therapy processing divorce and addiction battles not unique in this high prestige, low fulfillment profession. "My family knew a ghost."
Conclusion
Ultimately, pursuing corporate law brings alluring financial rewards and mentally engaging work shadowed by routine personal life sacrifice. Prospective lawyers must weigh carefully whether stimulating challenges and high status outweigh graduations missed, relationships strained and health endangered before committing to this extreme path. I chased money, wins and prestige at the cost of emotional stability and connections outside the office for too long. My peers retiring early while I undergo bypasses and rehab symbolize the Faustian bargain struck. New attorneys should enter this maze intentionally, with eyes wide open to the darkness lying ahead.