What are the pros and cons of working in BigLaw?

Pros:

High salary (relative to other legal jobs)

Excellent networking opportunities. Even if you don't have meaningful
client contact in the first year or so, your colleagues will eventually diffuse
from the firm into other positions. After a few years, you'll have reasonable
in-roads to other firms, other companies, and government offices (if you
have that type of practice).
Excellent mentoring opportunities. Although the focus in biglaw is definitely
on productivity, not all partners are complete jerks. Some of them may
actually take an active interest in making you a better lawyer.
Good or excellent training. This depends on the firm and the practice. But
chances are, if you're at a big firm in an even moderately successful practice
area, they're good at what they do. If you hang around long enough, you'll be
good at it too.
Instant credibility. It's not true that all lawyers in biglaw are good at what
they do. But in many contexts (especially when you're looking to make a
lateral career move), you at least get the presumption you know what you're
doing. To be sure, this presumption changes with time. E.g., a short, entrylevel stint in biglaw might suggest you're a washout. But in most
circumstances, it's better to have biglaw on your resume than not.

Cons:

Severe demands on your time.

Severe demands on the quality of your work.
High (in some cases severe) demands on your efficiency.

It may depend on the practice area, but sometimes these three things combine to form a
perfect storm. For example, let's say you have to bill 2000 hours to remain in good
standing at the firm. One day you get an assignment for a good client, and you should
spend, say, 5 hours turning it around. But you spend 6 hours. (Why? Maybe you're
slow. Maybe you got side-tracked on Quora. Maybe... and here's the fun one... 5 hours
isn't a reasonable budget to begin with, but it's what the partner promised the client.)
You do the assignment, and now you have to enter your time. What do you do? If you
enter 6 hours, then you have a client and/or partner who thinks you're inefficient. If you
enter 5 hours, then the partners and clients are happy, but you're one more hour away
from meeting your annual billing goal. You just gave up one of the precious free hours
that you could have spent with your family (or at least spent on sleep).
Other cons:

The potential for institutional dissonance. Big law firms aren't as coherent
as one might expect. It's not like a company, with a CEO, a coherent group
of vice presidents, etc. Instead, the "real" leadership structure of a firm can
be obscure from the perspective of a junior attorney, or even non-existent.
Moreover, you very likely don't have a single boss, but rather several bosses.
When those bosses give you inconsistent instructions, it can get very
stressful.

Billing psychosis. At big law, you measure your professional life in six
minute increments. There is a tendency for this to bleed into your personal
life as well. (In fairness, this isn't limited to biglaw. But due to biglaw's high
billing requirements and long hours, it seems to happen more often.) At the
office, you get fidgety if you aren't being productive for more than 10
minutes. It's hard to go home and not try to blaze through things with that
intensity. (For me, the thing that bothered my wife was transitions,
especially after meals. As soon as the last bite of food or the last sip of a
drink was consumed, I'd move immediately to the next phase, whether that
was doing the dishes or getting the check. There was no sitting around and
finishing the conversation.)
Your mind is never really off work. First, most big firms have very high
expectations for responsiveness. If you don't reply to an email within an
hour or two (even if just to acknowledge receipt and that you're working on
it), then you can land in hot water. So you're constantly glancing at your
phone. Second, even if you're not glancing at your phone, when you have
been doing something all day, it's hard to just turn it off. Biglaw tasks can be
repetitive, so you can find yourself in that rut. Just by way of example, when
I worked in biglaw, it would often take a couple days into a vacation before I
was really on vacation.
Loss of perspective. This can happen in several ways, but it's all due to the
same root cause: you have a tendency hang out with the same people (or
types of people) day in and day out. On those occasions you do try to talk to
a non-biglaw-lawyer, you may find yourself with nothing good to say. Or
worse, they may find you with nothing good to say.
Relatedly, you kind of hang around with rich people all day. I know I know,
it seems like more money than it is. Student loans. Etc. But you do start to
head in a direction where it suddenly doesn't seem ridiculous to spend
several thousand (or tens of thousands) dollars on a watch. My point isn't
that you feel like you have a lot of money. My point is that, while making
$200K, you don't feel like you have a lot of money because you measure
yourself against the partners and the folks more senior to you.
High stress makes you do weird things. To be sure, I'm not suggesting that
all biglaw lawyers routinely experience this kind of stress. But you're
definitely at an elevated risk. What kind of weird things? Who knows.
Conspicuous consumption, drug use, infidelity, etc. At one point while still
at biglaw, I went to a late dinner with two colleagues (before going back to
the office, of course). One guy was unusually silent, but eventually broke his
silence by asking, as a total non-sequitur, "Have any of you guys ever wanted
to get in your car and just... drive? I mean, not tell anybody. Just... never
come back...."
Stockholm syndrome. Although you may grow to hate biglaw, you can
simultaneously grow to accept it. At any biglaw firm, there's this constant
background hum proclaiming "we're the best!" The more you drink that
koolaid, the more you see any other career option as inherently inferior.

When you evaluate a biglaw career on paper, you can make it work. "2000 hours a
year? Okay, let's say you take two weeks off, then it's just 40 hours a week for 50 weeks.

Maybe kick in an extra hour a day, and now you can take sensible vacations and
incidental days off! I don't see what the problem is..."

Pros and Cons of Solo Practice

3 Benefits of Opening a Solo Practice
#1. Youre in charge!
The single biggest benefit of opening a solo practice is simple: You have control your
career! Autonomy is consistently one of the strongest predictors of career satisfaction,
and is sorely lacking in most legal jobs.
Of course, as a solo, you have obligations to your clients, the court, etc. But you also
control many aspects of your work experience: Which clients to work with, how to get
your work done, what to charge, how much to work, and so on.
This freedom gives you the opportunity to achieve some measure of work-life balance
(or work-life integration, at least), and to create exactly the career youd like to have.
#2. Youll learn a lot, quickly
Inevitably, as a solo youre going to have to do many things that youve never done
before.
You might encounter a new legal problem that you havent solved yet, or you might have
to learn about marketing and running a business.
For someone with a growth mindset, the opportunity to learn is one of the key upsides of
running a solo practice. But, as well discuss later, this requirement can also be a
downside!
3. You dont have to wait around for someone to hire you
In the current job market, the harsh reality is that going solo might be the only way to
find work as a lawyer, at least initially. If you dont have the grades and pedigree to get
hired, your best option might be to pick yourself!
Really, what alternative do you have?
3 Downsides of Running a Solo Practice

#1. Everything is your problem

The downside of being in charge is naturally that youre in charge! The buck stops
with you. If you cant pay your Westlaw bill, or no clients are showing up at the door, its
your problem. Dont like to learn things on the fly? Thats a problem in a solo practice.
If your preference is to assign blame elsewhere when things go badly, running a solo
practice is probably not for you!
#2. Youll probably make less money than in a different legal job, at least initially
This isnt uniformly true, but solos tend to make less money than many other lawyers
(particularly those at large firms). At least for the first few years while youre figuring
out how to run a business things may be quite lean. When you decide to make the
leap to solo practice, its important to be realistic about your initial income. (Not to say
you wont be immediately successful, but it often takes longer than expected to get
traction in the marketplace as a new entrant.)
#3. It can be stressful and lonely
One of the traditional comforts of the workplace (especially a legal workplace, where
strict confidentiality rules limit outside conversations) is being able to drop by the office
of someone more experienced for advice.
When you decide to go solo, its critical to look for avenues of support whether more
experienced lawyers, more experienced business people, or just moral support. Youre
going to need someone in your corner when the going gets rough! So plan ahead.

Pros and Cons of Public Defenders

In the unfortunate event that you are arrested for a serious crime and are facing
penalties that threaten your liberty, such as jail time, youll need to carefully
consider hiring an experienced defense attorney. While you may be thinking I cant
afford an attorney, so Ill just plead guilty, you need to ensure your best interests are
protected in court. Public defenders, while free, often dont offer the same advantages
as private attorneys. Before you decide about whether or not to hire an attorney, check
out the following pros and cons of public defenders.
Lots of Cases
Public defenders often have several cases at one time (sometimes as high as 100). On
one hand, this means they will be extremely efficient when dealing with your case and
your court ordeal may end sooner. On the other hand, your case may take longer if your
attorney has scheduling conflicts or your case is pushed back for a more serious case,
such as a murder.

Minimal Face Time

If you dont want the hassle of lots of face-to-face meetings with your attorney, than a
public defender may be right for you. Public defenders are so busy with lots of cases,
they often only meet with their clients just minutes before entering a plea or getting
ready for trial. Private attorneys take less cases and are able to spend more time on
each case, which includes utilizing their network of private investigators and expert
witnesses.
Civil Proceedings and Administrative Hearings Are Handled Separately
Unlike private attorneys, public defenders cannot represent you for any civil proceeding
or administrative hearing that may be related to your case. For example, if you were
charged with DUI, youll need to hire a private attorney to represent you during a drivers
license suspension hearing.
The Pros And Cons Of Working In A Law Firm
A primary advantage of large law firms is that they generally attract the most
complex and challenging work. Because of high stakes in major litigation and large
transactions, clients in these situations often want to draw from the vast legal and
administrative resources of a large firm. In particular, huge international firms are
gaining a lot of work because of the "full-spectrum" services they can provide to large
multinational corporations.
Because large firms attract big clients and complex work, large-firm attorneys often
enjoy an additional advantage namely, they often rub shoulders with nationally or
locally respected attorneys, law firms, businesspeople, companies, government
employees, politicians, and government agencies.
A second advantage of a large firm is that an attorney may specialize in a particular
legal area. Associates and summer clerks may be encouraged to "shop around" in the
firm to determine what areas interest them. Once the associate selects an area of
specialization (and if it is a popular area, beats out the other new associates), a large
firm will generally assign a mentor to make sure that the associate is well trained in
that field of law.
Large firms have the resources to provide superior continuing legal education, so
many large firms provide in-house training on a wide variety of issues. They also will
sometimes pay for your trips for CLE to some fun destinations. Additionally, they often
encourage young associates to gain hands-on experience through participation in firmsubsidized pro bono programs.
Finally, large law firms pay well. It is not uncommon to find a junior associate whose
annual salary is well into six figures. Summer clerks are also paid well and at some
firms make $20,000 to $40,000 in one summer. Senior associates usually earn between
$130,000 and $300,000 annually, and partners even more.

Large Law Firm Disadvantages

The biggest disadvantage of a big law firm is the billable-hour requirement. Plain and
simple, you get a high salary but have to work for it. Usually you have a large billablehour requirement, and forget about the terms "weekend" and "holiday." You can easily
work 10- to 12-hour shifts six and seven days a week. And while you have a chance to
work on the exciting cases, you are also likely to be given tasks such as document
review or proofreading others' work.
A second issue is that due to the very size of the firm, you can become an
interchangeable cog. You won't know many of your fellow employees very well. Office
politics are usually rampant, and you can easily feel unappreciated. In addition, you
may not fit in with the culture of the law firm.
Third, large firms usually have high requirements to work for them. Usually graduates
of a lower-level law school need not apply. And the lower classes (i.e., those with
lower class rankings) of so-called "second-tier" schools are also on dicey ground.
Small Law Firm Advantages
You will get some responsibility quickly. Unlike in a large law firm, you'll be the point
attorney on several cases soon, and thus you'll get your feet wet in a hurry. You can
easily have much more experience in the courtroom, for example, than that Top 10
classmate of yours who went to New York does.
An additional advantage is that many small firms are specialized, "boutique-style"
firms. You can get lots of experience in the area in which a specialized firm focuses
fast. At a non-specialized small firm, you will deal with actual people and can solve
their problems in a way that doing document review for the latest mega-corporate
lawsuit won't let you.
Small firms also let you work with and get to know the others in your firm quite well.
You feel more like part of a team rather than just another cog in the Big Law
machine. In fact, you'll know the managing partners by name, and they will know you
something unlikely in the big law firms.
Small Law Firm Disadvantages
Partnership depends on the economy if the firm's business is slow, no matter how
well you perform, you won't make partner. Another disadvantage is that unless you are
at a boutique firm, you have to take every case from estates to weird tort cases.
That's great if you like variety, but those usually are not the cases that really leave a
mark in the lawbooks. But they do help out real people.

Prestige and recognition can't be gained from the small firm either, most of the time.
Lateral moves may be more difficult. And, of course, your salary may be lower. On the
other hand, that may not matter as much, as the only way you can practice in the
country or a rural setting is via a small firm.