Users in this career have rated it a 1.8 in terms of their own personal satisfaction with the career. This figure represents an average taken from the responses of 1419 MyPlan.com users during registration.
Users were asked to rate their happiness in their current occupation as being either "Very Happy" (4), "Happy" (3), "Mixed / Neutral" (2), "Not Happy" (1), or "Miserable" (0).
Users in this Career Group
There are 8635 users in this career group. They represent 89 different countries. You can see the list of users in this career group by clicking on one of the links below. You can also join this career group simply by selecting your current status and clicking "Add Me."
There
are 33 reviews of this career. The most recent 3 reviews are listed below. You can see more reviews by clicking on "Read all reviews..." at the bottom of this page.
Being an attorney requires law school subsequent to a college degree. Therefore I would recommend given the cost of undergraduate school that a student choose a reasonably priced school. The cost of law school will greatly increase the debt load on graduation. In addition, obviously most students do not work at the same time thereby delaying their entrance in the work place and temporarily not having an income. After graduation students have multiple opportunities to use the degree. They can choose private practice in a law firm, an in house general counsel at a corporation, a govermental agency attorney or a non attorney job related to legal or non legal sectors. In the current economy having a job as an attorney provides a generally stable employment with earnings that even at the lower levels generally provides a sufficient amount to support a person or family. Some attorneys also go into public service which may or may not provide a large salary but will provide satisfaction for assisting people.
Be aware of the huge time commitment and change in lifestyle if you go into a law firm. While the salary may be good (and attractive), the time pressure may wear you down.
I switched into law mid-career, after several years in the commercial world buying and selling hard products. Attending my first law lecture was like coming home. The world began to make sense and, as a lover of words, law - with its tight focus on words and their meanings - was definitely the career for me.
Having said that, it's a far from an easy ride. In the end you've got to deliver, you can't sit around and be creative all day, you've got to get things done to a deadline. That can be stressful. But all told, it's a great profession to be in - plenty of knotty problems to solve, appreciative clients when you get it right. Think about it - but do something else first to give yourself some depth and experience.
