I realize it's personal to each attorney, but overall, does anyone know which practice areas seem to have the most happy, well-adjusted people? Are there practice areas that seem to have higher levels of satisfaction?
Posted Oct 14, 2011, 7:14 PM UTC
Trusts and estates...mainly due to slightly better hours and better timing of work (ie, don't really have to pull all nighters like litigators and corporate attorneys have to do on occasion).
As a probate/estate planning attorney, I agree with this. Plus, if you fuck up, your clients are usually already dead.
The only lawyer I knew that went into estates absolutely hated it and quit within about 3 years. I think it has a lot more to do with the people with whom you practice than what you are actually doing.
While trusts and estates may have slightly better hours, possibly more steady pay and less to lose from a client perspective, its a highly stressful area of law that seems to lead to the most disciplinary actions and malpractice claims. Almost every time I read my states disciplinary actions someone is getting disciplined because they didn't file the proper reports or get the matter closed in the right time frame.
I have practiced primarily in family law doing custody, divorces, juvenile court actions, guardianships, domestic violence cases, etc and love it. However many of my law school friends cringe at the very thought. My best friend is an insurance defense attorney and loves her jobs, doesn't mind the long hours she puts in or the overall crappy nature of what she is doing every day. I think in the end satisfaction and adjustment is just finding the area(s) you really enjoy and running with it.
There are happy, well-adjusted lawyers?
A lot of people seem to be saying T&E. I personally love the litigation side of it (breach of fiduciary duty, will contests, and so forth), and I don't mind drafting the documents, but it's not my favorite.
I'm a litigation guy, and generally I'm happier on the plaintiff's side. In addition to T&E-related litigation, I love personal injury, civil rights, contract disputes, and anything that falls into that area. I'm a bit of an adrenaline junkie, so it works for me. The defense guys, however, generally seem a little less stressed. They usually get paid by the hour, which I think helps a little.
In my experience and personal opinion, family law doesn't have a whole lot of job satisfaction. The people that do it and absolutely love it are the ones who do it exclusively. General practice guys like myself generally despise it. It's stressful, clients create emergencies, clients don't follow your advice, clients are emotional, clients do stupid shit and then expect you to get them out of it, and no client is ever happy with the outcome of a divorce that goes to trial. There's more, but that's enough of a rant.
T&E has a high rate of malpractice claims. Unhappy heirs will go after you. Also, people drag their feet on transferring property into trusts which causes problems.
The only field of law that I've enjoyed is bankruptcy. However, this was before they changed the rules and started forcing most people into chapter 13. But the old chapter 7 was lovely. Why?
I did them on a flat rate. Everything was paid for upfront, no additional bills that dragged on and on and on and didn't get paid. Clients loved the flat rate, too. Some took longer than others, but it was OK overall.
This was one of very, very, very few times when you could tell the client exactly what was going to happen, when it was going to happen and what the final result would be. They felt reassured. Also, it was pretty consistent and after you got up to speed, you could answer all the basic questions on the spot. Much unlike doing a criminal case where you'd have to sit the client down and explain that we're only 25% of the process: there's the DA, judge and jury, too. And while I have a good idea what the DA will do, you have these two big variables and we will just have to see what they do.
The clients were relieved and happy after discharge. A big weight was lifted, no more bills to pay, and everything went exactly as I told them it would.
I've thought about going back to bankruptcy, but I don't like the chapter 13 nonsense today. It's complicated, you can't do it on a flat rate and they always go sideways during the 3-5 year repayment plan. Someone will lose a job, wind up with unforseen expenses, and so on.