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Message: <blockquote data-quote="katesouth21" data-source="post: 89694" data-attributes="member: 17418">Hi there, to add to the useful insights above.. this is my experience:I am not yet a lawyer, I have a TC and start next year. I finished university a few years ago and have worked in several different firms as a paralegal and legal secretary whilst waiting for my TC start date. My experiences and observations have definitely made me question my career in law, probably to the point where if I went back I would choose a different path. Particularly because as a secretary I have worked very closely with several partners, and see what they actually do. I think it is important to look at the senior people in a law firm (or whatever industry you want to go into) and think about whether you want to do their job. From my experience, the hours do NOT get drastically less once you are a partner or even a senior associate. I think a lot of potential lawyers are under the impression that the hours are awful while you are a trainee, but they get better as you progress and someone else gets 'beasted'. This is not the case. Sure, some juniors work very long hours. But generally, the associates work more, and the partner does the same if not MORE. The partner is not just doing billable hours but also the matter management - which is basically admin - and financial management e.g. reviewing bills. They have help with this, but it is still a big part of their job role and it is not just taking clients out for lunch as everyone likes to think. I can't speak for US firms, but at the big international law firm I currently work at, I would say that the corporate lawyers typically do 7-12 hour billable days and this is in normal and 'quiet periods'. Quiet periods are not sitting around twiddling your thumbs but just doing general corporate advice which comes in or being pulled onto something else to help another partner. Busy periods DO entail 80 hour weeks and weekend work. The actual turn around times on a deal are essentially the same no matter which 'big law'  firm you work at. Deal time periods are set by the client or the investment bank as their agent and the lawyers just get whatever is required done. Law firms don't like to push back on their client unless it is entirely out of the realms of possibility. The main reason for the differences between working hours between firms is, therefore, the number of people on a deal. Less people = slightly more of a beating for each individual. This leaner structure is how US firms operate and can afford to pay more, as they are paying less people's salaries. Another reason US firms hours tend to be worse is they do more Private equity work. PE deal teams tend to have more crazy hours than public M&A due to the fact that they operate on tighter deadlines. You are likely to get shorter deals (maybe a couple of months of exceptional craziness) followed by a quiet week or two, then the cycle repeats.At the end of the day, for as long as law firms continue to charge their clients according to hours worked, being a lawyer will always entail substantial hours. I am now questioning my career path for a number of reasons:> having already worked for a number of years, I have a greater appreciation for the fact that work-life balance is important to me - I want to do hobbies, see friends, relax and enjoy life not simply just live for the weekend (which isn't even guaranteed off) > as someone commented above, a 40 hour week is tiring anyway - let alone an 80 hour one. Working is very different to studying, it is tiring/taxing in a different way. Even if you are used to studying until 10pm or pulling an all-nighter, it is likely you only do this for short-periods rather than sustain it over several months or don't just take time off when you need it (hard to do this with a job)> a lot of the actual work I find boring. Reviewing documents in a data room or compiling completion documents is not particularly exciting.> most of the time it doesn't really feel like you are doing anything particularly 'legal' > having seen what partners do, day in day out, I don't aspire to be a partner (if I stay in law I would look at moving to work in-house at a company)Clearly this is just my opinion, and it is not even a fully formed or valid opinion of life as a lawyer seeing as I haven't actually done it yet. Many people do genuinely enjoy it - especially those with a passion for finance/business etc. However, I would urge anyone to really and truly think about why they want to do it. Not just to help your TC applications, but for your own piece of mind. It is very easy to convince yourself that it is your goal, given the money, the prestige of being a lawyer/ getting a TC (definitely looking back was a factor for me) and that most of your friends are applying.</blockquote>

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