I've been in a list-making mood lately. I think they might be the best blog-posts for avoiding GRE studying. Since it's been about three months, give or take, since I quit my job, I took the opportunity to look back and reflect on some things I actually miss about working in Biglaw, in no particular order.
1. Getting dressed in nice clothes each day. This one's surprising to me, since I've always been a jeans-and-Tshirt kinda girl. But it turns out I actually liked putting on nice clothes every day. I also noticed that, for some reason, I have more confidence in business clothes than in casual clothes. Hm.
2. Seeing my co-workers. Despite the best of intentions, I am extraordinarily lousy at keeping in touch with people, and they are no exception. The other associates in my (old) department at the firm do get together from time to time, but usually on Saturday nights, which are tough for me with the Fire Island weekend thing going on. And also the suburban kid thing. Saturday night = babysitter, which is much more difficult than just asking the usual nanny to stay an extra hour or two to get happy hour with someone.
3. Writing memos. WHAT? Yes, the actual work. Not so much legal research, which I find kind of boring, but I really liked writing hard, confusing memos.
4. Being horribly abused by my superiors and never knowing when I would be able to go home. HA, oh wait, that's something I DON'T miss.
On balance, I'm really happy with my decision to leave my firm. But the things I miss have made me consider whether, possibly maybe somehow, another type of legal job might be an okay fit for me. Ya know, if the whole grad school thing doesn't work out.
You can get a lot of useful information about the GRE and grad school on the Kaplan GRE blog: http://blog.kaplangradprep.com/
ReplyDeleteI'm a Kaplan teacher (married to someone who got out of Biglaw before we married) and would be glad to answer any questions you might have about the GRE.