7 of the Best Things About Life After Law School

For the most part I enjoyed law school, but I've realized that life after law school is sooo much better than being in school, and here are just a few reasons why:

1) Having a normal schedule. Sure, in law school it was nice to not have to get going till 11am some days, but the trade-off was all those nights staying up until 3, 4, and 5am, lots of evening classes, and tons of weekend work. Here, I don't mind starting my day between 7:30 and 8:30 if it means I don't have to be awake at 2am and generally don't have to work on the weekends. I mean, I worked 11 hours today, but now I am done for the day and don't have late-night work to do.

2) No more studying! I actually don't mind studying all that much if I'm learning something interesting, but it is so nice not to have to cram for exams and strain to memorize/ understand huge amounts of material in short periods of time. Now, my version of "studying" is looking up things I need to know in the family law books I have, reading the sections I need, and moving on with my day.

3) Being able to only interact with people who are ADULTS. I don't mean never being around kids; I'm talking about not having to be around people who are my age but incredibly immature. Law school is brimming with immaturity and drama, and it is so wonderful to be leaving that behind and to have no one in my life right now who is toxic, narcissistic, backstabbing, etc. I made great friends in law school, but I will also readily say (and I think anyone who's been there would agree with me) that I met the most difficult people I've ever met in my life in law school. I saw one of those people this morning in court. I wasn't sure why she was there, but it was probably for a case her firm is handling. I saw this girl, quickly thought back to how incredibly mean she was in law school, and did not say hello. And it felt so good! (And on a related note--the way you treat people doesn't just go away down the road, even though some people seem to think that. There are people that I will always trust and respect because of the way they treated others in law school, even 30 years down the road. And there are also two people (this girl was one of them) who I will never respect or recommend in any way whatsoever, for the rest of our careers, because of the way they treated people in law school. It doesn't go away. If you asked me my opinion of them in 30 years, it would not matter one bit to me what they had done in the intervening time--my opinion of them simply isn't going to change.)

4) Paychecks, Like, real ones, not student loan payouts. Enough said.

5) Weekends. Weekends when you're working are 100 times better than school weekends, because not only do I typically not have to work on weekends, I also appreciate them so much more because they're pretty much the only times in the week when I have free time to do whatever I want. I love the weekends these days: time off, sleeping in, lounging in my pajamas watching TV, going for a long run, going shopping, and whatever else I want to do.

6) Working on real cases that affect real people! This is awesome. In law school we slaved over appellate briefs and memos about "hypothetical" cases. Now, they're real, the people are real, and the issues are real.

7) Having someone try to network with you instead of the other way around! For example, the other day a law student asked ME for my card, and I realized that I had pretty much succeeded in life (kidding). But I remember very well how hard it can be to get a job these days, especially since many people are not able, or sometimes not willing, to help students fresh out of school to find employment. So I promised myself a long time ago that as soon as I was in a position to help students get jobs or at least get them connected with potential employers, that I would do everything I possibly could to help them out. As for the student who asked me for my card? We're getting together for lunch soon.