- Quickdraw McLaw
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Much is said about how unhappy lawyers are with their jobs. In fact, last year, Forbes Magazine said the associate attorney is the unhappiest job in America. But we want to know how much that line of thinking prevails in Las Vegas. Are you happy with your job or completely miserable? If you are miserable, what needs to change to make you happy? If you’re happy, why? Click a button on the poll below and feel free to tell us how you really feel in the comments.
How happy are you in your current job?
Meanwhile, if you are miserably unhappy, please remember there are resources to help you cope:
Confidential help from a fellow lawyer is a phone call away
Toll Free: 866-828-0022
or
702-889-9404
Mitch Cobeaga, LCL Coordinator
If you, or any lawyer in Nevada, are in need of confidential assistance with an alcohol, drug, depression, stress or gambling problem, help is readily available through the LCL Hotline.When calling, leave your first name and telephone number. A fellow lawyer, who has also had problems, will call you back. You’ll be listened to with an understanding heart rather than scorn, judgment and condemnation. You can talk frankly. The person returning your call is solving problems just like yours, and is living happily and usefully doing so.
I'm surprised by the results. So far, more people are happy than ambivalent or unhappy.
I'm not suprised, we work in Vegas, not New York or Los Angeles.
I think I'd prefer to be in LA, but maybe that will change when summer is over.
How were the summer programs at the vegas firms?
In all honesty, as a hypothesis, I propose that the level of happiness is inversely proportional to the size of the firm and directly proportional to the percentage ownership one has in the firm.
As such, associates at large firms would be very unhappy while partners or owners of small firms would be on the complete opposite end. Of course, there's the outlier of a partner/owner in a small firm who hates their life but that just means they're miserable no matter where they are.
I think I would say I am happy with my job approach (being a solo) but am not necessarily happy about the stresses of practicing law in general. I used to think civility needed to increase and now I think I just need to not let the (perceived) lack of it bother me.
As an aside, years ago I worked as a file clerk at a firm where Mr. Cobeaga was a partner and he is wonderfully kind. When I accompanied him once to watch a hearing (back before the RJC was open, so it was the old courthouse) he knew every staff member by name and folks were happy to see him. People should not hesitate at all about reaching out to LCL if they need to.
I have the same sentiments about being a solo attorney. It's much more rewarding and in general I am happier than when I was an associate attorney for larger firms. But it does come with a lot more stress as far as dealing with some a-hole attorneys and some a-hole clients. I go through phases where I don't let it bother me, and then some phases where I feel like I'm about to have a nervous breakdown. Practicing law isn't easy.
I agree with 12:15 AM and 9:01 AM but my tolerance for the bad phases is diminishing greatly despite my increased experience over the years.