Biglaw, Gender, In-House Counsel

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The American Bar Foundation has been tracking the careers of almost 5,000 law grads for a project called After The JD. The $1.8 million study keeps the lab rats law grads from the class of 2000 under a microscope for 12 years after graduation to track the development of their careers, relationships, and basic ability to run the maze that is life in the law.

The ABA Journal reports that a survey of the group found that a whopping 76% were “either extremely or moderately satisfied with their decision to become an attorney.”

That’s a good amount of satisfaction. But does it mean that one in four is miserable about having become an attorney? And the ABA Journal says the interviews for the survey were conducted in 2007. With the recent turmoil in the industry, we wonder if those results hold up. How’s your satisfaction these days?

View results.

More intel on the class of 2000 (and the migration away from Biglaw), after the jump.

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Some of the other major results from the study. From the ABA Journal, survey says:

  • “As lawyers move deeper into their careers, fewer and fewer work in private practice.”
  • “Women continue to have difficulty becoming equity partners in law firms and are still not paid as much as are men.”
  • There was a “stunning disparity” in the ability of men and women to make partner. Guess which gender is on the losing side of the disparity.
  • Lots of job hopping! “Between their second and seventh year of practice, 58 percent of the lawyers changed jobs.”

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  • Lots of hopping into the beds of businesses: “The number serving as in-house counsel jumped from 4 percent in 2002 to 11 percent in 2007, while the number working as non-lawyers for corporations increased from 4 percent to almost 8 percent.”

    • As often found in these studies, women don’t make as much as men. But the pay gap narrowed since the last survey of this group in 2002, said those running the study, mainly because more men than women moved to jobs in the lower-paying public sector.

    After the JD [American Bar Foundation]

    76% of Young Lawyers Glad They’re Attorneys, Study Finds [ABA Journal via TaxProf Blog]

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