Comments on: Career Alternatives for Attorneys: Private Investigation / Business Intelligence

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By: D1squssucks

D1squssucks — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 03:25:43 +0000

I was a PI for 2 1/2 years back in the 90s, before going to law school. I worked on environmental insurance cases. In a typical case, a Fortune 500 company would be on the hook for cleanup costs at dozens (or hundreds) of toxic waste sites. Some were factory sites, some were landfills or similar disposal sites. The company would then turn around and file a claim (and usually sue) every insurer that ever sold them a commercial general liability insurance policy. (For some reason, before 1973, it never occurred to insurers to exclude pollution from coverage. And it didn't occur to them until 1986 to require the insured to actually submit a claim during the policy period.).

So insurance companies wound up in the 1990s trying to deal with large dollar claims for occurrences (i.e., pollution and dumping) that took place in the 1930s-1970s. One common theory was that if pollution took place in the 1950s, every policy in place while the pollution sat there was on the hook until the pollution was cleaned up decades later. Obviously this wasn't factored into the underwriting.

So insurance companies would hire us to research the plant / landfill histories, and track down former employees, site neighbors and state officials who witnessed the pollution and could testify about it. Then we would interview them. I found an interviewed a state DNR guy who had responded when a DDT plant dumped a railcar of off-spec DDT into a river (and killed everything in it for 60 miles downstream). I also interviewed a former welder, who had worked on a creosote UST that ruptured, spilling 100,000s of gallons of creosote. And I interviewed people who had lived in a trailer park located on an old dump site, and sustained lead poisoning from it. Depressing.

Also got to spend a lot of time researching at state and local historical societies and archives. Found photos of plant sites going back to the late 1800s, among other things.

Traveled a lot, but it was actually a pretty cool gig. Think I made $50k when first year associates at big firms were making $85.

By: The Golem

The Golem — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 02:53:41 +0000

My advice to all is find a way to make a lot of money (legitimately and not illegally) and ditch the notion of working as a lawyer. But if you can make a lot of money doing pi work just do it. Forget about the prospects of doing respectable work for good money. The real world doesn't work that way. Oh another thing…the fact you went undergrad to Cornell does not impress anyway. Your parents liked it for awhile but now realize it was pretty worthless now that you go to Pace or Cardozo. In fact you wouldv'e been better off just keeping the tuition money and being content with peeking at 22. Wow, am I bitter pill.

By: JDsucks

JDsucks — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 02:48:42 +0000

law is such a ponzi scheme. absolute joke. even the aba journal had a section about alternative careers. Yes, we know you got a JD, but you can't use it to find a decent job so do something else! Wait, I guess you didn't need to attend law school in the first place. Fucking lemmings.

By: The Golem

The Golem — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 22:52:48 +0000

Erm…there is no prestige….erm….prestige is kind of overrated….trust me if you make enough money you can buy yourself some prestige no matter what you do

By: gUEST

gUEST — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 22:19:59 +0000

But what about the….erm…..prestige??

By: Lord_Cognus

Lord_Cognus — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 20:48:54 +0000

Yes, can you please provide some salary information?

By: The Golem

The Golem — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 20:36:04 +0000

You what though? I know a whole bunch of TTT lawyers across the heartland who make a ton of money in solo shops doing crim and pi. I think the problem in the Northeast for some folks is that they have relied on certain prestigious institutions their whole lives and when those institutions collapse they can't handle. “Country folk can survive, yes country folk can survive.”

By: The Golem

The Golem — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 20:33:00 +0000

Sad what the law has become. What percentage of people are actually practicing 5 years out of law school? 10 percent?

By: Lord_Cognus

Lord_Cognus — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 20:21:37 +0000

Good interview, Lat