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Originally Posted by Unregistered
im the original poster of the question. fortunately, i have graduated a while ago and am now an associate in a big 4. i am in an practice area that i hate and am deciding either working in a different practice area in another firm (which means starting afresh and potentially competing with the NQs) or non-law.
i am not against the "hard work and long hours" - if i am, i will probably sit tight and wait until i can move to a cushy in-house job. i just never liked law or the practice thereof and have always wanted to pursue a non-legal career. my question is, since i eventually want to do something non-law, should i just embark on it now or should i nevertheless stay on and get a couple more PQE. in other words, do my PQE make a difference if i want to pursue a non-law career?
FYI, i strongly disagree that associates are paid more than market rates, if you consider our meager bonuses and extremely long working hours. also i guess that i don't want to be, and am not satisfied with working in a sweatshop at the beck and call of partners and clients and doing research and churning advice day in day out. lastly, i don't think it is true that every employer "will work you to the bone"... not in the way that law firms do.
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What exactly is it you want to do besides law? If you are thinking of doing something completely different then really PQE is totally irrelevant right?
You could go into legal related areas like compliance, corporate counsel, contracts management etc, but that's kind of doing even more routine work with the same hours and 2/3 your current pay.
Truth is without any relevant qualification or experience, the only jobs you can take up outside law are generic administrative ones like marketing, hr, sales, admin. Chances are if you jump into something completely different, expect at least a 50% drop in income.