How the fuck do lawyers make so much??

Who gets into (((Law))) usually

>>138183356
You like 20 hour work days?
Corporate law sucks the life outta you

>>138183356
Because law is actually fucking hard. It is a series of memorizing cases precedents, and having the ability to argue convingcingly. Law fees have been dropping since the internet because the cost of the case records minutes etc are more easily available but it doesn't change the fact that the nuances of it are easy. Law is complicated by design to keep idiots out.

Being a lawyer requires out-smarting human opponents

The average lawyer doesn't make much...... if you're senior partner or have high profile cases, then yes.

>>138183356
>How the fuck do lawyers make so much??
They do not.

I am a U.S. corporate lawyer in Germany and NYC 1st year salaries are now 180,000 for first tier law firms. But from that onwards increases are more moderate, a 5th to 8th year will be at 250,000-300,000 (incl. bonus). And then they kick you out unless you make partner or counsel.

It is a shitty job and there are too many lawyers already. Law is in decline, the heydays were in the 1990s and early 2000s until around 2006. Then everything collapsed.

>>138183356
they dont.
Those huge lawyer firms are the exception. Most lawyers are barely surviving

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>>138183356
That's not a lot of money for the relative effort. With smart investment and smart networking maybe you'd excel but you would require drive.

>>138183356
I've been a law student but dropped out due to depression. Their salary is equal to the pressure of their work. So many things to memorize, and they have the standard of either being intelligent or get your license taken away.

>>138183356
They dont. Youre looking at the top 5% of corporate lawyers who only take on the most high profile cases, and even then, theyre working 80-100 hour weeks.
The other 95% of lawyers are at best middle class.

>>138183842
>Those huge lawyer firms are the exception. Most lawyers are barely surviving

Even the large and the smaller top tier law firms are in trouble. Technology has seen competition go through the roof.

10-15 years ago, a large transaction may have yielded several millions in fees and so you could stuff a shitton of lawyers on that transaction. Today, prices have gone down 50% and more, because you just rehash the old transactions. So you take the old contracts and docs and update them. Of course, clients aren't paying tons of money for that job. And clients are letting law firms pitch for larger work and end up choosing law firms who pitch lower, because they can still do the work. There is no need to pay big money for lawyers any more, even for complicated stuff.

Only exception seems to be tax law and large US litigation. In these two areas, lawyers still provide a certain "unique" value and the money saved from a good job outweighs the money spent on lawyers. I think Volkswagen must have paid hundreds of millions of dollars to US law firms in its Dieselgate case. But that is in no proportion to the 40 billion or so in fines and other remedies.

>>138184229
>Youre looking at the top 5% of corporate lawyers who only take on the most high profile cases, and even then, theyre working 80-100 hour weeks.
Untrue, while there are those who work 80-100 hour work weeks, I'd say we are talking about the 1%. It is also a cultural thing. There are lawyers who may be 80-100 hours a week in the office, but they are a lot worse than people who spend 50-60 hours in the office - they are just slower and less efficient. It is also a cultural thing, London and NYC love time in the office, even if they do shit there - Germans don't love time in the office, so people go home and work from there or just work more efficiently. Salaries are still somewhat the same in US law firms.

Also, most transaction based work is highly fluctuating and seasonal, so you may have 3 weeks of work around the clock and on weekends, and then 2 weeks of 35 hours billable. Especially the summers are void of work.

A lot more than my <$20k annual net wages I make at Walmart, that's for sure.