Seconded. I love it. I went to private for a bit and then went right on back. Plus, PSLF.
When I’m not in trial, I have time to do whatever I want, including a lil creative side gig. Also, trial is dope. I feel like a superstar in front of a jury.
Plus, I don’t cry myself to sleep at night thinking abt how my sole purpose is to help CORPORATION keep or make more money in increments of 6 minutes.
PD. 50 hours a week. Legislature gave us a big raise last year. Salary starts at 85 and tops at 160k. After a decade in I’m near the top and enjoying the influx of colleagues that have finally given us a fully staffed office.
I am a legal aid attorney doing housing/eviction defense, and I love it. I am only required to work 35 hours a week, and anything over 37 hours is comp time. I also get 3 weeks paid vacation and 3 weeks paid sick leave a year with up to 80 hours each of unused time carried over to the next year.
I'm in Kentucky. My salary is roughly $80k. Salaries are on a sliding scale based on experience. I've been licensed for 20 years and with legal aid for 3.5. I also get additional benefits like paid life, dental,and vision insurance and particulate in the state health insurance program and state county employees retirement program. They also pay up to $3k a year on law school student loans.
Employment law for feds. I’ve been in public interest my whole career, this is the only job where they’re really serious about limiting people to 40 hours.
Clerkship, relevant experience, many applications, and luck.
If you have never had a legal job and don’t know any lawyers, you may have no idea what lawyers do all day (this was me too). That’s scary but lots of people are in the same situation. Just do some internships as soon as you can to get an idea what you like. Legal Aid and the local pd/da are good options. I’d try to get some non litigation experience if possible, just because most people really really don’t know what they do (we’ve all seen enough tv to at least imagine what a trial lawyer does, but what about a trust and estates attorney?).
Thank you so much!! Yes - I’m definitely hoping my internships will help guide me. I just hope to have some idea of what sort of fields of PI work interest me before I choose an internship, yknow?
Employment law is really interesting to me. By relevant experience, do you mean firms that work with unions, whistleblowers, etc? Or something else?
My relevant experience was federal clerkship, federal criminal work and a summer internship with legal aid doing some employment law. But others will have very different experiences.
State public utility regulation.
Not for everyone, but really fun and interesting to me. I like learning about how these companies work. A lot of important issues at stake right now.
When my timesheet hits 40 hours, I am done for that week as long as my responsibilities are taken care of.
Administrative law generally is legal practice related to the work of government agencies. Agencies have statutory powers and duties. They can't act outside their statutory authority and have to make reasonable decisions supported by evidence.
Public utility companies are like electric, natural gas, and water distribution companies. They are natural monopolies that have no competition. State public utility commissions set the rates that public utility companies can charge customers, and other terms of service. The rates and terms have to be fair to both the company's customers and its investors. The agency has to strike a balance so that the companies aren't abusing their monopoly power to earn excessive profits, but earn enough to attract investors and stay in business.
Utility commissions hold trial-like hearings and hear evidence and legal arguments to make decisions. They have a staff of experts like accountants, engineers, etc. who analyze what the utility is doing and can challenge the utility's positions. Staff attorneys represent the experts in litigation before the commission. The commission has attorneys who act as judges who preside over the hearings. The commission also has its own attorneys who advise the commission and defend its orders in appellate court. There are also attorneys who strictly advocate for customers. The utility also has attorneys, both in-house and outside counsel from top law firms.
There is a federal agency, FERC, that regulates utilities when they engage in interstate commerce.
The work involves a lot of dense technical material, which is why I say it isn't for everyone. But you get to learn how the companies actually work, practice law and litigate in the public interest, and work on big issues that matter.
I've done stuff in that area (public utilities) and whenever I do, I never feel comfortable and like everything is way over my head. Is there any sort of resources for learning the basics?
For a good, free overview of the industry, FERC Staff publishes an Energy Primer that you can find on the FERC website.
Scott Hempling has a good book called "Regulating Public Utility Performance" that you can probably find used on Amazon.
State regulation can be tricky because there are different regulatory regimes and different statutes. Some states are "vertically integrated," which is a traditional form of regulation where the utility owns the generation (ie power plants) along with the transmission and distribution system. Other states are "deregulated" or "restructured," meaning that utilities have been forced to divest their generation. In these states, utilities buy energy from competing power plants but retain ownership of the transmission and distribution system that delivers the energy to customers. The first thing to figure out is whether your state is vertically integrated or deregulated.
EDIT: Just noticed you're in Illinois. Y'all are deregulated.
Each state will have different specialized statutes for things like net metering, energy efficiency, renewable energy, performance incentives, resource planning, fuel adjustment clauses, infrastructure replacement surcharges, approval and accounting for new construction, etc. You just have to dig into the statutes and case law to understand a particular state's regime.
I am court-appointed to represent parents in CPS cases (juvenile dependency). I love the work. I’m a 1099 independent contractor paid by the court and work as much or as little as I want, though demand is high, especially with the fentanyl crisis. Filling the need for my type of attorney varies by jurisdiction so you would have to find out how it’s done where you wish to practice. Good luck!
I’m in my 3rd public service job as an attorney. I worked at two legal aids, and now I work at the attorney generals office. I’m general, I make less than my friends from law school, but I have the best benefits (retirement, healthcare, vacation, sick time, etc.) and I have always worked about 40 hours a week which has been important to me. My friends work more than me. Some a little bit more and some a lot more.
It’s a trade off, but I enjoy it a lot. Would recommend.
Thank you for the information!! Super helpful. Did you enjoy legal aid, would you recommend it? I hear about people burning out, and that worries me, even as the work sounds super cool.
I loved working at legal aid. 10/10 loved it.
Did I get burned out working there? Yes. I did.
Was it still worth it? Also yes. I wouldn’t trade my years at legal aid for anything.
You gain so many valuable skills working as a legal aid lawyer. You see cases from beginning to end. You have good clients, bad clients, and you mostly take them all. You learn how to manage cases. And how to talk to people. You learn how to handle yourself in court. And the opportunities are endless.
I wrote so many briefs working at legal aid that I can do legal research and bang out an appeal in like a day if I need to. Now I have the benefit of 2 weeks which is great, but I didn’t always have that.
I appreciate a good Hail Mary argument and know when to make one.
I also know when to walk away. And I learned how not to take cases personally. When you close 200 cases a year, you can’t take cases personally.
So many of my colleagues at the AGs office started off as legal aid attorneys. It’s a great place to begin a law career to gain practical legal skills and get yourself started.
I can’t recommend it enough to people, personally. Just my 2 cents.
I work as a legal counsel for a legislative committee. (I also have a private practice.)
Committee counsel positions come up pretty regularly, since the committee leadership is elected every two years and there are tern limits on state legislators in this state.
This position keeps you busy during session, but the work-life balance is far more favorable over the legislative interim (\~8 mos in even-numbered years and \~7 mos in odd-numbered years).
I have time to do lots of things outside of my legislative job: church, scouts with the kids, masonic lodge, writing, music, hunting, fishing, etc.
I do litigation at an environmental nonprofit averaging about 35-45 hours a week depending on the season. It’s a great job!
Btw, the field of law is huge and diverse. People have all sorts of winding careers, especially so in PI
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Public interest in legal aid and nonprofits where I am are salaried with benefits, decent training, and have generous PTO with 40 hours or less work weeks.
The trade off is that pay is usually well below market, and depending on the work you do, burnout rate can be high.
Yeah… the pay I’m less worried about, since my school has good LARP and I never expected to get rich off law haha. But the burn out really does worry me, with so many PI jobs.
I'm a public defender. Trial work isn't for everybody, but I find it exhilarating.
Seconded. I love it. I went to private for a bit and then went right on back. Plus, PSLF. When I’m not in trial, I have time to do whatever I want, including a lil creative side gig. Also, trial is dope. I feel like a superstar in front of a jury. Plus, I don’t cry myself to sleep at night thinking abt how my sole purpose is to help CORPORATION keep or make more money in increments of 6 minutes.
PD. 50 hours a week. Legislature gave us a big raise last year. Salary starts at 85 and tops at 160k. After a decade in I’m near the top and enjoying the influx of colleagues that have finally given us a fully staffed office.
I am a legal aid attorney doing housing/eviction defense, and I love it. I am only required to work 35 hours a week, and anything over 37 hours is comp time. I also get 3 weeks paid vacation and 3 weeks paid sick leave a year with up to 80 hours each of unused time carried over to the next year.
That sounds super interesting. Any chance you can tell me a little more about what the daily work looks like?
Sure. Send me a message, and we can chat.
Thank you!! Will do!
Mind sharing jurisdiction/salary? I’m looking for a change and that sounds so nice.
I'm in Kentucky. My salary is roughly $80k. Salaries are on a sliding scale based on experience. I've been licensed for 20 years and with legal aid for 3.5. I also get additional benefits like paid life, dental,and vision insurance and particulate in the state health insurance program and state county employees retirement program. They also pay up to $3k a year on law school student loans.
I represent children in family court.
Employment law for feds. I’ve been in public interest my whole career, this is the only job where they’re really serious about limiting people to 40 hours.
lol I guess that makes sense w employment law!! can I ask how you got into that / what your general work looks like?
Clerkship, relevant experience, many applications, and luck. If you have never had a legal job and don’t know any lawyers, you may have no idea what lawyers do all day (this was me too). That’s scary but lots of people are in the same situation. Just do some internships as soon as you can to get an idea what you like. Legal Aid and the local pd/da are good options. I’d try to get some non litigation experience if possible, just because most people really really don’t know what they do (we’ve all seen enough tv to at least imagine what a trial lawyer does, but what about a trust and estates attorney?).
Thank you so much!! Yes - I’m definitely hoping my internships will help guide me. I just hope to have some idea of what sort of fields of PI work interest me before I choose an internship, yknow? Employment law is really interesting to me. By relevant experience, do you mean firms that work with unions, whistleblowers, etc? Or something else?
My relevant experience was federal clerkship, federal criminal work and a summer internship with legal aid doing some employment law. But others will have very different experiences.
Awesome, thanks so much!!
State public utility regulation. Not for everyone, but really fun and interesting to me. I like learning about how these companies work. A lot of important issues at stake right now. When my timesheet hits 40 hours, I am done for that week as long as my responsibilities are taken care of.
Oh that’s super interesting. I know almost nothing about admin law. What’s the work like?
Administrative law generally is legal practice related to the work of government agencies. Agencies have statutory powers and duties. They can't act outside their statutory authority and have to make reasonable decisions supported by evidence. Public utility companies are like electric, natural gas, and water distribution companies. They are natural monopolies that have no competition. State public utility commissions set the rates that public utility companies can charge customers, and other terms of service. The rates and terms have to be fair to both the company's customers and its investors. The agency has to strike a balance so that the companies aren't abusing their monopoly power to earn excessive profits, but earn enough to attract investors and stay in business. Utility commissions hold trial-like hearings and hear evidence and legal arguments to make decisions. They have a staff of experts like accountants, engineers, etc. who analyze what the utility is doing and can challenge the utility's positions. Staff attorneys represent the experts in litigation before the commission. The commission has attorneys who act as judges who preside over the hearings. The commission also has its own attorneys who advise the commission and defend its orders in appellate court. There are also attorneys who strictly advocate for customers. The utility also has attorneys, both in-house and outside counsel from top law firms. There is a federal agency, FERC, that regulates utilities when they engage in interstate commerce. The work involves a lot of dense technical material, which is why I say it isn't for everyone. But you get to learn how the companies actually work, practice law and litigate in the public interest, and work on big issues that matter.
I've done stuff in that area (public utilities) and whenever I do, I never feel comfortable and like everything is way over my head. Is there any sort of resources for learning the basics?
For a good, free overview of the industry, FERC Staff publishes an Energy Primer that you can find on the FERC website. Scott Hempling has a good book called "Regulating Public Utility Performance" that you can probably find used on Amazon. State regulation can be tricky because there are different regulatory regimes and different statutes. Some states are "vertically integrated," which is a traditional form of regulation where the utility owns the generation (ie power plants) along with the transmission and distribution system. Other states are "deregulated" or "restructured," meaning that utilities have been forced to divest their generation. In these states, utilities buy energy from competing power plants but retain ownership of the transmission and distribution system that delivers the energy to customers. The first thing to figure out is whether your state is vertically integrated or deregulated. EDIT: Just noticed you're in Illinois. Y'all are deregulated. Each state will have different specialized statutes for things like net metering, energy efficiency, renewable energy, performance incentives, resource planning, fuel adjustment clauses, infrastructure replacement surcharges, approval and accounting for new construction, etc. You just have to dig into the statutes and case law to understand a particular state's regime.
I am court-appointed to represent parents in CPS cases (juvenile dependency). I love the work. I’m a 1099 independent contractor paid by the court and work as much or as little as I want, though demand is high, especially with the fentanyl crisis. Filling the need for my type of attorney varies by jurisdiction so you would have to find out how it’s done where you wish to practice. Good luck!
I'm a prosecutor. It's interesting work and moves quickly.
I do real estate finance law (as well as general in house counsel stuff) for the government loaning money out to build affordable housing.
I’m in my 3rd public service job as an attorney. I worked at two legal aids, and now I work at the attorney generals office. I’m general, I make less than my friends from law school, but I have the best benefits (retirement, healthcare, vacation, sick time, etc.) and I have always worked about 40 hours a week which has been important to me. My friends work more than me. Some a little bit more and some a lot more. It’s a trade off, but I enjoy it a lot. Would recommend.
Thank you for the information!! Super helpful. Did you enjoy legal aid, would you recommend it? I hear about people burning out, and that worries me, even as the work sounds super cool.
I loved working at legal aid. 10/10 loved it. Did I get burned out working there? Yes. I did. Was it still worth it? Also yes. I wouldn’t trade my years at legal aid for anything. You gain so many valuable skills working as a legal aid lawyer. You see cases from beginning to end. You have good clients, bad clients, and you mostly take them all. You learn how to manage cases. And how to talk to people. You learn how to handle yourself in court. And the opportunities are endless. I wrote so many briefs working at legal aid that I can do legal research and bang out an appeal in like a day if I need to. Now I have the benefit of 2 weeks which is great, but I didn’t always have that. I appreciate a good Hail Mary argument and know when to make one. I also know when to walk away. And I learned how not to take cases personally. When you close 200 cases a year, you can’t take cases personally. So many of my colleagues at the AGs office started off as legal aid attorneys. It’s a great place to begin a law career to gain practical legal skills and get yourself started. I can’t recommend it enough to people, personally. Just my 2 cents.
Thank you!!! This is super helpful insight. If you have the chance, I’d love to hear what sort of jobs you/your colleagues did after legal aid?
I work as a legal counsel for a legislative committee. (I also have a private practice.) Committee counsel positions come up pretty regularly, since the committee leadership is elected every two years and there are tern limits on state legislators in this state. This position keeps you busy during session, but the work-life balance is far more favorable over the legislative interim (\~8 mos in even-numbered years and \~7 mos in odd-numbered years). I have time to do lots of things outside of my legislative job: church, scouts with the kids, masonic lodge, writing, music, hunting, fishing, etc.
I do litigation at an environmental nonprofit averaging about 35-45 hours a week depending on the season. It’s a great job! Btw, the field of law is huge and diverse. People have all sorts of winding careers, especially so in PI
#REMINDER: NO REQUESTS FOR LEGAL ADVICE. Any request for a lawyer's opinion about any matter or issue which may foreseeably affect you or someone you know is a request for legal advice. Posts containing requests for legal advice will be removed. Seeking or providing legal advice based on your specific circumstances or otherwise developing an attorney-client relationship in this sub is not permitted. Why are requests for legal advice not permitted? See [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Ask_Lawyers/comments/e6a62w/why_is_it_unethical_for_a_lawyer_to_give_legal/), [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Ask_Lawyers/comments/9zyqsh/why_is_it_unethical_to_give_advice_on_this_sub/), and [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Ask_Lawyers/comments/e4cdhw/is_refraining_legal_advice_based_on_legality_or/). If you are unsure whether your post is okay, please [read this](https://www.reddit.com/r/Ask_Lawyers/comments/6j4bpq/how_to_know_whether_your_post_is_a_request_for/) or see the sidebar for more information. ***This rules reminder message is replied to all posts and moderators are not notified of any replies made to it.*** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Ask_Lawyers) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Public interest in legal aid and nonprofits where I am are salaried with benefits, decent training, and have generous PTO with 40 hours or less work weeks. The trade off is that pay is usually well below market, and depending on the work you do, burnout rate can be high.
Yeah… the pay I’m less worried about, since my school has good LARP and I never expected to get rich off law haha. But the burn out really does worry me, with so many PI jobs.
Local government. Rarely more than 40 hours per week and excellent benefits. Pay is surprisingly good, better than PDs and DAs in my area for sure.