You can pay these loans off pretty quickly if you have a BigLaw job. You just have to live like you are still a student and just pay off the loans.

Yes, sending several thousand a month to Sallie Mae and Citibank isn’t fun, but it does get rid of the loans.

Do you really want to be a dead tree eaten by harpies for all eternity?

Actually, now that I think about it, this might be what billing 3,000 hours a year feels like to a burnt-out mid-level associate:

“The harpies in Dante’s version feed from the leaves of oak trees which entomb suicides. At the time Canto XIII (or The Wood of Suicides) was written, suicide was considered by the church as at least equivalent to murder, and a contravention of the Commandment “Thou shalt not kill”. Many theologians believed it to be a deeper sin than murder, as it constituted a rejection of God’s gift of life.[4] Dante describes a tortured wood infested with harpies, where the act of suicide is punished by encasing the offender in a tree, thus denying eternal life and damning the soul to an eternity as a member of the restless living dead, and prey to the harpies.[5]”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wood_of_the_Self-Murderers:_The_Harpies_and_the_Suicides

What I achieved can be achieved by other people without the same law school grades. Many of my in-house colleagues graduated from TTT law schools in the past 10 years, did not graduate from the tops of their classes, and did not start their careers in BIGLAW.

What they DID do was find a way to get their foot (feet?) in the door at a company after spending some time working in SMALLAW, SMALLGOV and even temp lawyering. How? They packaged themselves in a way that was attractive to in-house legal departments and went after non-lawyer jobs even though they had law degrees (much lower competition for these types of positions). Compliance/Ethics, Contracts Negotiator/Specialist/Manager, E-Discovery/Subpoena Response, etc…

But you weren’t really asking how you can actually land an in-house job. If you want to wallow in self-pity and complain about how unfair life is being to you, that’s your business. Success usually involves a great deal of hard work, creativity, a little luck and doing things you don’t want to do (and that don’t make you happy).

The key to my success was thinking several moves ahead, plus a little luck here and there. In other words, proactive thinking about my career, rather than reactive, was what helped me succeed. The way I did it is still available to today’s law school graduates – I’ve had several ask for career advice and took it to heart, leading to solid positions in-house.

I still do want answers for the questions I did have. Isn’t leaving the U.S. and exiling yourself in a foreign nation while defaulting on $100K to $200K in law school debt (mostly debt owed to the government) a definition of fraud? And if fraud, isn’t that a felony in most U.S. states? If so, wouldn’t you get arrested upon being interviewed by U.S. customs during a “pop-up” visit to the States since you are technically a criminal by that point (and would be flagged as such in the computer systems U.S. customs uses to verify travelers’ identities)? I am really curious because you assume that one is not a criminal for fleeing creditors by living in another country. You also imply that some of your clients have gotten away with this with few consequences (because they’re technically not criminals, in your viewpoint). I’d just like to get these points clarified, that’s all.

Correction: for those of us at places similar to your former employers, such loans last for about two years of frugal living and constant payments out of each meaty pay check. Stop pretending law school loans are like having $500,000 of med school debt.

You almost certainly need Biglaw to handle regular law school debt, but as long as you have it you can get back to positive net worth in 24 months or so.

When I graduated from law school 15 years ago, I owed around $100k in law school loans – at interest rates of 8-9%. I knew that I couldn’t pay off my loans on my SMALLAW salary, so I jumped to BIGLAW and ground it out for about five years before moving in-house. During those five years, I did upgrade my lifestyle a bit (nicer apartment), but didn’t buy a new car, wore moderately-priced clothes/shoes, furnished my place with IKEA and a few nicer items, etc… After contributing the maximum to my 401(k) and IRA, every extra penny went towards the loans (somewhere around $30k a year). Within 3 years, my loans were paid off and I started building an escape fund.

Fortunately, an in-house opportunity popped up just as many associates around me were being laid off from my BIGLAW firm. Seeing the writing on the wall, I jumped ship. My new salary was half of my BIGLAW salary, but because I didn’t have any loans, I didn’t sense any real difference. Less than a year later, I jumped to another in-house job in BIGCORP at 80% of my former BIGLAW salary, but only 2/3 the hours. Five years later, I jumped to another BIGCORP, increasing my pay and equity/bonus in the process. After two years, I jumped to another BIGCORP, earning 20% more than my former BIGLAW salary, plus an equity stake worth more than a year’s salary.

If the foregoing comes across as bragging, I’m sorry, but those are just the facts as to how my career has gone so far. Like everyone else, I had fears and doubts along the way. The one thing I never lost was faith in myself and my abilities. I always believed that if I could get my foot in the door, I would prove my worth and then some. I also never quit – my firm or corporation would have to fire me first.

Thankfully I avoided the major law school debt trap, but fell into the less drastic Master’s trap. I have a job, but looking at my $60K+ tab I am wondering where all those older, wiser advisors are now who told me that a graduate degree was a must for my career and well-being. I find myself unable to make the career leap that I dream of because I literally cannot afford the uncertainty. I am handcuffed to that biweekly paycheck.

You left big law (and big loans I presume) and went back to school (more loans?) to do what you really wanted. Are you still making monthly payments? How did you do it?

Now, 12 years later, all of the constant stress and conflict with half-brained jerk offs who obviously love their job more than me has me on the edge. I am in a small firm, but the pressure to bill is still horrible.

The worst part is I feel the toll this career is taking on my health. I have constant stomach problems and trouble sleeping. I rarely have time or the energy to work out. I am looking to get out, but I just don’t even know where to start. More education is not an option. Plus, I still have loans I am paying off. My family and friends can’t understand what the problem is and are entirely unsympathetic.

Oh, to know then what I know now. Maybe this post can save someone from the same mistake.