college is a scam that sometimes works.
Some personal news: my lit agent submitted my book proposal to publishers last week!! When I first opened up that blank Word document in June, I could not have imagined it one day morphing into the 45-page proposal that it is today. I know it's only the beginning of something much longer, but I really am proud of it--all the rewrites, all the pivots in framing, all the angst over who the hell am I to write anything for the greater world? Halfway through August, I actually had an existential crisis and went into a spiral that maybe I should get an MFA before writing anything. (Ah, degrees--the only way I can feel confident about anything!)
This week, I contemplate whether my love of degrees is a sign that I'm an easy mark, answer some reader questions about sitting for multiple state bar exams and how to balance the seductive stability of biglaw with creative impulses, and drop a link to that gender discrimination lawsuit filed against Kirkland & Ellis last week. (Yes, really. 👀)
P.S. My World Mental Health Day fundraiser is still open for a few more days! I'm matching up to $1K in donations, and so far, we've raised $570 for four wonderful organizations--let's get to that $2,000!
scams prey on our social climbing desires.
For as long as I can remember, my parents harped about the importance of college. We lived close enough to Berkeley and Stanford that my schools would sometimes have these college field trips, which I assume were to instill in us students an aspiration to one day attend these illustrious institutions (but were in reality excuses to goof off and flirt with our crushes over the backs of the bus seats). I can't pinpoint exactly when, where, or how I became aware that going to college was a Very Important Life Event, but by middle school, I became obsessed with the idea of going to an Ivy League school--an obsession that my parents didn't attempt to curb in any way. (Hearing about so-and-so's daughter or son getting into Stanford annually and why can't you be more like them also didn't help.)
Throw in media like Gilmore Girls, Greek, and Gossip Girl, and the simulacrum of college was complete. (If you want a deeper discussion of Jean Baudrillard's Simulacra and Simulation in the modern era, I highly recommend this read.) Looking back, I was quite silly--I had friends in college when I was in high school, and I certainly visited their cramped triple bunkbed dorm rooms often enough to know that college was not this perfectly coifed, highfalutin experience that I had made up in my head. And yet--
"Con artistry works because we want it to work, because it appeals to something that's very deeply human, which is our beliefs, our need for hope, our optimism, the fact that we see the world differently than it actually is," Maria Konnikova, a psychologist and the author of The Confidence Game: Why We Fall For It... Every Time,* says of this discrepancy between what we have seen and what we believe. "Everyone is vulnerable to this, even if you don't think you are."
I'm a huge lover of scammer stories--Theranos, Fyre Fest, Anna Delvey--and used to watch documentaries about those stories in equal parts fascination with the grifter's sheer confidence and smug satisfaction that I would never have fallen for their ruse. It turns out that smug satisfaction was unwarranted--after all, hadn't I very clearly bought into the scheme of higher education in the Ivy League? Hadn't I begged (from my parents) and borrowed (from the government) an outrageous amount to cover tuition and board in the hopes that enrollment would significantly advance my financial and social standing in life?
In fact, I was so excited when my application was accepted by Yale that neither my parents nor I seriously scrutinized the college's employment statistics or asked to speak with graduates a few years out. The simulacrum of Yale was so strong, so powerful that I put down my deposit with nary a second thought. Was this not the same allure and routine that entraps people into Ponzi schemes, LuLaRoe, and cryptocurrency banking? It wasn't like I had completed mountains of due diligence on educational institutions before I enrolled--the only real difference, it seemed, between the scammed and me was just... luck.
✍️ ask cece
what's it like to take multiple state bar exams after graduating?
Q: Do you have any insight on what it is like to take two bar exams post-grad? More generally, I’m wondering if you could speak to lateraling to a firm in a different state relatively quickly after graduating (1-2 years). Accepted a job across the coast from my family and want exit strategies if necessary!
- Elizabeth
A: Hi Elizabeth! I haven't taken multiple state bar exams but do know a fair number of people who have. (And this has always been a topic of interest to me, as well, given that I'm from California and occasionally toy with the idea of moving back.) There are two main approaches to moving states and sitting for a different state's bar exam:
(1) Sitting for two exams back-to-back. Some people prefer to study for the two state's bar exams one after another. That is, sit for the summer bar exam in the state that you will be practicing in first and then sit for the February bar exam in the state that you're thinking of moving to. The benefit of this approach is that you will already be in the "bar exam" mindset after the July exam, which may make studying for the February one easier. In addition, if the two states that you want to sit for are both UBE jurisdictions, studying for February will be a bit of a refresher for the non-jurisdiction-specific topics. The downside of this approach is that you'll have to use vacation in January to study for the exam or otherwise negotiate bar studying time off with your first firm (and come up with a reason why you are sitting for the second exam without tipping your hand about intending to leave!). It's completely doable, though, as long as you (and your firm) are up for it!
(2) Sitting for the second exam when you lateral. At more senior levels, attorneys will often interview with offices in a new state and then be given time to relocate to the state and study for the bar there. This may happen at more junior levels, as well, but is more subject to market demands. When the lateral market is hot, then this perk is also extended to juniors; when the lateral market isn't as hot, then firms can be choosier and perhaps even demand bar admission as a prerequisite to interviewing. The upside of waiting to sit for the second state's exam is that some states have reciprocity or more limited requirements when it comes to admitting existing attorneys--for example, California permits attorneys who have been in good standing for four or more years to take a one-day Attorneys' Examination instead of the full-blown California Bar Exam.
In light of your plan to lateral relatively quickly (i.e., within 1-2 years), I would prepare to do Option 1, so that you get the bar exams out of the way as quickly as possible. The vacation days and communications with the firm aspects are certainly the most difficult parts of Option 1. From what I've seen friends and colleagues do, though, while it's challenging, it's also workable.
You'll also likely be bombarded with legal recruiter emails from day 1 of your job, so don't be shy about calling those recruiters back and asking them for their advice and what they're seeing in the market. (But beware--some recruiters are great, and some are just awful. It's good to talk to a few to see which ones you vibe with and trust.) From what I've heard, the lateral market isn't that hot right now, but who knows what the market will be like next year! 2021 was absolutely bonkers for laterals, so clearly a lot can change in a year's time.
i feel guilty about considering another career path other than biglaw.
Q: I’m a first-gen Asian-American who just finished her 1L year. And I’m also someone who wants to pursue writing a novel sometime in the future. I’ve recently been going through a crisis of sorts--I’ve got a 1L summer position at a NYC biglaw firm, but I’m no longer sure if biglaw is truly what I want. On the one hand--stability is incredible, but on the other hand, for personal reasons, I value my mental health over all else and I know biglaw is a surefire way to burn out quickly. I feel guilty that I’m even considering another path other than biglaw because I know that it’s incredibly privileged of me to have this issue in the first place, and I feel like I’d be letting down people around me if I choose to pursue something else after this summer. I’d love to know if you have any advice on this--just generally feeling super conflicted career-wise but not wanting to count myself out of my potential.
- Anonymous
A: First, take a deep breath--career decisions can feel so enormous, so intractable, and so final. But they're not. You are the architect of your own future, and you should never feel guilty about any of your desires. There are certainly different financial implications associated with biglaw and writing--and which you are comfortable with is a deeply personal question that can also change over time--but at the end of the day, it is your life, and you are the only one who has to live 24/7 with your own decisions. Not anyone else--you.
So take it one day at a time. See how you feel about being a 1L summer associate. Then see how you feel about being a 2L summer associate. Did you love it? If so, then great--biglaw gets a bad rap, but there are many ways to enjoy parts of biglaw and have a rewarding time in biglaw (including through lateraling). One's biglaw experience is most impacted by the particular group and partners with whom one works. As a result, experiences in biglaw can be quite varied in practice, so don't feel guilty if you also end up liking biglaw! On the other hand, did you find being a summer associate only tolerable or totally hate it? Then start exploring other legal employer types--maybe employers that would be able to give you enough time off to chip away at that novel--or devise a "sabbatical savings plan" to funnel your biglaw salary into a fund for you to live off of while you're working on your novel. Helen Wan, the author of The Partner Track* (which was adapted into the Netflix show, Partner Track), wrote her novel over the period of twelve years, in fits and starts while working. In contrast, Celeste Ng looked at her savings from working in publishing and ended up telling herself, "I have this amount of time that I can afford to try and finish drafts of a novel and if I can't, then I'll have to figure out something else to do." (This is also my plan, because I know my personality tends to be all-or-nothing.) There are many ways to be creative--you just have to figure out what you are comfortable with, financially and emotionally.
Once you decide on a near-term decision, whether it be biglaw, a boutique firm, in-house, or something outside of law altogether, embrace your decision--because you are the one who made it! And making your own decision is a beautiful thing. Live it, breathe it, work your hardest at it--and don't second-guess yourself until the next designated re-evaluation time (e.g., monthly, quarterly, annually). Too often, I get caught in this trap of woulda-coulda-shoulda, and it makes investing time into something and trying something new difficult. And while this anxiety is good to a certain extent--after all, I think it evinces thoughtfulness--feeling this anxiety every hour, every day only gets in the way of living your life. I still often catch myself feeling extremely conflicted about my career, as do people with 20+ years of experience in a specific industry, so rest assured that the answer isn't to stop feeling conflicted--it's to manage the conflict, contain it, make it work for you.
Lastly, it will be okay. No matter what you decide, it will be okay. And if you change your mind later on, it will also be okay. And if you decide even after to go back to your first decision--that's okay, too! You are in an incredibly privileged position, yes, but what's the point of working to get to a position of privilege if you don't get to use that privilege every once in a while? (Also, take a look at this Twitter thread--I hope it makes you feel a little bit more seen.)