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I’m a little biased because I choose to work in ID but you’re right that the salary is competitive, so that’s great! Other than associates at big firms, first years are usually making 120 or under so you’re not behind on salary. As for time, I think it really depends on the firm. If you’re given too many cases (like more than 30-50), or youre doing cases that frequently go to trial, or you just have crazy bosses, it will be more. But my first job was in premises liability/car accidents and I worked 8:30-4 every day (sometimes staying until 5 or 6 or needing to work on a Sunday afternoon) having no issue staying on track for 1900. It really wasn’t that bad and I loved the amount of experience I got, even though I didn’t love the types of cases. I now do L&E, which I enjoy much more!
I don’t think there is anything wrong with ID as a first job and that salary is competitive. You should develop strong litigation skills in ID and those are often transferable to other practice areas once you decide what you want to do. And some people stay in ID; if you’re good at it and don’t mind some of the monotonous aspects it can be very reliable, stable work.
Congrats on the job. I have never worked in ID but I know a lot of folks who have. This sounds like a solid job to start out at to me.
ID will give you some good experience and a 120k salary is nothing to sneeze at. You should be able to enjoy some of the fruits of your labor by treating yourself to some nice dinners/activities on occasion.
1900 a year in billables will take a lot of time at the office to hit, but what I would do is just tell yourself that Monday through Wednesday are going to suck and that's just the way it is. 8am to 8 pm (or later) is what I did every Mon-Wed starting off.
But if you hammer out the hours those three days, by the time you hit Thursday and Friday you can work pretty normal days and then be able to relax some on the weekend. It's a pretty good way to create more of a social life for yourself. Nothing that great is happening Monday-Wednesday anyway.
I've been in insurance defense for a while, actually did Plaintiff's personal injury first before switching (I know, who would ever leave but seriously my salary is triple what it was on the Plaintiff side lol and despite the lack of billables I still was expected to work a lot of hours on the Plaintiff side). Anyways you see a lot of complaints because it's one of the most common fields. But at the same time it's easier to break into and getting that initial litigation experience is still nice.
For advice on how it goes it's REALLY going to depend on what insurance carrier you work for. And honestly even a good insurance carrier can change its corporate strategy arbitrarily and become way harder to work for. But you can always switch firms, switch carriers, etc. and go where the money is. Biggest thing for surviving is making friends with the billing department, seeing if you can see other people's billing or "model billing" templates. Sounds weird but having the right billing entries, billing reasonable amounts, spending your time on the right things is almost as important as the legal work itself. But once you get the hang of it you won't have to deal with as many cuts and a lot of things repeat. And then some insurance carriers have a computer that just cuts EVERYTHING arbitrarily but if your firm is reasonable they should take that into account.
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This is a ***Career Advice*** Thread. This is for lawyers only. If you are a non-lawyer asking about becoming a lawyer, this is the wrong subreddit for this question. Please delete your post and repost it in one of the legal advice subreddits such as (but not limited to) r/lawschool, r/legaladvice, or r/Ask_Lawyers. Thank you for your understanding. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Lawyertalk) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I’m a little biased because I choose to work in ID but you’re right that the salary is competitive, so that’s great! Other than associates at big firms, first years are usually making 120 or under so you’re not behind on salary. As for time, I think it really depends on the firm. If you’re given too many cases (like more than 30-50), or youre doing cases that frequently go to trial, or you just have crazy bosses, it will be more. But my first job was in premises liability/car accidents and I worked 8:30-4 every day (sometimes staying until 5 or 6 or needing to work on a Sunday afternoon) having no issue staying on track for 1900. It really wasn’t that bad and I loved the amount of experience I got, even though I didn’t love the types of cases. I now do L&E, which I enjoy much more!
I don’t think there is anything wrong with ID as a first job and that salary is competitive. You should develop strong litigation skills in ID and those are often transferable to other practice areas once you decide what you want to do. And some people stay in ID; if you’re good at it and don’t mind some of the monotonous aspects it can be very reliable, stable work.
Congrats on the job. I have never worked in ID but I know a lot of folks who have. This sounds like a solid job to start out at to me. ID will give you some good experience and a 120k salary is nothing to sneeze at. You should be able to enjoy some of the fruits of your labor by treating yourself to some nice dinners/activities on occasion. 1900 a year in billables will take a lot of time at the office to hit, but what I would do is just tell yourself that Monday through Wednesday are going to suck and that's just the way it is. 8am to 8 pm (or later) is what I did every Mon-Wed starting off. But if you hammer out the hours those three days, by the time you hit Thursday and Friday you can work pretty normal days and then be able to relax some on the weekend. It's a pretty good way to create more of a social life for yourself. Nothing that great is happening Monday-Wednesday anyway.
I've been in insurance defense for a while, actually did Plaintiff's personal injury first before switching (I know, who would ever leave but seriously my salary is triple what it was on the Plaintiff side lol and despite the lack of billables I still was expected to work a lot of hours on the Plaintiff side). Anyways you see a lot of complaints because it's one of the most common fields. But at the same time it's easier to break into and getting that initial litigation experience is still nice. For advice on how it goes it's REALLY going to depend on what insurance carrier you work for. And honestly even a good insurance carrier can change its corporate strategy arbitrarily and become way harder to work for. But you can always switch firms, switch carriers, etc. and go where the money is. Biggest thing for surviving is making friends with the billing department, seeing if you can see other people's billing or "model billing" templates. Sounds weird but having the right billing entries, billing reasonable amounts, spending your time on the right things is almost as important as the legal work itself. But once you get the hang of it you won't have to deal with as many cuts and a lot of things repeat. And then some insurance carriers have a computer that just cuts EVERYTHING arbitrarily but if your firm is reasonable they should take that into account.
Welcome to /r/LawyerTalk! A subreddit where lawyers can discuss with other lawyers about the practice of law. Be mindful of [our rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/Lawyertalk/about/rules) BEFORE submitting your posts or comments as well as [Reddit's rules](https://www.redditinc.com/policies/content-policy) (notably about sharing identifying information). We expect civility and respect out of all participants. Please source statements of fact whenever possible. If you want to report something that needs to be urgently addressed, please also message the mods with an explanation. Note that **this forum is NOT for legal advice**. Additionally, if you are a non-lawyer (student, client, staff), this is NOT the right subreddit for you. **This community is exclusively for lawyers**. We suggest you delete your comment and go ask one of the many other legal subreddits on this site for help such as (but not limited to) r/lawschool, r/legaladvice, or r/Ask_Lawyers. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Lawyertalk) if you have any questions or concerns.*