Quote Originally Posted by LetsGo View Post
Thanks, yeah I wish there were programs here that accepted any lawyer and gave them training like that. I had to fight and claw on my own.

I’m not interested in being an associate, truth be told. I don’t love the idea of working for someone else, and having them tell me what to do, when to do it, how to do it, and then they get 80% of the money I generate. I’d rather be the captain of my own ship.

I would take a good job if I could get it, but I don’t see why any law firm would hire me, ever. You could just take someone fresh out of school, or my age plus the normal 10 years of experience. Maybe that’s my father’s negativity talking, but I got nowhere applying for lawyer jobs once I was a few years out, so I don’t think I’m hirable as an attorney despite being abundantly qualified, having some years of experience, and lots of volunteer experience that sharpened my skills.

This is a topic that makes me pretty anxious. I have my plans that should work, and I know a bunch of people who did exactly what I’m doing, with less experience and nothing in the bank, and made it work. It’s a hustle for a year or two, but so is a new job. The difference is that I don’t need to convince anyone to hire me, and if I’m very slightly successful as a solo, I will clear +$300,000, versus a quarter of that at a law firm, with an eventual max of maybe $200k in 10 - 15 years. If you don’t have the entrepreneurial mindset then it makes sense to be an associate, but if you want to earn money then starting your own firm will earn you multiple times as much money.

My field isn’t an extreme niche, but I still don’t want to mention it because there are just a handful of lawyers practicing it in my area.

If you’re a non-lawyer, in the US, being a paralegal first can help you decide if you want to go to law school, because it gives you exposure to the law firm setting. But it’s not like training that helps you become a great lawyer, since you’re doing different work. If you’re a dental hygienist, you do the grunt work of scraping tartar and X-rays, but this doesn’t train them to become dentists. You don’t learn how to read X-rays, drill cavities, do root canals, etc. You’re just around people who are doing that and it can help you learn if you like it or hate it.

Similarly, at least in the US, a paralegal will be filing paperwork, greeting clients and getting them coffee, proofreading documents, making photocopies, printing out motions and putting them into folders, getting coffee and snacks for the lawyers, buying paper for the printer, dealing with paper jams, transcribing voice recordings into documents... none of that is going to build any skills for an attorney. That’s what paralegals do at all of the law firms I’ve worked at, anyhow. Maybe in the UK they are like junior lawyers and can get promoted to full lawyers, but here in the US they’re basically administrative assistants who specialize in the legal field.

I’m up to speed in my areas and success is strictly down to getting higher conversions off my ads, getting more organic SEO, etc. Also, not being able to take calls live during work hours is killing me. This is strictly an advertising issue, and working for a law firm will not help me become a better advertiser. I don’t have a marketing degree or love ads so I don’t want to work for a digital ad firm either. I just want to keep working on my ads, and website and keep improving things. I have several clients but I need to get to where I get one or two clients per week.

Anyway, I have tried the basic sleep tactics. I can say my awful habit is BSing on my phone. I’m so tired of being in this condition and only having flashes of pseudo-normalcy. But I have no one I can talk to and it gets so lonely especially at night, and the phone makes me feel like I’m not alone, it distracts me from everything - but it’s ruining my sleep. I’m addicted to my phone and it’s never more than an arm’s length away from me.
You need a digital cleanse brother.