Count Your Blessings

I just read a blog that made me absolutely irate. I'm sorry but I don't want to hear about how horrible it is at the big firms. To all you big firm folks I really don't care about your firm malaise or the horrible billable hours that you have to work. I have said it once and I will say it again...AT LEAST YOU HAVE A PERMANANT JOB! While I realize that most folks don't like their jobs, at least you "firm folks" are getting paid quite well to do substantive work while there is a whole subculture of contract attorneys who are doing work that a trained monkey could do. Yes, contract attorneys. We are the people who went to the same schools that you did, some of us made better grades than you did, yet we don't have jobs. There are a lot of us. No one told us about contract work in law school, that was the dirty little secret that didn't get out. They told you about the big firm jobs, you knew what you were signing up for. Frankly, I really don't care that you are holed up in your office hiding from the partners. At least you have an office. Your secretary fucked up your time? At least you have a secretary. You spilled barbecue sauce on yourself at the firm function? At least you get invited. I can't even eat in the attorney dining room, I am relegated to the "staff cafeteria." I am tired of the sympathetic looks from the "firm folks," I'm tired of the "it will be okay, you will find something" conversations and most of all, I am tired of hearing about how horrible firm life is. If it is that deep why don't you trade places with me and I will go and take over your cushy office, your secretary and your malaise and you can become a contract attorney. The red-headed stephild of the attorney world. I graduated, I passed the bar and I busted my ass, yet I get a table, a computer and millions of documents to go blind looking at while I get paid about half of what my big firm counterparts are getting paid. So the next time you want to complain about how horrible your firm job is, think twice, count your blessings and shut up!