Any architects in here?

[Sean88gt]

He had been working about 2 years, so yes pretty fresh.

I don't have a JD (or want one), I wasn't actually looking for law positions either but just ran across him since he was waiting to speak with us. I do work with patent attorneys quite a bit however, and they all seem to do quite well with a lot of them being in their mid 30s.

And you're correct, you only need the technical degree to sit for the uspto exam. You actually don't need a law degree to if you're ok with just being a patent agent. I've considered taking it just for shits and gigs.

I'm looking to niche areas of the law that are still very active, may not have much litigation, and are populated with dinosaurs. It makes the job prospects pretty promising. What seems to happen is that fresh attorneys are still stupid kids with an expensive education and have no idea how to identify the box or think out of it. So they take a shitty job at low pay, get ground up and leave law behind. Then they bitch about it. Then articles are written discussing the shitty life that law school has given them.

I'm only a year in, and clearly non-traditional, but I camp at networking events. I'm on a first name basis with the new Dean, spent a week in Costa Rica with the Vice-Dean (former Interim Dean) on law related activities, and I'm invited to meet partners from large firms from around the US when they come to campus. I was also just selected for a mentor program with an attorney at one of the largest firms in TX, as well as the country. My GPA is nothing stellar, I'm not going to (nor would I want to) make law review, but I work hard, I know how to talk and relate to people, and I make my presence know. I have practical experience as a business owner that gives me a distinct advantage over some 24yr old snizzpod that is on daddy's Highland Park dime.

Job prospects are a weird thing in law because connection is often more important than education markers. So when indicators say the market is dead/dying, law schools are seeing less students, less graduates are practicing, and so forth, I see an opportunity where a glut of people will soon become a deficit of qualified field and it will resemble the current trends in the engineering world where you guys are the beneficiaries of what was likely an overstaffed-shitty market that led engineers bitching, trying different industries and so forth.

Worst case scenario, I never practice law, return to the business world and enjoy being the most educated guy in the room (generally speaking) and cynically over analyse the dumbshit that flies across a corporate board room.

[slow99]

The questions are: 1) what about percentage employed by each of those categories; and 2) what about public sector? Pretty sure overall median salaries in 2012 and 2013 were flat with 2007. Of course, also varies greatly by school.

*edit was referring to strychnine's post.

[Ruffdaddy]

Strychnine it looks like you ran into the only report that doesn't show law salaries as flat or declining somehow. I'm on a cell phone so I can't post it now, but that exact website you pulled from had several articles citing declinin or flat salary.

That's also only showing actual associates pay and not the pay of those with law degrees entering the workforce

Like I said you can still make a lot of money but specializing is key which it sounds like sean has that figured out. Especially having real world experience outside of law

[slow99]

Strychnine it looks like you ran into the only report that doesn't show law salaries as flat or declining somehow. I'm on a cell phone so I can't post it now, but that exact website you pulled from had several articles citing declinin or flat salary.

That's also only showing actual associates pay and not the pay of those with law degrees entering the workforce

Like I said you can still make a lot of money but specializing is key which it sounds like sean has that figured out. Especially having real world experience outside of law

...

[Ruffdaddy]

...

???

[slow99]

You said you were on the phone so couldn't post links at that time. You have the links?

[Ruffdaddy]

Same source as strychnine:

"Things began to change in 2010, when the recession more fully impacted law firms, affecting the Class of 2010 in many ways, including a marked shrinking of summer classes in 2009. This resulted in the right-hand peak eroding back to 18% of reported salaries, and the left-hand peak bulking up to almost half (48%) of reported salaries. The erosion continued in 2011, with $160,000 salaries accounting for 14% of reported salaries, and $40,000 - $65,000 salaries accounting for over half (52%) of reported salaries. Finally, with so many salaries returning to the left-hand peak, the median salary — $60,000 for the Class of 2011 — again reflects the salary, or close to the salary, actually obtained by many grads."

http://www.nalp.org/august2012research

A few years old...but again the same source actually has an article that is titled describing the erosion of law salaries

"Median Private Practice Starting Salaries for the Class of 2011 Plunge as Private Practice Jobs Continue to Erode"

http://www.nalp.org/classof2011_salpressrel

Now let's look at the public sector failing to even match inflation, and coming nowhere near the six figure mark.

http://www.nalp.org/2012_pubint_salaries

http://www.nalp.org/july14research

Some even go down... you've either got to be searching strictly for an article that gives you an increase in salary for lawyers in a small portion of the labor market to get the information strych posted, while intentionally avoiding the rest of the overwhelming evidence detailing the erosion of law salaries. Or you've got to be incredibly unlucky to run into that article and take it as fully representative of the law field.

That's the politically correct way of saying biased in research to prove the point you want, or lacking sufficient understanding to realize how small of a corner that article based it's salary report on. I believe in data based decisions, not decision based data.

[slow06]

I found a job a few weeks ago where they were wanting an attorney and were offering $40,000. I laughed at first, then I just sat and wondered if I was the crazy person.

OP good luck in finding what you want to do. If you love architecture I say take a shot, but like others have said you won't be getting that kind of degree online and you won't be rolling in cash.

[YALE]

OP: My stepdad's an architect, and has been a visiting professor off and on at UTA for a while. If you ever want to talk to him about what the job's like, let me know. I don't mind putting you in touch, and he doesn't mind talking to students.

[TeeShock]

Just learn how to use revit and start as a designer making 20+ an hour

[lowfast]

Architecture is a long haul type profession. A young rising architect is someone in their forties. If you love it, don't mind the low pay and long hours it can be rewarding. Check out "life of an architect" blog. Lots of good info. I am a registered architect with a masters, however I moved into program management over 8 years ago and have not looked back.