Summary: Litigators are in one of the most difficult practice areas that very few attorneys are actually cut out to handle while still being able to come out happy and successful.
Read Why Most Attorneys Have No Business Being Litigators: Fifteen Reasons Why You Should Not Be a Litigator to learn more.
According to a recent article by Harrison Barnes, litigation is not an easy job. It is demanding and hard to find good lateral jobs, mostly because there are so many other litigators out there. With so much competition, it is hard to set yourself apart from the rest in order to get the very few good jobs available. And ultimately, there are very few who actually have the personality traits and skills to be good litigators.
Litigators do a lot of the grunt work so they get little respect from employers, courts, opposing counsel or clients. There are tight deadlines that they have to be on top of. Most of their time is spent at a desk going through piles of paperwork. They often don’t even see the inside of a courtroom because they settle cases before going to trial. With the demands of the job, many are on edge and willing to play dirty in order to get things done.
Here are 15 reasons why you need to stay away from litigation:
- Litigation is the largest practice area but is the most difficult area to get a job.
- There are more chances to make mistakes than other attorneys in other practice areas.
- Litigators have to deal with more bosses, who are also waiting for them to make mistakes.
- Litigators need to excel in researching and writing.
- Litigators don’t have the opportunity to build a large book of business so they are not valuable to a law firm in the long-run.
- Litigators typically can’t go in-house.
- Litigators have to have the drive to win in order to stay successful.
- The jobs with the most money at stake have the least job stability and lowest pay.
- The best do not care what others think of them.
- The best are extremely intelligent and creative.
- Litigators have to excel in upselling and keeping clients fearful in order to keep the money coming in.
- Litigators love to engage in gamesmanship and be calculating.
- Litigators have to be extremely committed to clients.
- Litigators must not only like to fight but be really good at it.
- Litigators need to be to collect the money.
Do you think litigation is a good practice area to be in? Tell us in the comments below.
To learn more about different practice areas, read these articles:
- IP Law is a Capital Practice Area
- Healthcare is the Most Rapidly Growing Practice Area
- The Most Emotional Area of Law: What It’s Like to Be a Family Law Attorney
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