Suicidal Perfectionists Anonymous
I read an article today on Boston.com on things you can do in college to make it easier to get a job later. It was rather anti-lawyer. Witness:
"6. Skip the law-school track. Lawyers are the most depressed of all professionals. Stress itself does not make a job bad, says Alan Kreuger, economist at Princeton University. Not having control over one's work does make a bad job, though, and lawyers are always acting on behalf of someone else. Suicide is among the leading causes of premature death among lawyers."
and
"18. Get rid of your perfectionist streak. It is rewarded in college, but it leads to insane job stress and an inability to feel satisfied with your work. And for all of you still stuck on number 6, about ditching the law school applications: The Utah Bar Journal says that lawyers are disproportionately perfectionists."
I mean yeah, skipping law school is great advice for most college students who are thinking of selling their soul straight out of college, but the justification seems way off. Working for a client is probably the nicest thing most of us will get to do. It's the main thing you can derive some personal satisfaction from as a lawyer. I agree that not having control over your work is depressing, but that's more the situation in a Big Firm where you get no client contact whatsoever and its the partners controlling your every move. I'd be willing to bet that having clients is not the leading cause of suicide in lawyers.
And as for #18, the author seems to imply that becoming a lawyer leads to perfectionism (then depression! then suicide! the horror!!!), rather than perfectionists being drawn to the legal profession, which is pretty obviously what's actually happening.
But whatever. If the thought of spending three years in a classroom full of suicidal perfectionists scares even one person away from law school, I suppose I shouldn't complain about the details.
P.S. We're all alcoholics too.
"6. Skip the law-school track. Lawyers are the most depressed of all professionals. Stress itself does not make a job bad, says Alan Kreuger, economist at Princeton University. Not having control over one's work does make a bad job, though, and lawyers are always acting on behalf of someone else. Suicide is among the leading causes of premature death among lawyers."
and
"18. Get rid of your perfectionist streak. It is rewarded in college, but it leads to insane job stress and an inability to feel satisfied with your work. And for all of you still stuck on number 6, about ditching the law school applications: The Utah Bar Journal says that lawyers are disproportionately perfectionists."
I mean yeah, skipping law school is great advice for most college students who are thinking of selling their soul straight out of college, but the justification seems way off. Working for a client is probably the nicest thing most of us will get to do. It's the main thing you can derive some personal satisfaction from as a lawyer. I agree that not having control over your work is depressing, but that's more the situation in a Big Firm where you get no client contact whatsoever and its the partners controlling your every move. I'd be willing to bet that having clients is not the leading cause of suicide in lawyers.
And as for #18, the author seems to imply that becoming a lawyer leads to perfectionism (then depression! then suicide! the horror!!!), rather than perfectionists being drawn to the legal profession, which is pretty obviously what's actually happening.
But whatever. If the thought of spending three years in a classroom full of suicidal perfectionists scares even one person away from law school, I suppose I shouldn't complain about the details.
P.S. We're all alcoholics too.
posted by feithline @ 5:10 PM
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