Not all real estate issues are the same so when narrowing down the search for a real estate attorney pay attention to the specialized focus of a practice. For instance, one attorney may specialize in residential where another one may work exclusively with commercial or landlord-tenants. It’s also a good idea to distinguish what type of lawyer you need. An attorney who focuses on contracts and transactions is known as a transactional lawyer. Whereas an attorney who specializes in handling lawsuits is referred to as a litigator. Just because a real estate attorney may advertise that they specialize in real estate law, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they are the best person for the job. Just as you would interview a real estate professional before listing your home, it’s important to vet carefully an attorney before hiring them.
Here are the top 5 questions to ask when interviewing real estate attorneys:
How long have you been practicing? If the transaction is complicated, then you will most likely want someone who has a great deal of experience.
What experience do you have in the real estate law field? The answers to this will vary. But ideally, you want to know where they graduated from, how many similar cases they have handled, etc.
How will my case be handled? The worst thing to do is enlist the services of an attorney only to find out that they aren’t the ones actually working on your case. Watch for other individuals that may help in the case that may not be licensed. Alternatively, a paralegal or junior attorney could also be assigned to the case.
What costs are involved? Fee schedules will vary from one lawyer to the next and it’s best to know a ballpark figure going in rather than being surprised with a massive bill later on. On average, an hourly fee may range anywhere between $150 to $500+. Some firms may also require a retainer up front before taking the case. This is not that uncommon.
Can you provide me with references? In the interview process, it never hurts to ask for references to see what others thought of the lawyer.
Doing your homework on an attorney before hiring can save you headaches in the end as a good lawyer is worth their weight in gold. Aside from a personal interview, you can also turn to online resources to find additional information on attorneys. You can find attorney’s listed under the state bar association and there are also a wide variety of lawyer referral services. A Google search will also turn up some results as well. Researching online will involve checking out the attorney websites to learn more about their credentials and specialties.
When conducting your search for a real estate attorney make sure that there is no conflict of interest with them representing you. Once you have narrowed down the field to just one attorney, then a retainer agreement or engagement letter is typically provided to you which will outline in writing what to expect regarding fees and services to be provided. It’s important that you fully understand the terms of this document as ‘lawyer language’ can be confusing. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask them as the only dumb question is one not asked.
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Pre-nuptial agreements, arranged with the help of an Ontario lawyer, can be a bone of contention between couples, because it can seem as though a husband and wife-to-be are focusing on getting divorced even before the marriage ceremony has even taken place!
I do (or I don’t?!)
It is an unavoidable fact however that approximately just over one-third of marriages don’t make it to the finish line and so it is crucial and only sensible to protect yourself financially in the event of your marriage becoming part of this statistic. In doing so you also actually protect yourself emotionally. A prenup can actually provide the peace of mind to start your married life with confidence; knowing that should things go wrong, you have a contract in place to ensure that division of assets is both fair and legally enforceable in a court of law.
What exactly do I need to include?
1. Any personal assets
It may be that you own a company; perhaps built up from scratch that you would not want to risk losing in the event of a divorce or separation. Adding your business as a separate personal asset would protect and maximise your future earning income should you and your partner go your separate ways as they would not be entitled to a share. You may also own your own property or an item such as a family heirloom that you want to keep within your family. If you secure your personal assets in a pre-nuptial agreement, with the help of a lawyer in Ontario then you have the reassurance that someone who can be become a complete stranger during or after divorce proceedings is not going to walk off with anything of great value to you.
2. Dependent children
Any dependent children; either from a previous relationship or as a result of your marriage will need to be financially taken care of in the event of a separation or divorce and a pre-nuptial agreement can determine your exact wishes as to how any property and assets; whether personal or joint will be used to financially support dependent children.
3. Details of your estate
Many people think in terms of a will/living will when they plan how to leave their estate, but a pre-nuptial agreement can also be used as an essential estate planning document too. In the unfortunate event of ’til’ death us do part’; a prenup can prove a valuable guide in separating personal assets from those that may be acquired during the marriage meaning that you can decide what your partner will receive as part of your estate and what will be inherited by your children or other family members.
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My view is that if the law says that about robberies then why are drunk drivers who kill someone not charged with first degree murder too because they have also killed someone during the process of committing a crime. That is driving under the influence.
The Florida lawmakers should explain to their people how their community will benefit from locking people up and throwing away the key approach.
In the case of Jennifer Mee, she was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, so what hideous crime did she commit?
Did she murder someone in cold blood?
Well, here are a few facts as I understand them to be;
Jennifer set up a date with a young man via Facebook but she did not have romance on her mind but rather robbery.
The plan was to rob the young man with the assistance of her two male companions, but during the mugging one of Jennifer’s friends shot the victim. I don’t know where Jennifer was when this all took place.
It was never Jennifer’s intention for the victim to be shot (according to Jennifer) and she claims she didn’t even know that one of her friends had a firearm on his presence.
I don’t know what you think about Jennifer but whatever it is, would you feel the same way if she was one of your relatives?
My view is that Florida has changed the meaning of the word murder for whatever reason. I always thought murder was an intentional act and the only intention Jennifer had was to rob her victim.
Murder was not even discussed as far as I know.
The other important point is life without parole sentences.
This may be the only option for some, but not the majority of them.
In Jennifer’s case, her lawyer gave her a 3-5% chance of ever being released, but I cannot fathom out how he came to that conclusion.
Because there is a clemency option for Jennifer subject to certain criteria and one of them is that at least ten years of their sentence must have been served. She has been inside since 19 and is 28 now so has little time to go before she completes ten years.
]]>If you do have a concern that involves proprietary information or about copyright fraud, then in some cases a private investigation agency could be an ideal choice for assistance.
Perhaps this is even more the case in less developed countries where enforcement of copyright seems less of a priority for the police than in more developed nations.
Indeed in some countries the police might be part of the problem. Perhaps that may be a little extreme (perhaps not) but at the very least the police all the way up through the chain of command, may just be ignoring the issue of copyright infringement. In many cases this might not be through the lack of genuine concern so much as lack of resources. The more limited the resources, the more challenging the prioritisation decisions.
One needs only to walk around the streets in South East Asia to see the huge amounts of counterfeit DVDs, bags, clothes, telephones and so on all openly on display.
A private investigation agency can help locate the principal source of illegal activities, and those involved along the supply chain.
How a Private Investigation Agency Can Help
- Discover the production source of the copyright items;
- Find the seller/s of the copyright items;
- Go undercover in order to find out and expose the various elements of the supply chain;
- Retrieve valuable specimens of the stolen goods;
- Do background checks of the perpetrators.
What Copyright Investigation Involves
- Research of violations: Agents can help you in identifying intellectual asset theft as well as copyright fraud;
- Identification of the perpetrators: One of the main steps with copyright investigations is to discover, locate, and also obtain essential background information and profiles of the perpetrators;
- Surveillance at retail and manufacturing locations: Surveillance may also be used in order to get evidence of infringement and theft at source and along a supply chain.
Companies and individuals face challenging, and constantly evolving landscapes in intellectual property rights in any given country. Local private investigators are often best placed to assist in the constant battle against infringement of patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets.
In this expanding global marketplace companies are working in new territories and facing not just different administrative hurdles, uneven enforcement, and procedural barriers but also commercial obstacles from extremely sophisticated counterfeiters.
]]>This fully updated fifth edition of Law 101 accounts for all these developments and more, as Feinman once again provides a clear introduction to American law. The book covers all the main subjects taught in the first year of law school, and discusses every facet of the American legal tradition, including constitutional law, the litigation process, and criminal, property, and contracts law.
To illustrate how the legal system works, Feinman draws from noteworthy, infamous, and even outrageous examples and cases. We learn about the case involving scalding coffee that cost McDonald’s half a million dollars, the murder trial in Victorian London that gave us the legal definition of insanity, and the epochal decision of Marbury vs. Madison that gave the Supreme Court the power to declare state and federal law unconstitutional. A key to learning about the law is understanding legal vocabulary, and Feinman helps by clarifying terms like “due process” and “equal protection,” as well as by drawing distinctions between terms like “murder” and “manslaughter.”
]]>I do think we have been the best law firm to work for. I don’t need the Free Press awards to tell me that. I worked for other law firms. I know how they treated people. There was no trust. There was no communication. You didn’t know what the partners were truly thinking or how the firm was doing. You didn’t know how secure your job was, until you were fired. I swore when I opened my own firm in 1995 that I would never treat an employee the way I was treated. I actually thought about this when I had no employees. I had a vision of what it would be like to have employees and show them the respect I always wanted. To tell them how the firm was doing, good or bad. To encourage them to speak up and to help me decide which way to go if I faced a tough decision. And it has worked.
Since 2007, every quarter I stand in front of all of my employees gathered in one room and give a “State of the Firm.” I did it when we had 25 employees, and I do it now when we have 150. I share how we did last year and last quarter. What my goal and vision is for the next quarter. I ask all new hires to stand up and introduce themselves. Tell us where they last worked last and why they decided to join our firm. We lay out our vision and goals and I let every person know what needs to be done to hit our goals for the quarter and year. I talk about our Core Values each quarter. Some of my employees have heard this speech almost 100 times. I do the meetings myself and I give my energy and I receive the love and energy from my employees during these meetings.
So back to the question of are we really the best law firm to work for in Michigan? Was it just pie in the sky when I said that was a goal? A guiding principle? I could have picked lots of things but after much consideration by myself and my executive team, it has always remained as one of my top priorities as an employer.
At our firm, we’ve always hit our goals. We have not had an off year since we have been tracking our numbers. We have grown about 25% a year since 2007. During this time with our physical office closed, I have been talking with a number of lawyers and reading a lot. I spoke with a lawyer who heads his own firm yesterday who immediately laid off people- his only receptionist and his associate lawyer. This was a very small firm. They are down to the partners. They have only been closed a few days. We have been closed and working remotely for almost two weeks.
I watch how Delta Airlines has laid off 70% of their employees without pay. I see other companies doing the same. People in the service businesses that actually can be open during these times, don’t want to work because of fear. I get that. Hopefully their businesses will survive and they can all be rehired back after this disaster ends.
But for my business, my law firm, my baby that I started from scratch, I have been thinking of what to do. There is no book written to help in these times.
I am a decent leader and visionary. I have survived my dad dying when I was a young man in law school, being fired from one of my first legal jobs with no notice, a major fire that swept through my office just as my firm was starting to take off, and much more. My COO John Nachazel and I are actually putting the finishing touches on a book we are calling Fireproof, How to Take Your Law Firm From Unpredictable to Wildly Profitable. The book isn’t out yet, but it has been a fun exercise. I am realizing that during this period, we are Fireproof.
Since my fire in 2008, our team has had a disaster plan. Everyone already was prepared to work from home. We decided on Sunday, March 15th, to close our physical offices down. The next day, all of my 150 staff were up and running remotely. Their gear worked because we had tested it. They all had the phone apps on their phones because we made sure they did before this happened. The people who needed printers had them. We had a process written and shared and discussed years before this happened. We were ready. And it worked and paid off.
What our plan couldn’t account for is that the courts are closed with no open date in sight. Insurance companies are playing games and some are not settling cases. Defense attorneys are trying to figure out how they survive without billing and without a lot of depositions and court appearances happening. This will be an off year for sure. It is nearly impossible to hit our settlement goals with everything shut down. All of our trials are pushed off months and may not even go in 2020. Payroll will get tight, soon. I have never had to bail out my law firm with my own personal money.
I have had several employees raise their hands that they cannot work a full 40 hours and have volunteered to go down in hours for their own benefit and to save the firm some money. I even had a member of my own executive team offer a pay cut! To say I was surprised and delighted would be an understatement.
Because of how we treat our employees they are stepping up to the plate and offering to help. They know one of our Core Values is Hard Work.
If they can’t give it their all because of kids, or pets, or elderly parents right now, they are not willing to “steal a paycheck” as my COO John likes to say. They are saying I can’t give it my all right now, so you shouldn’t pay me for work I am not doing right now.
What about the people who don’t raise their hands and are under-performing, not executing, or taking advantage of this work stoppage? I think if you know who these people are, you need to lay those people off. But if they are performing in their role, and they are working at a high level, and they have always been a good employee, what can you do for them? You can support them, love them, and find a way to keep them employed. It may be that their job is not necessary right now. Say they are the receptionist, and calls have stopped coming in. What else can they do? They can call each and every client each and every week to check in on them. They can help track the work flow. They can help the executive team on other projects. They can call clients and ask for reviews on Google, and Yelp, and Avvo. These are all just examples but you get my drift. Look for people to volunteer. Heck, ask for volunteers. You should have software in place to track the work flow of your team. All of our staff is on Ring Central. They must call clients and attorneys on this platform. We know who is making and receiving calls. This is one simple way to see who is working and who is not. This is not why the software was put in place, but it sure helps us know who is doing their job when not physically at the office. Our computer system also can tell us who is working and not working. As a business owner, I think this is all imperative and a must.
My team seems to be working hard in these uncertain times. Does that mean every single person is? We will know that soon enough. But it is a time that people will tell on themselves. Are they a team player? Are they offering their help to others when they really don’t have a full weeks worth of work each week? Leaders need to step up as do team members.
What am I doing as a leader, owner and visionary of my law firm? I am communicating with my staff and my clients often. Sometimes daily. I am giving my team the tools they need to succeed, whether that means full I.T. Support , or new equipment drop shipped to their homes, or encouraging new software to make their jobs easier. I am doing whatever it takes. I am requiring all teams to meet weekly if not more, all by video. This is not optional. I want them to still feel connected to each other. I am suggesting daily huddles for 10 minutes a day, also by video. I am asking my executive team to be on the video calls to see how everyone is holding up and to make sure the trains are all running on time. So far, it is working.
I am also trying not to lay anyone off unless absolutely necessary. I am waiving my 2020 salary to make this happen. I am looking at the vision of the company and the goals we set for 2020 and trying to keep these on track. I know that because my firm is Fireproof, we will get through this. We won’t get through it if I make short term and panic driven decisions about laying people off, or cutting pay drastically to make short term gains. I understand we may not hit our overarching goals this year and that our usual robust bonuses may not be as robust this year. But I am in this for the long haul. If I want to have the greatest law firm in Michigan to work for, I need to step up even more during these uncertain times. I would suggest you do the same.
]]>So considering that, here are some tips that I would offer to bright-eyed law school grads who are ready to kill it in Big Law.
1. Consider Your Short and Long Term Plans
It’s obvious, but you absolutely have to sit down with yourself and think about your short and long term plans. Why are you working in Big Law? What are your goals?
In fact, I’d argue that you need to do this before you begin your first day as a junior associate. Big Law can provide you with an awesome paycheck, but the golden handcuffs can tighten once you begin upgrading your lifestyle.
It can become harder and harder to leave, even if you don’t necessarily enjoy what you’re doing.
By contrast, it’s marginally easier to leave if you already recognize that you will only stay in Big Law for X number of years—or until you pay off your law school debt—before transitioning into something else.
Ask yourself: do you want to become a partner at your firm or another firm? Do you see yourself staying in Big Law for just a couple years so you can become debt-free and then try something else? Or are you simply not sure about what you want to do?
Whatever the answer, just be honest.
This isn’t like The Bachelor, where you absolutely have to be in Big Law for “the right reasons.”
Whatever your motives, keep them in mind as you’re starting off. If you’re feeling frustrated or stressed in your first year, it’ll be reassuring to know why you chose to work in Big Law in the first place. And who knows—your outlook on Big Law may change once you get your feet wet.
2. Handling the Day-to-Day Grind
This topic could be an entire essay, but here are several strategies that helped me become a faster and better junior associate.
Your strength is attention to detail: Let’s face it. Coming out of law school, most of us don’t know much about the actual practice of law. Our first year is essentially an extended training period — even clients recognize this and are increasingly refusing to pay for first-year work.
As you’re learning how to actually be a lawyer, you need to become the master of details.
This is something you can do right away: all it requires is patience and dedication.
So if you’re working on a current lawsuit, be the member of the team that knows the facts inside and out. The same goes if you’re working on a deal as a corporate associate.
I know, some of the work that you’re completing can be extremely boring. It’s even more of a challenge if you’re pulling late hours and constantly feel fatigued. But at this early stage of your career, you’ll get noticed and will bring value to the team by being the master of details.
It also goes without saying, but all of your work should be absent of typos and should include all correct citations. And absolutely don’t forget to Shepardize everything.
More matters > fewer matters: The question that I and other first-year associates would often ask is how many matters to take on.
This is a tough question. Sure, you can say no to a partner requesting your assistance on a project, but this will probably cause long-term damage. Partners and senior associates will see you as less reliable and less of a team player.
My general advice is that too much work is better than too little work.
You want to be put on matters that have a long shelf life and where you are given a good amount of responsibility. It’s obviously difficult to project these factors, but that is the ultimate goal.
At the beginning of my Big Law career, I was lucky in that I was the only associate working with two partners on a new lawsuit. The partners trusted me and gave me a good amount of responsibility, even letting me argue a minor procedural point in court. If possible, you should aim for these types of opportunities.
Having said all of this, there may come a point where you’re inundated with projects.
For instance, a partner may barge into your office and say a project needs to be completed “ASAP,” even though a different partner on another matter told you the same thing ten minutes earlier.
If this is the case, you need to take action, and the most important thing here is communication.
Describe your workload to both partners and the fact that you have conflicting, imminent deadlines. Be totally upfront with your ability (or inability) to complete the tasks on time. If necessary, the partners will have to work it out amongst themselves or seek out additional help.
Mind your billable hours: As you begin at your firm, you should understand how many billable hours you’ll need to receive your annual bonus. Once you know the total number, divide it by twelve so that you know how many billable hours you need per month.
This will be especially helpful during your first year (since your bonus will be prorated depending on your firm’s fiscal year), but it’s useful to have a benchmark for every month going forward.
You want to constantly audit yourself to see if you’re on track. And yes, this means entering your time within 48 or 72 hours (your partners will thank you).
If you’re not on track, you need to find work sooner rather than later.
While many of your peers will be scrambling to find billable work just weeks before the end of your firm’s fiscal year, you can avoid this stress by ensuring that you’re on track throughout the year. Better to be proactive and eclipse the threshold by a large margin than panic at the end of the year.
But along with this, recognize that the work typically ebbs and flows. For as much as we want to smooth out our workflow, it doesn’t work like that.
It’s often feast or famine.
If you’re on a few matters that are temporarily at a lull, perhaps walk around your floor and notify your colleagues that you’re willing to help.
The worst case scenario is having little current work while everyone else is busy, yet partners don’t need your assistance on their matters. If this is the case, you’ll need to get on some project, any project, ASAP, even if it’s a pro bono project.
Treatises are your friend: Finally, I can’t stress this enough: treatises can make your life drastically easier as you’re completing research projects. I was old school and consulted actual books in my firm’s library (also to minimize Lexis costs), but do whatever works best for you.
Ultimately, there’s too much to know in too little of time. Use treatises as a crutch in order to get up to speed on some of the most basic law in your practice area. From there, you’ll be able to advance and find the law that is most applicable to your facts.
3. Recognize that Mid-Level Associates, Senior Associates, and Partners are Your Clients
Even though this is similar to my second point, I’m making it a totally separate point.
It’s that important.
In your first year, your clients are mid-level associates, senior associates, and partners. By pleasing them, you are pleasing your firm’s clients by proxy.
Speaking from experience, I didn’t have much client contact in my first year. Sure, I attended conference calls with clients and would occasionally meet them in face-to-face meetings.
But I spent most of my time communicating and working with associates and partners. They are the ones you need to impress every day.
How do you do this? You impress them by completing solid work, managing their expectations, and maintaining open communication channels.
You need to know the ins and outs of any case law that you’ve pulled and how the law applies to your facts. It’s also critical to present your conclusions in a concise and confident manner. Bonus points if you had any clinical experience in law school, as you can use that experience as a baseline when you’re starting out.
But what happens if you don’t know what to do or if you’re stuck?
It can be extremely frustrating and it happens more often than you may think.
If you’re stuck, you need to find help. Now I’m not saying that you need to constantly email your supervising associate or partner if you come across a question on your matter. They are busy and you don’t want to come across as being overly annoying.
But if you’re unclear about any aspect of your assigned project, you absolutely need to escalate your concerns to an associate or partner.
Sit down with them, explain what you’ve done so far, where you’re stuck, and importantly, how you think you can overcome the roadblock. Show your supervisor that you’ve thought about ways to find your answer instead of simply going up to them and asking for further instructions.
Also, ensure that you’re bringing all of your questions at once to your supervisor rather than asking them piecemeal questions. It’s more efficient and they will thank you for it.
As an aside, it’s also critical to be clear on how many billable hours that your partner expects on a discrete research project. If you’re billing too much time, clients will complain, and it will cause headaches for your partner. Just reach out to partners if you feel like you’re approaching a threshold but still need more time to research.
Ultimately, the operative word here is communication. Don’t inundate your supervisors with emails or calls, but make sure they are aware of your progress on your projects. If you think of treating them like your clients, you’ll do well.
4. Take Ownership of Your Career
In Big Law, it’s not impossible to come in, do your work, reach your minimum billable hour threshold, and then repeat next year.
I’m not saying you can coast—Big Law is challenging and the job requires much of your time. But if you just want to be an “average” Big Law attorney and stay put for just a couple years, you can do that.
Sure, you’ll eventually reach a crossroads where you’ll either be eligible for partnership or will be essentially forced to move on. But you can still last quite awhile, as long as you adequately complete your work and don’t quit.
The reality, however, is that it’s absolutely critical to take ownership of your career.
This goes back to the first point—what are your goals?
If your goal is to become a partner at your firm, you need to establish the foundation right now. Make yourself known not only within your practice group but within the firm itself. Find mentors outside your firm’s mentorship program. Think about working with a partner to publish articles, but acknowledge that you should keep this non-billable work to a minimum. While it may be a little too early, consider joining one of your firm’s committees in the near future.
You want to be known as a dedicated associate who (1) does a great job with your work, (2) hits your minimum billable hours count every year, and (3) has a genuine interest in contributing to the firm outside of your normal role.
On the flip side, there’s nothing wrong if you don’t envision yourself staying at the firm for your entire career. Just acknowledge this fact and take ownership so that you can prepare for your next steps.
If you want to eventually transition out of Big Law and become an in-house attorney, that’s great! Try to attend networking events and meet as many in-house attorneys as you can.
If you want to transition out of Big Law and try something completely different—as I currently am—that’s OK too. Just work on saving as much money as you can, networking with individuals outside the legal industry, and planning your escape.
All of this is assuming that you’ll continue to deliver great work. This is an absolute requirement even if you won’t stay at your firm forever. You’ll want to leave your firm in the good graces of your colleagues, no matter what you do.
And this segues into the last point for this section:
Don’t lose the connections you’ve made in law school.
Many older attorneys regret that they’ve failed to maintain these relationships, not only for personal reasons but because law school classmates can become future clients.
Don’t make this same mistake. Keep in touch with your classmates, whether it’s through LinkedIn or even through annual coffee meetings. You never know where you (or your friends) will be in the next ten or twenty years.
5. Don’t Ignore Your Physical and Mental Health
You probably know by now, but Big Law life isn’t necessarily great for your health.
It’s a difficult subject to discuss and it could also result in a separate essay.
But for the sake of simplicity, just recognize that as a Big Law associate, you must pay very close attention to your physical and mental health.
Physical Health
As for your physical health, it’s surprisingly easy to prioritize your work over physical health. You can order Seamless for every meal and find an excuse to avoid exercise if you’ve pulling all-nighters at the office.
And I’m not even mentioning alcohol or drug abuse, which are problems in Big Law.
So how do you handle these challenges?
First, I’d highly recommend developing a daily workout routine, whether it’s a quick run, lifting weights, or even yoga. If you have to wake up early to do this, so be it. By making this investment in the morning, you’ll feel better and will ultimately be more productive for the day.
Along with this, mind your diet. I’m not saying you can’t snack or eat desserts; rather, make an extra effort to avoid foods that will reduce your energy or will make you feel like garbage one hour later.
Next, think about asking your firm if they can provide you with a standing desk. Regardless of whether sitting is the new smoking, I think it can be a good way to increase your energy throughout the day.
Finally, if you feel like you have a problem with alcohol or drug abuse, get help. You’re not alone and it shows massive courage to recognize that you have a problem and that you need help.
Mental Health
Mental health is an entirely different matter. I don’t feel qualified to speak about this that much.
That said, it’s clear that many Big Law lawyers struggle with their mental health. Anxiety and depression are common.
Partners (and clients) can be demanding, and as a first-year associate, you’re at the bottom of the ladder.
My advice would be (1) don’t take criticism personally; (2) seriously consider a regular meditation practice, and (3) get help if you need it.
Not everyone can deal with the mental pressure and that’s OK. Big Law isn’t for everyone and it absolutely does not mean that you won’t be successful doing something else. There’s no shame in realizing that this isn’t for you.
As you’re just starting out, recognize that you’re about to work in a challenging environment where you’re always expected to be on call. At this point in your career, you’re being paid more for your availability than your ability.
If you aren’t happy with how your life is going, you need to seriously consider leaving. It simply isn’t worth it if you’re going to work sad, depressed, or discouraged about your future.