Coping in the Legal Field

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Hello everyone,

I have Asperger's and am in the legal field, and if you are in a similar position I would love to have your take on avoiding burnout and choosing an area within the legal field that we are better able to handle. Any input is very much appreciated.

Thank you!
Samuel

I doubt I will be much help but I am a current attorney and a diagnosed aspie. There are two ways to make it as an attorney: 1)be a rainmaker (law is a service industry, partners expect associates to eventually bring in business. If you don't, you will be culled. Simple as that. Most Aspies can not do this, so they will have a very short life span.) the one exception is to be a true expert in your field but good luck showing this if you never get the job in the first place.
Another important point is that the legal market is oversaturated as is. It is estimated that fewer than 50% of new attorneys get jobs in the first place. Most do not last 5 years. My only advice is to get out while you are still young. I am doing doc review and working on a BS.

Thanks Caugustus, that's a good point. The whole 'rainmaker' thing is totally a case of 'who-you-know-and-not-what-you-know' that I find so objectionable.

Yes, as with most Aspies, I would not be a rainmaker in that sense. But I wonder if there is any way to position oneself where you can make a living without requiring that, especially since the legal education was pretty expensive and they don't exactly offer to give you your money back, lol.

Oh that is a bit depressing. I have just started studying law.

I agree about rainmaking being essential if you're going to be with a law firm long term. But plenty of lawyers work in jobs that don't require client management. I did a few years in a law firm, but I knew from the start it wouldn't be a good fit for me (rainmaker I am not). I ended up as a government tax attorney, which has been great.

As for an area where you won't get burned out, that really depends on your interests. If you are a more technically minded thinker, areas like tax, patent law, appellate research and so on could be a good fit. But that's not to say you can't be successful in areas that require more interaction with people -- I work with an aspie who is a great trial lawyer.

Hi Allesi, I sympathize with your predicament. I got into law because I've always been passionate about basic principles of "justice" and I did really well on the aptitude test (LSAT), but I quickly found out in law school that fundamental principles of justice and basic fairness were really not the focus, the focus being much more the technical aspects of applying pre-existing laws, regulations, and precedent. Having said that, I'm still optimistic that I may be able to find a sub-area of practice I can be interested in and that may suit me, but figuring this out in practice has proven to be more complicated than I expected.

Hi Kritie, thanks for the input. Tax law is not interesting for me, but I'd be interested in Patent Law, however they seem to want people with engineering degrees for that, while my technical background is limited more to computer science. Appellate practice/research is something I have thought about, and it appeals to me because it's more 'logical' as opposed to trial practice, which is more about charming (or annoying) the crap out of people, grandstanding, etc.

I'm also very interested in Human Rights but am not sure a living could be made out of that, and I do need to make some money since I'm not independently wealthy, lol. (I may still get into that because it really interests me.) Due Process Civil Rights is another area that interests me, but I don't know any attorneys doing that, and I need to find someone I can talk to in that area.

Hey SamuelM,

You're right, appellate work is very logical/cerebral. It also requires relatively less human interaction -- one of the guys I know who used to do it is very extroverted, and actually rented a downtown office to share with another lawyer because he couldn't take the home office isolation anymore. I also once met a person who is a federal criminal defense attorney, and does death penalty appellate research all day long. She doesn't do any trial work at all, just tons of research and writing.

I don't know anyone who works in human rights, but the plaintiff side of employment law is similar (fighting discrimination, etc). That might be a place to start if you're looking to network and see how to get into a related field, since there are a lot of lawyers out there who do that kind of work.

I will freely tell anybody that law is a bad idea (for NTs and Aspies alike) Do a quick google search for legal blogs and message boards to get an understanding of the legal economy. It is bad and mostly permanent. I do not exaggerate when I say less than 50% of new attorneys get jobs. (Even less can/will make a career) Top 10 JD and law review doesn't guarantee employment. I'm not going to say it is impossible but you need to make a honest assessment of your capabilities. Do you have the prestige, social skills and/or expertise to make it? If you do not have at least one of those qualifications (perhaps even 2), law will not be fruitful.
Kritie mentioned government employment. I am not sure when this job was obtained but these days they are all but impossible to get. Government work has great salary and benefits as well as the best work/life balance and the ability to work on cutting edge issues. This attracts the top applicants.
To do nothing but appellate work, it is all but essential do be on moot court and/ or obtain an appellate clerkship after graduation.