The big question is always on our mind when it comes to our future occupation, which should we pursue? When we are very young, our parents and uncle Jeff (Who was my special uncle) used to periodically ask us - "What we would like to do when we grow up?" 

I always replied that I want to stay a kid and play, no one took me seriously, my older brother's wish to become a doctor was more rewarding to the crowd of loving adults. Some children do achieve their so-called naïve goal and some, keep searching for the elusive "holly grail job" to a late age. Our schooling system was designed to produce doctors, physicists, chemists and tons of politicians, this suppressed many adolescents with the passion for creative arts, such as dancing, singing, painting etc..

Even-though things are slowly shifting in our educational system, many still choose to make it big as Real Estate Agents, Real Estate Lawyers, Doctors and more. Taking-on either one of those professions is considered to be reputable, which is part of the reason our parents and uncle "Jeff" were hoping you'd reply with at least one on that list.

Fast forward to today's work-game-field, the options are more diverse. As our advances in science grow hand in hand with our humanism, we will see more options added to the variety of occupations. There are types of jobs that go extinct of-course, but not without allowing more to take their place. Lawyers and Real Estate Agents are still around and no sign of them fading away in the horizon....yet.

In Forbes magazine there was an article about the 10 happiest jobs in America. Their findings were based on the analysis from more than 65,000 employee-generated reviews in 2012 done by Career Bliss.

They factored their results based on questions about:

• work environment
• job resources
• compensation
• growth opportunities
• company culture
• company reputation
• daily tasks
• relationship with the boss
• relationship with the co-workers

The results were interesting, the happiest were not veterinarians nor lawyers, but Real Estate agents. The job is rewarding for those in the realty field, even-though some make only 50k per year, they are content and happy with their profession. 

Senior quality assurance engineers are the second on the list of blissful-nation. Their job requirements are way more demanding than that of real estate peeps but still, they say their work is very rewarding. Senior sales representative come third on the list, with the simple explanation - flexible work hours, rewarding work environment, being able to control what you do and how much money you make.

Where are lawyers on the list? can you make a guess? Well, regrettably associate attorneys are the unhappiest, they share the bottom-of-the-pool with marketing coordinators, legal assistants and customer service associates.

These members of the "gloomier list", are subject to the type of work culture that increasingly demanding not fulfilling in addition, level of reward is low and the opportunities to be promoted are limited or nonexistent. Not the best option in my opinion but, for lawyers, the opportunity to become a partner and make increasingly more money is available. The associate attorney will rise to the rank of partner after a few years of experience in the court rooms, but not anymore.

In today’s legal filed, it has become the “business “of law. At large law firms, junior associates work extremely long hours, with dozens of case files dumped on their desks.

Associates today, are pressured to submit “Billable” hours well in excess of 200 hours/per month. “Billable” hours are actual, tabulated, intense and productive hours of legal work, suitable for sending to the client in a Monthly Invoice. But fifty (50)”Billable” hours in one week generally means spending 70 to 80 hours at the law firm that week. One retired lawyer I know recalls spending both Saturday and Sunday at the office. But the worst thing that he recalls is arriving at the office on a Saturday morning, planning to really dig into cases ”X”, “Y” and “Z”, only to find his chair overflowing with a stack of new case files!

But nowadays, after 4 or 5 years of slaving away as a Junior Associate, law firms do not offer partnership, unless the Associate can bring a “Book” of business (a bunch of clients) to the law firm. With one young lawyer we know, who did make partner, it was not so much that he had a lot of “Billable” hours……instead, his advantage was that he had a lot of “Billable Relatives”, meaning clients that he could bring into the law firm’s business, and that would remain loyal to him.

So, meanwhile, if partnership is not in the cards, you would at least think that the associate could trade onward, working hard, submitting “Billable” hours, and helping to make the law firm profitable. But no, law firms figure that it would be more economical to hire first-year associate, at a lower pay rate, than it would be to pay Senior Associate, at an elevated pay rate.
So the Senior Associate, is simply “let go”, meaning fired.

It also seems that the process of listing, showing, and selling a house, is “cleaner” and more pleasant than the litigation process of Court Hearings, Deadlines, Depositions, Discovery and Trials. So many aspects of litigation are tedious and aggressive for both the attorney and the client.

With written Discovery and Motion Practice, it’s generally not all clear if any progress is being made. Sometimes it seems to be like the American author Failkner wrote ”Sound and Fury, signifying nothing.”

At least in Real Estate, you always know where you stand – have there been offers? Did the house pass inspection? Are the prospective Buyers qualified to get a mortgage? Had the house been sold? Has escrow closed?

Combining the two occupations - law and real estate, could be one of the most effective ways to make your life, as a lawyer, more rewarding. Real Estate Lawyers, especially those in Los Angeles, can build a practice that is rewarding for themselves and their employees.