Last Week on LinkedIn

May 3-9, 2021

This past week was Well-Being Week In Law (formerly Lawyer Well-Being Week). I found myself doing a lot of reflection on Biglaw and the financing it took to get there. I also noticed a thought-provoking trend among my clients, you may have noticed too. 

If you took some time away from LinkedIn this past week, keep reading for the posts you may have missed and some of my favorite comments to go along.    

Connect with me anytime Jessica Medina Linkedin

Wednesday, May 5, 2021 - Biglaw Looking Back

Were your Biglaw years a burden or an opportunity? Biglaw gets a lot of flack for how overwhelming, stressful, unfulfilling, and frankly soul-sucking it can be, but it’s more than that. It can be the golden opportunity that opens the door to the most fulfilling life you could imagine. My life’s purpose is showing my clients how.

My years in Biglaw started out on the overwhelming side, but I was also a brand spanking new attorney and just excited that someone wanted to pay me to think all day.

After four years at Express, I was ready for one of those office jobs!

But then I remembered that I wanted to go into public service. And all the pro bono hours didn’t scratch that itch for me. 

And I got a little resentful.

I was mad that my student loan payment ate up so much of my salary, mad that living in DC involved NYC prices without the NYC benefits, and mad that I now felt trapped in this situation I had created.

But this “situation” also set the foundation for the life I have now. 

(Padding my retirement account early certainly helped!)

I left Biglaw for the SEC and developed a love of personal finance, then I left law entirely.

And now I get to help lawyers take advantage of their own golden opportunities, so they can lead their most fulfilling life. 

Worth it!

Thursday, April 6, 2021 - Refinancing Student Loans

When did you finally decide to refinance your federal student loans? I graduated law school with over $200,000 in student loan debt and some of my clients have even more, so I see this all the time. And with student loan debt relief coming to an end, it’s a hot topic. So for those of you who decided to go the refinance route, what helped you make the decision?

The vast majority of my loans were private (I’m so old Grad Plus loans didn’t even exist yet!). And my federal loans were consolidated at 1.75% (sorry!) so this decision wasn’t really hard for me.

But it sure is for my clients.

Some of them have federal loans with interest rates well above 7%.

Some have been paying for years and now have a loan balance that exceeds what they originally borrowed.

So the question of whether they should do something different when relief ends weighs heavy.

There’s all kinds of financial (and life) scenarios to consider and I wrote a series of blog posts about student loan repayment strategies, specifically one discussing When To Refinance Your Federal Student Loans (link in comments), but hearing other’s stories is so different than just running numbers.

My clients and I work through the options together, but for everyone else out there, tell us your refinance story!

Friday, May 7, 2021 - Restless with BigLaw

There’s something in the air. Maybe it’s the looming return to the office or the fact that Spring is here but nothing feels normal. Because I’ve been hearing from folks who are desperate to leave their Biglaw lives. (Like, more than the typical amount of desperate!)

I generally help clients with two types of Biglaw exits: (1) slow and steady or (2) fast and furious. (I’ll show you the consequences of both so you can decide for yourself.)

And the fast and furious requests are on the rise.

Health issues from the past are rearing their ugly heads again.

The thought of even one more year in a job they don’t love -- a job that demands all of them -- feels like too much.

Maybe in a year where everything changed, it’s hard to go back as if nothing’s changed.

Maybe you’re different now and unwilling to settle for something less.

And at the end of Lawyer Wellness Week, it seems fitting to make sure we’re paying attention.

Is it just me or is there an uptick in restlessness?