我今年28岁，是一名公司律师，但说实话，我过得并不开心。

There is an entire cottage industry of law recruiters whose sole purpose is to help big law attorneys get out. You’re not alone in the struggle. My wife left a magic circle firm after 7 years during the pandemic after we had a kid to go to government and she has so much more time on her hands (true 9-5, flex days, doesn’t even take her phone on vacation etc.). I would echo what others have said here to stay until you can pay off loans while looking at public sector work.

Caveat: this will test your resolve because almost any switch out of firm life usually = less pay (probably by more than half of what you’re making now). I can say in the case of my family though, I wouldn’t trade the extra money for the time and emotional and physical health my wife got back.

Best of luck to you.

Have you considered becoming a prosecutor or public defender? Prosecutors represent the people and advocate for both victims and the accused. I’m not an attorney but my very liberal friend is a prosecutor. She has trial weeks, and has a big role in her office’s victim advocacy and community relations. An interesting fact she shared was that a prosecutor in a mid-sized office (not sure if that’s the term) exonerates more people in one month than a criminal defense attorney will in their entire career. Not sure the truth to those stats but I’ve always found it interesting. It can be a lot of work at times but she’s happy, has a ton of flexibility and was able to get all of her student loans paid off. I can’t speak to bring a public defender but that’s another option to help with student loans and feel fulfilled. The pay isn’t corporate law pay but it’s still pretty decent.

A long time ago I was in a similar situation. I didn't have loans and I had about a year of savings, but the hours were crushing me. I spent half of November and all of December grinding to hit my billable hours goal. I hit it, but decided I was working too hard to figure out how to get out. So I made my first ever New Year's resolution; I decided that if I hadn't figured something out in six months, I would just quit without a plan, which is what ended up happening.

I ended up in a completely different career path which I enjoyed quite a bit. I likely didn't make as much as I would have as a lawyer but I did well. I'm now retired. I wouldn't recommend this path with the debt you have, but it's at least something to think about.

I wouldn't be so down on your work. You are not "just making rich people and companies richer." Yes, that is the goal and frequently the effect of what you do. But the other effect is to help creating good and services that provide value to the public at large. You participate in the creation of efficient legal structures to allow things to be created and there's no shame in that.

I am in a similar boat as a corporate lawyer in Toronto. I am really optimistic about you being able to turn things around relatively soon since you’re relatively young.

The first thing I’d say is to focus on paying off your student loans as fast as you can. I know NYC is incredibly expensive so I would encourage you to stay at your job (if you can tolerate it) until you’re debt free, unless you are willing to move somewhere cheaper.

The second would be to figure out what you actually want to do. This part was incredibly challenging for me. I had given so much to my job that I truly did not think I had any passions, interests or hobbies. Depending where you are in this process, I would recommend the 2022 version of “what Color is your parachute” which has exercises for you to reflect more deeply on your values, strengths, interests and etc. You can skip the job search tips to go directly to the flower exercise / figuring out what you want to do.

Third is that it is possible to do meaningful work in law. I know a corporate lawyer who started out in private practice and then worked for war child (a humanitarian organization that help protect women and children). I’m not entirely sure how easy it is to find those opportunities but they do exist!

Look I get you want to be a shining beacon of hope and change people's lives and be a hero.

However there's the reality of that. First off to change people's lives and laws and everything in a meaningful way requires power and money and wealth and influence. Which you don't get working for the government or non-profit. You get by building powerful connections, holding charity functions, whatever high society thing happens because you need the money and the average person isn't paying attention. Some go-fund me's work out but the majority get no bites because people have their own bubbles and are busy and are in work grind mode and news places selectively choose what gives them the big ratings and drama and factors and are also controlled by the wealthy. So it's a circle.

Anyway that doom and gloom aside there's also the practicality. I have a couple lawyer friends in NY. One person did what you are purposing. They worked for the government in a child protective kind of lawyer job helping kids. He was barely making enough to live with someone on Staten island or NJ. 50kish a year for years. Then he went into someone's private practice up there for 70kish a year. Then he did a non profit to go be a hero on something 90k but that has a timeline end date. Once the mission is accomplished (which could be a year) you are out of a job. So it's back up on the horse and hunting and again that's not much money in NYC. So you are living in NJ or Staten Island and sharing likely with someone else as you probably got student loans and stuff to pay too. He's got a family and can't afford child care.

Yeah it's great being the hero but be the hero from a place of power and stability and not from a place where you can't do much, take other people's orders, have stress over finding jobs or can't provide for your loved ones fully.

You do you OP. This is just a tale from the other side. I am also happy I don't live in NYC. I know you guys say you have a beautiful city but I've been there so many times and it's always a pain to get around places.