What are most lawyers first job like?

Answer 1

Pretty lowly for the most part, but the variety is possibly wider than you imagined. We're not talking the top top 1% of the top top law schools who get plum jobs for $150++K and get worked like horses 80+ hours a week.... Instead, we could be talking $30-40K on a good day in a lot of places.

Most first jobs as an attorney can be in a public (government or charity) law office or clinic, or private firm, maybe handling small matters under a partner's watchful eye, doing bits and pieces of things. Or you can be thrown right into the thick of things and have to sink or swim. It has a lot to do with the philosophy of the people you're working for: a lot of hand holding to make sure the client is taken care of and the neophyte attorney learns properly, or throw them to the lions! Very few attorneys who practice law can simply hang up a shingle anymore, unless they come to the situation with enough business from friends and family to form a "core" book.

Then again there are a lot of attorneys who decide they just wanted the law degree (either on its own or as an adjunct to something else) and find a non-"law" job where their legal degree (and bar admission) is a plus. It could be in a bank, or health care company, or some other corporation that does not practice law itself but hires staff attorneys.