“Paul Larsen, 34, works 60 hours a week as a lawyer at Ku, Fong, Larsen & Chen. To achieve this position, he earned a degree in economics from UC Berkeley, a Master’s in economics, and a UCLA law degree.
Was there anything that scared you when you first entered college?
Yes, there was an enormous change in lifestyle. I was going away and did not know what to expect, because I was leaving all of my friends and family behind and leaving to go to a whole new place. UC Berkeley is a huge place and very unforgiving, if you do not know what you want. But if you do know what you want, UC Berkeley is a great place because of the many resources that it has to offer.
Do you recommend students working while attending college? No, you really need to deal with all of your studying and time to yourself and having fun… If you spend all of your non-study time working, then college won’t be as enjoyable as it should be.
What was your grade point average as you went through your undergraduate and graduate studies? When I was an undergraduate, I maintained an overall GPA of 3.5. While trying to complete my masters, I received about a 3.7. And in law school, I was in the top ten percentile.
How tough is law school?
For me, law school was not too difficult. One thing I can tell you is that there is a lot to do. The biggest difficulty is getting all of the work done. You really have to absorb an enormous amount of information.
Was it hard to get a job after law school?
No, because when I graduated, there was a great demand for students graduating from high-ranking law schools, which UCLA is. At UCLA, there was a program, in which many law firms would come and interview students to work for them—sort of like a recruitment. In fact, that is how I got my first job as a lawyer.
Why are lawyers stereotyped as obnoxious crooks? …Many lawyers believe that being hyper-agressive and obnoxious gets you some place. To be quite honest, there are clients out there that believe that if they have an obnoxious lawyer who is assertive, even when it is not appropriate, is good. I think it is counter-productive.
How tough was the bar exam? It was not too difficult in terms of what you need to know. But it is a very horrible, grueling, test-taking procedure which takes 3 days.
Is it crucial to go to a good law school to get hired by a good firm? It is not essential, but …by and large, it is very difficult to go to a small school and get hired by a big firm. There are so many law students that pass the bar exam every year and, in order for the big firms to cut down and pick out potential good lawyers, the look to the bigger, well-known schools with good reputations.
Going by industry numbers, how much would a lawyer graduating from law school be earning?
It would vary considerably. The numbers I have seen is that one of the local big firms starts off their first-year associates at $85,000 a year, and it goes up from there. Smaller firms would start their associates around $40,000. There are many wealthy lawyers out there.
Is it true that first-year associates have to bill—not work—at least 2,000 hours a year? Yes. And it is very tiresome. Sometimes you have to work weekends and nights and it is really tiring.
How long was your longest day in the office?
7 a.m. ’til 5 a.m. the next day.
Is there a demand for lawyers and how is the outlook for the future?
There will always be a surplus of lawyers, but also a shortage of good lawyers. Since the economy is growing, there will always be a need for lawyers.
What advice would you give to students thinking about becoming lawyers?
Law is not for everybody. There are a number of people who think they want to become lawyers, and there are a number of people who have law degrees and do not practice law and that number is increasing daily. By and large, being a lawyer is very stressful and requires a lot of hours. And it is not a 9-to-5 type of job. It is much more demanding.
People think they want to be lawyers because they watch Perry Mason. I’d say, “Think again.” I’ve known lots of people who went to law school because their parents wanted them to. Lots of people were political science majors, went to law school and are not happy now. I would strongly recommend having as broad a liberal eduation as you can.”