When I was a young lawyer, I worked on a busy case with lots of lawyers in all different practice environments. One of the guys was an HLS grad from the 60s who had completely hopped off the prestige train. /1

He had a solo practice in a midsize city and wore jeans whenever possible, even to client meetings. The guy was very smart, but also a bit eccentric and tended to ramble. At 25, I was deeply confused by him. At 35, I totally get it. /2

Prestige used to matter a lot to me. I was smart and ambitious and good at following rules, and I wanted the shiny gold stars to prove it. The older I get and the farther away from prestige I wander, though, the less it matters to me. /3

I've seen a lot of talk lately about law jobs and prestige and whatnot. I hope that for many of the newly admitted lawyers here, you come to the same realization: prestige doesn't taste nearly as good as happiness does, whatever form that happiness takes. 4/4