Money Is Time

For those of you who might not be aware, I just started a ten-week summer associateship at a top-notch law firm in downtown Boston. (For confidentiality reasons, I must be very vague in my description of the firm and cannot mention client matter at all.) I am being paid at the pro-rated annual salary amount for first-year associates at that firm. Again, I can't disclose the exact amount, but it's three times the amount of money I've made at any other job in my life.

Anyhow, the recent salary boost has introduced me to a very curious phenomenon. Up until now, my money was always worth more than my time. When given the option, I would just as soon do something myself, rather than pay someone to do it for me, since it just wasn't worth it. I would clean my own apartment, do my own laundry, shop for groceries myself, etc. Suddenly, however, with an influx of cash and a job that will tend to keep my busy and put my leisure time at a premium (though hopefully not eliminate it altogether), these services are worth thinking about.

Furthermore, for the first time in my life, I have a personal secretary. Okay, so she isn't personal, but she supports a very limited number of attorneys, so I can pretty much always count on her being available for me. In every office job and internship I've held so far, I would get an extremely nasty look if I asked someone to do my photocopying or send a fax for me or mail a letter or call IT to fix my computer. But at the firm, such delegation is not only allowed or encouraged, it's expected. I guess big firm lawyers need to spend their time doing actual legal work, rather than running a fax machine. If I were a client paying the hefty hourly rates that big firms charge, I'd demand nothing less. It will take some getting used to, and I treat my secretary with nothing but the utmost respect, but I feel like it will be a nice luxury.