[MRM]

I strongly recommend the public sector. I started out as a young prosecutor, spent almost three years in that office and joined a big firm, got tired of that, joined an in-house insurance irm, got tired of that and "borrowed" a client and started my own firm. Starting or finishing a career by being a public defender or prosecutor is a great idea.

I strongly encourage the young lady in question to go to law school if she wants to be a lawyer. (BTW, the right answer to the question suggested to be posed to her as a qualifying test is "because I really want to be a lawyer".) Many people have wonderful, rewarding careers as lawyers. Starting out as a public defender or prosecutor gives excellent experience that is readily transferable to private practice and it is well accepted that young public service lawyers will transfer to private firms sometime betwen their second and fifth year out of school. That time will give her the experience necessary for her to decide where to go next and consider the type of law she wants to practice. And it just might be that she'll want to stay in the public sector.

Big firm work, even at 2000 hours a year isn't so bad as long as you maintain a perspective and don't psych tourself out. But if you're the type of person that obsesses over the competetive disadvantage that comes from missing one question on the LSAT and losing out on 1 LSAT point, then you're going to be too tightly wound to last at a big firm because you'll burn yourself out. But then you'd probably burn yourself out anywhere.