Lawyers: What's Your Typical Day? Forum

[Anonymous User]

In-house counsel at a fortune 35 company. Healthcare transactions.

[Ricky-Bobby]

In-house counsel at a fortune 35 company. Healthcare transactions.

Would love to read about your day. Did you do a stint in biglaw before going in-house, or did you get there through some other means?

[Anonymous User]

In-house counsel at a fortune 35 company. Healthcare transactions.

Would love to read about your day. Did you do a stint in biglaw before going in-house, or did you get there through some other means?

I will give a rundown of my day when I'm not bogged down. I got hired as a summer intern here between 1L and 2L. Supposedly for 10 weeks but I basically hung on for dear life. They kept me on and during school I worked part time here and did school full time and wept a lot. Each summer I would be full time and then after the bar I started really pushing to get an offer. Took some time, but I was officially hired on about 6 months after taking the bar exam.

[Anonymous User]

In-house counsel at a fortune 35 company. Healthcare transactions.

Would love to read about your day. Did you do a stint in biglaw before going in-house, or did you get there through some other means?

7:00am- commute while responding to emails.
7:30-at the office, usually start with a barrage of emails, determine if I have special project I am working on. If so, I'll work on that, if not, I move into turning over contracts.
8:00am-10:30am is usually contract review, including creating issue memos, calling issues out for business, reviewing for regulatory compliance issues, possible business risks, risky pricing structures, etc. If there are issues that need further review from different departments, I send those out, and start redlining what I can.

10:30am-11:00am meeting to review a large contract review project I worked on or getting additional information about a requested contract.

11:05-11:45 -getting lunch and running an errand if at all possible.

11:45-noon- read the internet.

12-1pm- client management, emails, explaining why we can't enter into certain fee structures, etc.

1pm-3pm- redlining, research, providing feedback on issues to higher level attorneys, reviewing one or two agreements I had a paralegal work on.

4:00pm- Meeting with more senior attorneys to field potential issues and work on client management. This isn't super common for my work as a whole, but one of my client sectors is basically going rogue so we are trying to herd cats on a daily basis.

5:00pm- go home, apologize to my dog, feed him organic raw food to try and bribe him into forgetting I leave all day. I have a dog walker but I still feel bad.

I respond to emails if they come in, until I go to sleep. Usually I work one or two nights a week at home, and on average, about 5 or so hours over the weekend. Sometimes more, sometimes less.

I am very lucky to have this job. It was, and is, my dream job.

[Ricky-Bobby]

In-house counsel at a fortune 35 company. Healthcare transactions.

Would love to read about your day. Did you do a stint in biglaw before going in-house, or did you get there through some other means?

7:00am- commute while responding to emails.
7:30-at the office, usually start with a barrage of emails, determine if I have special project I am working on. If so, I'll work on that, if not, I move into turning over contracts.
8:00am-10:30am is usually contract review, including creating issue memos, calling issues out for business, reviewing for regulatory compliance issues, possible business risks, risky pricing structures, etc. If there are issues that need further review from different departments, I send those out, and start redlining what I can.

10:30am-11:00am meeting to review a large contract review project I worked on or getting additional information about a requested contract.

11:05-11:45 -getting lunch and running an errand if at all possible.

11:45-noon- read the internet.

12-1pm- client management, emails, explaining why we can't enter into certain fee structures, etc.

1pm-3pm- redlining, research, providing feedback on issues to higher level attorneys, reviewing one or two agreements I had a paralegal work on.

4:00pm- Meeting with more senior attorneys to field potential issues and work on client management. This isn't super common for my work as a whole, but one of my client sectors is basically going rogue so we are trying to herd cats on a daily basis.

5:00pm- go home, apologize to my dog, feed him organic raw food to try and bribe him into forgetting I leave all day. I have a dog walker but I still feel bad.

I respond to emails if they come in, until I go to sleep. Usually I work one or two nights a week at home, and on average, about 5 or so hours over the weekend. Sometimes more, sometimes less.

I am very lucky to have this job. It was, and is, my dream job.

Thank you for this, and congrats. It does sound like a great gig.

[Anonymous User]

I'd love to hear from any government attorneys, fed or state. Thanks to everyone who has already posted, this thread is awesome.

I work as an attorney at an independent federal agency in DC. It's a unique agency since in some ways it is basically a company and does not receive funding from the taxpayers, which means no sequestration. I was surprised by how similar the work of the person who is in-house seems to be to mine. Here's my day:

9:00: Start checking and responding to emails on my blackberry as I commute to work. Many at the office get in (and then leave) earlier then me, so there's usually a bunch of emails to get through.

9:30-10:00: Get in to the office and respond to more emails. Log on to our case management system to look at the status of my cases and see whether the finance people have added their analysis. Read the news clips compiled by Bloomberg that relate our agency and the field we regulate. Also read the NYTimes etc both for things that relate to the agency and just general news.

10:00-12:00: Work on legal research or writing memos and decision letters relating to my cases. Email finance people about why they haven't yet completed their analysis when the deadline is coming up at the end of the week (this is basically a daily occurrence).

12-12:30: Eat lunch either out or in my office.

12:30-12:45: Read random blogs and check personal email or grab Starbucks.

12:45-1: Prepare for meetings that will begin at 1

1:00-2:00: Interdepartmental meeting to review a purchase by a private equity fund of a company that is within our regulatory field. Discuss legal aspects with the finance people and decide next steps. Other days this time can be used to catch up on the status of cases with my team and supervisor.

2:00-3:00: Continue doing legal research or writing memos/decision letters regarding my cases.

3:00-4:00: Provide legal support to internal client on a conference call with an entity that we regulate and would like to see change its behavior.

4:00-5:00: Do client management and make phone calls to counsel representing the regulated entities to request additional info.

5:00-6:00: Review and edit memo from finance people (usually heavy editing required) or other attorneys on my team (minor editing required).

6:00-6:30: Work on my cases and get those credit hours (another gov't person discussed what these are earlier in the thread)

6:30: Go home and answer emails as they come in until around 9 at which point there is no expectation to answer until the next morning. About once or twice a month when there is a big transaction I will have to work from 6:30-midnight either at home or in the office on writing memos or providing legal support to the finance team. Get lots of credit hours on those days. Around once every two months or so I will need to work on a weekend in order to meet some crazy deadline, and then I usually get a whole vacation day full of credit hours/comp time from one weekend. My agency also pays overtime (benefit of being self-funded), but I almost always take the credit hours or comp time instead.

[beepboopbeep]

I work as an attorney at an independent federal agency in DC. It's a unique agency since in some ways it is basically a company and does not receive funding from the taxpayers, which means no sequestration.

If I can ask, how did you come into this gig? Had you interned with the agency before/during law school? Did you go to a firm first and do similar work, then transition in? If you feel more comfortable answering via PM, I'd love to hear either way (in fact, I'd be curious to pick you brain about it either way, if you've got the time and inclination to talk to a 1L), but no worries if not.

In any case, thanks for posting!

[Total Litigator]

I work as an attorney at an independent federal agency in DC. It's a unique agency since in some ways it is basically a company and does not receive funding from the taxpayers, which means no sequestration.

If I can ask, how did you come into this gig? Had you interned with the agency before/during law school? Did you go to a firm first and do similar work, then transition in? If you feel more comfortable answering via PM, I'd love to hear either way (in fact, I'd be curious to pick you brain about it either way, if you've got the time and inclination to talk to a 1L), but no worries if not.

In any case, thanks for posting!

I am curious about this as well, did you end up PM'ing beepboopbeep? I also work for a fed gov agency, but I think I know which one you work for, and I am interested in finding out the backgrounds they look for and how people come to work there.

[Anonymous User]

I work as an attorney at an independent federal agency in DC. It's a unique agency since in some ways it is basically a company and does not receive funding from the taxpayers, which means no sequestration.

If I can ask, how did you come into this gig? Had you interned with the agency before/during law school? Did you go to a firm first and do similar work, then transition in? If you feel more comfortable answering via PM, I'd love to hear either way (in fact, I'd be curious to pick you brain about it either way, if you've got the time and inclination to talk to a 1L), but no worries if not.

In any case, thanks for posting!

I am curious about this as well, did you end up PM'ing beepboopbeep? I also work for a fed gov agency, but I think I know which one you work for, and I am interested in finding out the backgrounds they look for and how people come to work there.

I got the job straight out of law school (I was around top 1/3 at a CCN, if that matters), although I did not intern at the agency I work at now. I did a paid internship at a different federal agency my 2L summer and an unpaid one 1L (I'd always wanted to work in FedGov), but because this was during the massive budget cut era, they did not have the funding to hire me. I ended up applying to pretty much every government agency I could find online and ended up with two offers. Still not sure why the agency I ended up at picked me given that I had zero experience in the subject area. I think it must have been a combination of school and grades together with clear commitment to working in government. I picked this agency mostly because I did not want to deal with Congressional appropriations ever again, and it was a good move with the sequester and furloughs in other agencies which we have avoided.

At my agency, I'm actually one of very few people who were hired straight out of law school. The vast majority of people were hired after a few years in biglaw or a boutique firm in our subject matter area (it's one of the few areas of the law where the boutiques are more prominent than biglaw firms). We have very few attorneys come from other government agencies due to our unique area of the law, with one major exception being a cabinet level department that does relevant work.

[Total Litigator]

I work as an attorney at an independent federal agency in DC. It's a unique agency since in some ways it is basically a company and does not receive funding from the taxpayers, which means no sequestration.

If I can ask, how did you come into this gig? Had you interned with the agency before/during law school? Did you go to a firm first and do similar work, then transition in? If you feel more comfortable answering via PM, I'd love to hear either way (in fact, I'd be curious to pick you brain about it either way, if you've got the time and inclination to talk to a 1L), but no worries if not.

In any case, thanks for posting!

I am curious about this as well, did you end up PM'ing beepboopbeep? I also work for a fed gov agency, but I think I know which one you work for, and I am interested in finding out the backgrounds they look for and how people come to work there.

I got the job straight out of law school (I was around top 1/3 at a CCN, if that matters), although I did not intern at the agency I work at now. I did a paid internship at a different federal agency my 2L summer and an unpaid one 1L (I'd always wanted to work in FedGov), but because this was during the massive budget cut era, they did not have the funding to hire me. I ended up applying to pretty much every government agency I could find online and ended up with two offers. Still not sure why the agency I ended up at picked me given that I had zero experience in the subject area. I think it must have been a combination of school and grades together with clear commitment to working in government. I picked this agency mostly because I did not want to deal with Congressional appropriations ever again, and it was a good move with the sequester and furloughs in other agencies which we have avoided.

At my agency, I'm actually one of very few people who were hired straight out of law school. The vast majority of people were hired after a few years in biglaw or a boutique firm in our subject matter area (it's one of the few areas of the law where the boutiques are more prominent than biglaw firms). We have very few attorneys come from other government agencies due to our unique area of the law, with one major exception being a cabinet level department that does relevant work.

Thanks so much for the follow-up. Im guessing FINRA lol. Top 1/3rd at CCN sounds about right for those jobs. Congrats on turning the internship into a full time gig.

[smallfirmassociate]

I think it's Postal Service, but whatev. I do have a question: Is your job one where you feel like you're practicing law, or do you feel like it's more or less a non-law type of 9-5? I'm not implying there is anything wrong with that -- actually a large portion of law students either know or will discover that they don't want to practice law in a firm setting. But in terms of having "clients," picking your work, motions practice, trials, negotiating settlements, all of those tasks: do you do any of them? I am thinking no, and that your work is giving opinions applying a regulatory scheme to fact patterns? Hell, I don't know, that's why I'm asking.

[Anonymous User]

Haha it is neither FINRA (which actually is not a federal agency but a non-profit) nor the Postal Service. In terms of its work, it is much closer to FINRA, but I don't want to say more since it will be obvious what agency it is.

In terms of practicing law, I think it depends on what you mean. If you are talking about the traditional lawyer on TV arguing in court all the time, then we definitely don't do that. But my title is Attorney and I work in a 50 person legal office. We do have clients (our internal finance groups) similar to the clients that an in-house counsel would have at a company. We do lots of settlement negotiations and motions practice. In fact the bulk of the work that isn't regulatory review is basically negotiating settlements with companies and funds and suing them if the negotiations fail (which then leads to discovery and motions practice before we ultimately settle 99% of the time). There hasn't been an actual trial since I've started here, but we have had some in the past and if one comes up and it involves one of the cases or transactions I'm staffed on, I will be working on it and supervising the biglaw firms we hire as outside counsel similar to an in house attorney. In terms of applying regulatory schemes to fact patterns, we actually have a separate group in the General Counsel's office that's considered or at least considers itself more "elite" than us that does that and other APA related stuff. I would die of boredom if I had to do their work--I apply regulations to actual transactions and cases.

I think it's Postal Service, but whatev. I do have a question: Is your job one where you feel like you're practicing law, or do you feel like it's more or less a non-law type of 9-5? I'm not implying there is anything wrong with that -- actually a large portion of law students either know or will discover that they don't want to practice law in a firm setting. But in terms of having "clients," picking your work, motions practice, trials, negotiating settlements, all of those tasks: do you do any of them? I am thinking no, and that your work is giving opinions applying a regulatory scheme to fact patterns? Hell, I don't know, that's why I'm asking.

[smallfirmassociate]

Thanks for the reply! I'd also kill self if I did regulatory opinions and the like all day long, but some people like that. I know an attorney (for a for-profit company) whose full-time job is to consult / pseudo-audit clients for compliance with the regulatory scheme of their specific, discrete industry. It's really mundane stuff. In my head, that's how a lot of agency federal jobs go, except on the investigation / enforcement side. Glad to hear that's not the case for you! Your gig sounds alright. If you don't mind providing more info, did you start as a GS-11 or thereabouts? Are there any special pay programs for attorneys, or are you just straight GS scale (or are you not on GS scale at all?).

[Anonymous User]

Thanks for the reply! I'd also kill self if I did regulatory opinions and the like all day long, but some people like that. I know an attorney (for a for-profit company) whose full-time job is to consult / pseudo-audit clients for compliance with the regulatory scheme of their specific, discrete industry. It's really mundane stuff. In my head, that's how a lot of agency federal jobs go, except on the investigation / enforcement side. Glad to hear that's not the case for you! Your gig sounds alright. If you don't mind providing more info, did you start as a GS-11 or thereabouts? Are there any special pay programs for attorneys, or are you just straight GS scale (or are you not on GS scale at all?).

Yep, unfortunately we are on the GS scale, although the topic of changing us to an FDIC-like scale comes up all the time but never seems to happen. Entry level starts at GS-11, Step-6 which is slightly higher than other Federal agencies. Promotions are rapid to GS-14, and then most people who are competent will get a 15 within 3 or 4 years of their 14. SES-equivalent positions are also there but much harder to get. The benefit of being self funded though is that we actually get pretty substantial bonuses and awards, which can actually get very high (for government) for people at the GS-14 or above range. Also, we get paid overtime (you choose either overtime or credit hours) and that can equal a good amount of money. The student loan repayment program is also much better then many other agencies. Plus we get bar membership and CLEs paid for, and there's the usual government public transit subsidy although if you're a 14 or higher you also get a parking spot paid for. Still, it is government.

It's not quite my dream job, which I realized pretty quickly upon graduating law school was not in the legal field, but can't complain too much. There's also really good exit options to firms (based on the number of people that leave and go to them) but I've managed to avoid that so far. There's plenty of negative things about my job, like endless bureaucracy and politics getting in the way of simple things, but the average day is pretty good.

[zugzwanger]

Anybody work in banking/finance transactions and care to share their experience?

[Anonymous User]

Anybody work in banking/finance transactions and care to share their experience?

I don't have time right now to do a full write-up, but its very close to the M&A write-up from earlier in this thread (http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 5#p7651355). The biggest difference are the documents that you're working with (commitment papers/credit agreement/security documents vs. merger agreement for example). If you represent the company/sponsor/borrower as a junior you will primarily be responsible for schedules and negotiating minor security/ancillary documents. If you represent the lender as a junior you will be reviewing the schedules and drafting and then negotiating the minor security/ancillary documents (unless sponsor's counsel holds the pen, which is becoming more common lately). As you get more senior and prove yourself you'll be allowed to do more things on your own and begin working on the more substantive documents (such as the commitment letter/term sheet and credit agreement). There's also typically diligence to do (much, much more if you're representing the buyer than the lender, since the buyer's counsel is typically responsible for preparing a diligence memo, whereas lender's counsel normally just reviews that/diligence room and bring red flags, if any, to the banks). Other stuff includes payoff documents (especially if you're representing an existing lender/agent being paid off), joinder/incremental documents (which come into play after a financing closes but then another acquisition occurs) and refinancings.

Caveat: I typically do just leveraged finance/high yield work, normally in connection with a sponsor's acquisition, so it's possible that some of the above items are not applicable for investment grade companies' financings. I'll let others confirm or speak to those.

[zugzwanger]

Anybody work in banking/finance transactions and care to share their experience?

I don't have time right now to do a full write-up, but its very close to the M&A write-up from earlier in this thread (http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 5#p7651355). The biggest difference are the documents that you're working with (commitment papers/credit agreement/security documents vs. merger agreement for example). If you represent the company/sponsor/borrower as a junior you will primarily be responsible for schedules and negotiating minor security/ancillary documents. If you represent the lender as a junior you will be reviewing the schedules and drafting and then negotiating the minor security/ancillary documents (unless sponsor's counsel holds the pen, which is becoming more common lately). As you get more senior and prove yourself you'll be allowed to do more things on your own and begin working on the more substantive documents (such as the commitment letter/term sheet and credit agreement). There's also typically diligence to do (much, much more if you're representing the buyer than the lender, since the buyer's counsel is typically responsible for preparing a diligence memo, whereas lender's counsel normally just reviews that/diligence room and bring red flags, if any, to the banks). Other stuff includes payoff documents (especially if you're representing an existing lender/agent being paid off), joinder/incremental documents (which come into play after a financing closes but then another acquisition occurs) and refinancings.

Caveat: I typically do just leveraged finance/high yield work, normally in connection with a sponsor's acquisition, so it's possible that some of the above items are not applicable for investment grade companies' financings. I'll let others confirm or speak to those.

Thanks much appreciated!

[lsatClay]

Recent law grad. Prosecutor in a territory of the United States. I've been working the traffic docket for the past month, and I've gradually been worked into the felony groups. I should be moving up to SBO soon.

I don't really have a typical day. Mornings I get ready for the upcoming weeks arraignments, evaluate case files, prepare plea offers, and communicate with defense attorneys.

During the lunch hour I usually go to the beach and go swimming, play volleyball, or just eat lunch on the beach. I often get in at 7:30 so I can take an extended lunch.

Afternoons I do whatever traffic stuff is left over and help out with the felony groups, covering for court appearances, doing legal research, doing intakes. Basically whatever is needed.

Usually out by 5:00. As long as I get my stuff done, I feel my boss doesn't really care when I'm in and when I leave. Sometimes I cut out early so I can go scuba diving or fishing before I go home. My boat is like a block from where I work, so it makes things easy.

[sundance95]

Any appellate litigators out there?

[sundance95]

Recent law grad. Prosecutor in a territory of the United States. I've been working the traffic docket for the past month, and I've gradually been worked into the felony groups. I should be moving up to SBO soon.

I don't really have a typical day. Mornings I get ready for the upcoming weeks arraignments, evaluate case files, prepare plea offers, and communicate with defense attorneys.

During the lunch hour I usually go to the beach and go swimming, play volleyball, or just eat lunch on the beach. I often get in at 7:30 so I can take an extended lunch.

Afternoons I do whatever traffic stuff is left over and help out with the felony groups, covering for court appearances, doing legal research, doing intakes. Basically whatever is needed.

Usually out by 5:00. As long as I get my stuff done, I feel my boss doesn't really care when I'm in and when I leave. Sometimes I cut out early so I can go scuba diving or fishing before I go home. My boat is like a block from where I work, so it makes things easy.

This sounds like it doesn't suck at all.

[Hutz_and_Goodman]

Recent law grad. Prosecutor in a territory of the United States. I've been working the traffic docket for the past month, and I've gradually been worked into the felony groups. I should be moving up to SBO soon.

I don't really have a typical day. Mornings I get ready for the upcoming weeks arraignments, evaluate case files, prepare plea offers, and communicate with defense attorneys.

During the lunch hour I usually go to the beach and go swimming, play volleyball, or just eat lunch on the beach. I often get in at 7:30 so I can take an extended lunch.

Afternoons I do whatever traffic stuff is left over and help out with the felony groups, covering for court appearances, doing legal research, doing intakes. Basically whatever is needed.

Usually out by 5:00. As long as I get my stuff done, I feel my boss doesn't really care when I'm in and when I leave. Sometimes I cut out early so I can go scuba diving or fishing before I go home. My boat is like a block from where I work, so it makes things easy.

What state is this?

[NYSprague]

^^^
He said its a territory. I doubt he will identify it. There are only a few.

[wert3813]

Recent law grad. Prosecutor in a territory of the United States. I've been working the traffic docket for the past month, and I've gradually been worked into the felony groups. I should be moving up to SBO soon.

I don't really have a typical day. Mornings I get ready for the upcoming weeks arraignments, evaluate case files, prepare plea offers, and communicate with defense attorneys.

During the lunch hour I usually go to the beach and go swimming, play volleyball, or just eat lunch on the beach. I often get in at 7:30 so I can take an extended lunch.

Afternoons I do whatever traffic stuff is left over and help out with the felony groups, covering for court appearances, doing legal research, doing intakes. Basically whatever is needed.

Usually out by 5:00. As long as I get my stuff done, I feel my boss doesn't really care when I'm in and when I leave. Sometimes I cut out early so I can go scuba diving or fishing before I go home. My boat is like a block from where I work, so it makes things easy.

What state is this?

Not a state if I read correctly, right?

Care to share how much you make relative to cost of living? Also if any other non-federal prosecutors want to share I would love to hear it. Not to refute this guy, or anything, I just would just love to hear from some people who are in more traditional offices/cities.

[lsatClay]

Recent law grad. Prosecutor in a territory of the United States. I've been working the traffic docket for the past month, and I've gradually been worked into the felony groups. I should be moving up to SBO soon.

I don't really have a typical day. Mornings I get ready for the upcoming weeks arraignments, evaluate case files, prepare plea offers, and communicate with defense attorneys.

During the lunch hour I usually go to the beach and go swimming, play volleyball, or just eat lunch on the beach. I often get in at 7:30 so I can take an extended lunch.

Afternoons I do whatever traffic stuff is left over and help out with the felony groups, covering for court appearances, doing legal research, doing intakes. Basically whatever is needed.

Usually out by 5:00. As long as I get my stuff done, I feel my boss doesn't really care when I'm in and when I leave. Sometimes I cut out early so I can go scuba diving or fishing before I go home. My boat is like a block from where I work, so it makes things easy.

What state is this?

Not a state if I read correctly, right?

Care to share how much you make relative to cost of living? Also if any other non-federal prosecutors want to share I would love to hear it. Not to refute this guy, or anything, I just would just love to hear from some people who are in more traditional offices/cities.

COL is pretty cheap out here. I've had no issues saving half my salary.

[lsatClay]

Recent law grad. Prosecutor in a territory of the United States. I've been working the traffic docket for the past month, and I've gradually been worked into the felony groups. I should be moving up to SBO soon.

I don't really have a typical day. Mornings I get ready for the upcoming weeks arraignments, evaluate case files, prepare plea offers, and communicate with defense attorneys.

During the lunch hour I usually go to the beach and go swimming, play volleyball, or just eat lunch on the beach. I often get in at 7:30 so I can take an extended lunch.

Afternoons I do whatever traffic stuff is left over and help out with the felony groups, covering for court appearances, doing legal research, doing intakes. Basically whatever is needed.

Usually out by 5:00. As long as I get my stuff done, I feel my boss doesn't really care when I'm in and when I leave. Sometimes I cut out early so I can go scuba diving or fishing before I go home. My boat is like a block from where I work, so it makes things easy.

What state is this?

Not a state if I read correctly, right?

Care to share how much you make relative to cost of living? Also if any other non-federal prosecutors want to share I would love to hear it. Not to refute this guy, or anything, I just would just love to hear from some people who are in more traditional offices/cities.

I live pretty well. My house has a pool, I co-own a boat, etc, and I usually spend about $1500 a month. Student loan payments make my total expendature approach 2 1/4k.

Not to say that its all good. The police here are really subpar in terms of writing reports, preparing cases, etc. The defense attorneys and judges are really hit or miss. Some are great and some just incompetent. It sucks working with incompetent people sometimes.
Our support is weak. I've played the role of an attorney, an investigator, a paralegal, and even a AC repairman. We have a real beat up office building. It took three months to process the paperwork to get my first paycheck. It took a month for them to buy me an AC. (After I failed at fixing it).
If you are culinary inclined, you may not like it. Its either chicken or fish, a low quality steak will run you $20.00 at the grocery store. Not a lot of variety of american food, and what is here is expensive. I've really had to adapt my diet.
Also, I think if you are looking to move back to the states, this isn't that impressive on a resume. Although I will be the most experienced attorney of a felony group in my first year out of law school, places like Chicago, LA, NY just have more panache.

There are def some drawbacks, but all in all I'm working on a resort island, so I love it.