Of 17,000 associates from over 150 large and mid-sized law firms surveyed by Vault for their annual Law Firm Associate Survey, it's the tax lawyers who clearly they love their jobs. Or rather, are at least more "satisfied" than their counterparts in other practice areas.
As you can see from the chart, it was a tight race. Respondents ranked their satisfaction on a scale of 1 – 10:
Vault theorizes the reason for this high level of satisfaction is that tax law is actually kind of fun:
Tax law may be satisfying work because it is often described as solving a puzzle, allowing lawyers to find creative solutions to their clients’ problems.
Technically I don't think you are supposed to admit that out loud but hey, whatever gets you going every morning.
So, the lesson here is that if you're at the end of your rope working with a bunch of tax accountants — and have money to burn — you could consider obtaining a J.D. and LL.M. in tax to find marginally higher satisfaction in your work.
