Ed. note: Welcome to our daily feature, Quote of the Day.
It is going to be impossible both in the short and long term to come close to the wealth I could have accumulated for myself and my family had I remained in [Biglaw]. I was fortunate enough to be able to just barely pay off my student loans before leaving.
— Siunik Moradian, a former corporate associate at Simpson Thacher, in comments given to Bloomberg Law, concerning his career plans after he loudly quit the firm on the same day it announced making a deal with Trump. “I will not sleepwalk toward authoritarianism,” Moradian wrote in a departure memo that soon went viral. Since then, he’s decided to go into public defense “given all that is happening to the degradation of fundamental human rights in the US, particularly under this authoritarian administration.” He went on to compare his new salary to his Biglaw salary, remarking, “I’m hesitant to say ‘woe is me’ when even my salary as a public defender will be above the median in the US.”
Staci Zaretsky is the managing editor of Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Bluesky, X/Twitter, and Threads, or connect with her on LinkedIn.
The post Former Biglaw Associate Who Became Public Defender After His Firm Caved To Trump Has No Regrets appeared first on Above the Law.
Ed. note: Welcome to our daily feature, Quote of the Day.
It is going to be impossible both in the short and long term to come close to the wealth I could have accumulated for myself and my family had I remained in [Biglaw]. I was fortunate enough to be able to just barely pay off my student loans before leaving.
— Siunik Moradian, a former corporate associate at Simpson Thacher, in comments given to Bloomberg Law, concerning his career plans after he loudly quit the firm on the same day it announced making a deal with Trump. “I will not sleepwalk toward authoritarianism,” Moradian wrote in a departure memo that soon went viral. Since then, he’s decided to go into public defense “given all that is happening to the degradation of fundamental human rights in the US, particularly under this authoritarian administration.” He went on to compare his new salary to his Biglaw salary, remarking, “I’m hesitant to say ‘woe is me’ when even my salary as a public defender will be above the median in the US.”
Staci Zaretsky is the managing editor of Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Bluesky, X/Twitter, and Threads, or connect with her on LinkedIn.
The post Former Biglaw Associate Who Became Public Defender After His Firm Caved To Trump Has No Regrets appeared first on Above the Law.
