32-year-old lawyer quit her job, took a $150,000 pay cut to curb burnout

Emily Hayes knew what she was signing up for when she became a lawyer.

Long hours, difficult clients and billing pressures are synonymous with the job. Yet, for Hayes, the intellectual challenge and the chance to help people made these sacrifices feel worthwhile.

What she didn’t anticipate was how quickly burnout would set in — or how much her job would overshadow other parts of her life. 

Hayes, 32, graduated from Stanford Law School in 2019. She spent the next two years working at a large international law firm in Redwood Shores, California, followed by a position as a federal district court law clerk in Portland, Oregon.

In October 2021, she joined O’Melveny & Myers, a large law firm in Los Angeles, as an associate.

After years of moving between jobs and cities, Hayes was optimistic about this new chapter in her career. 

Her colleagues were supportive, the assignments were engaging and the pay was generous. By the time she turned 30, Hayes was earning over $300,000 a year.

Yet, beneath the surface, the grind was taking a toll.

Her “breaking point” came in April 2023. Hayes found herself working overtime on a Saturday morning to prepare for an arbitration, just hours after leaving the office at 11 p.m. the night before. She was preparing for a major trial, but her stress and exhaustion had been building for months.

That morning, as she stared at her computer screen, she broke down. She recalls, “I started sobbing” because someone close to her was going through a difficult time, and she regretted being at the office instead of supporting them at home.

“It felt like I had to choose between showing up for my job in the way that was expected of me and showing up for the people I love in the way that I wanted to,” she tells CNBC Make It. “I panicked about the tension between the two.” 

Hayes adds, “Working at a law firm can make your life so unpredictable. You can never count on free time in the evenings or logging off before 10 p.m. I think you really have to love the work you’re doing to make that trade-off of your time feel worth it.”

At that moment, Hayes made a silent promise to herself — that she’d find a new job within a year.

That spring, Hayes began reaching out to former classmates and colleagues for advice. Through these conversations, she learned about a growing career path within the legal sector: product counseling.

Product counsel roles, particularly popular in Silicon Valley, involve working in-house at tech companies to provide legal and regulatory guidance on products and services. 

Unlike traditional law firm roles, product counsel positions often blend legal expertise with business strategy. “You’re a little less in the weeds with the law and much more involved in business strategy, which I’ve always been really interested in,” Hayes explains.

In October, a Stanford classmate mentioned that the tech company she worked for in San Francisco was hiring for product counsel positions.

The job came with two trade-offs: Hayes would need to relocate to San Francisco, and the base salary was about $220,000 in additional to an annual bonus, starting after her first year, of up to 15% of her total pay, depending on her performance and other company metrics.

This represented a significant pay cut from her law firm salary — about $150,000 less than her current earnings of $370,000 (comprised of $295,000 base pay and a $75,000 bonus) and $200,000 less than the $435,000 she would have earned the following year as a fifth-year associate with salary and bonus increases.

However, the role promised a more balanced lifestyle: a consistent 40-hour workweek, the flexibility to work from home two days a week, and the opportunity to advise on cutting-edge technologies like AI and cloud computing.

After careful consideration, Hayes decided the lower salary was a small price to pay for her well-being and a fresh start in an exciting new field.

She applied for the position in October 2023, received her offer letter in December, and started her new job in January 2024.

Her colleagues at O’Melveny & Myers were “really kind and supportive” of her decision, Hayes says. To facilitate a smooth transition, she created a detailed list of her ongoing cases and a suggested succession plan for her departure from the firm.

Adjusting to the six-figure pay cut was “much harder” than Hayes had anticipated. 

With her previous income, Hayes says she could “spend without much thought or stress,” whether ordering takeout several times a week or making significant payments on her student loans without worrying about having enough money left for rent.

Now, making about $150,000 less than she was a year ago, Hayes says she has had to pay closer attention to her monthly spending and saving, while also holding herself accountable to a budget. 

Last year, she started making TikToks to document her budgeting efforts and gather advice from other professionals in similar situations.

“I’m really fortunate that I still make enough to live comfortably,” says Hayes, who adds that her living expenses are slightly higher after moving from L.A. to San Francisco. “The biggest change with this pay cut,  anything, has just been shifting my mindset around money — I realized I had to think hard about my purchases even when they didn’t seem extravagant.” 

Now, as she approaches her first anniversary at the tech company (which she has chosen not to name), Hayes says she’s “really happy.”

For Hayes, the $150,000 pay cut wasn’t a sacrifice; it was an investment in her health, her relationships, and her future. In the first five years of her law career, she often struggled with sleep deprivation and stress

“I couldn’t turn my mind off,” she says. “I had trouble falling asleep at night and developed persistent jaw pain — but from the moment I quit my old job, all of those symptoms disappeared … it’s crazy.” 

The hardest part of her new gig, she says, has been figuring out how to spend her suddenly free evenings and weekends. 

“I’m spending more time with friends on weeknights, going to Pilates, picking up new hobbies, I bought a sewing machine,” she says. “Having that freedom and that balance has been priceless.”