[tzs]

I don't think lawyers do the same or less amount of work than scientists and engineers. I've watched up close a big patent suit (I was one of the inventors named on the patent, and the only one available for the trial), and at least in that area of law, the lawyers worked more hours sustained than any scientist or engineer I've known.

When I was in my early 30's I got burned out on programming, and went to law school with the intent of going into patent and copyright law. However, after the third year, when I had one paper to write to graduate, I went back to my old job for the summer. I was no longer burned out on programming, and I also had the worst case of writers block in the history of the universe, so never got around to writing that last paper.

Having watched the lawyers during the patent suit, I am pretty sure I dodged a bullet by not becoming a lawyer.

[patrickgzill]

Having family members who are/were high powered lawyers (working for international firms, taking home 300K UKP per year or more), they certainly spend very long hours and lots of time in meetings, and certainly have to read a great deal in order to review carefully very long documents.

However I would make a distinction between hours spent in meetings, talking, and reviewing documents, vs. bringing as much brainpower as you can to solve a problem and do something new. Somehow the job of the scientist or engineer seems much harder - perhaps this is just my perception however.