25 years old and deep in debt

[Malthus]

And whether a lawyer goes into government or starts a business or becomes or a Lego sculpture artist, the skills learned as attorneys, such as hard work, attention to detail, and thinking strategically become assets in new professions. "You always use the analytical skills and writing skills,"

What total bullshit. 
Hard work?  Bill that 2-minute phone call at 1/4 hour! 
Attention to detail?  Create legal disclaimers designed to conceal and confuse! Exploit expressio unius est exclusio alerius for possible litigious gain!
Thinking strategically?  Why test for consequences when there are none!

The only skill lawyers learn is to be risk-averse douchebags using language as a weapon to their clients' (financial) benefit, to the detriment of everything and everybody else, see Languish v Shitcock, 2003.

You say that as if it was a bad thing. 

[alfred russel]

Is this the thread where we talked about how automation is going to eliminate all the jobs?

I got an interesting perspective on that. I've been given the opportunity / conned into doing some "heritage" work for my company's accounting group. I went through some of the financial disclosures back from 1919-1940, and where now some companies have hundreds of pages of highly detailed stuff supplemented by a bunch of references to other disclosures, the disclosures back then were often 4 pages: 1 of which was a general statement on the business by management, and 1 was a statement by the external auditor saying things were all good.

Then I interviewed a person who started in about 1980 about how a large company would consolidate pre internet & pre computers for everyone. The process was so manual that just getting the basics that we report today would be exceedingly difficult if not impossible--but still much of the technology used wasn't available in 1930, and the disclosures were much more.

The point being that if you were an accountant in 1920, probably most of your daily work would be automated by 1980, and most of what was done in 1980 has been automated today. But because the volume and quality of reported items has significantly increased, I would guess that the size of accounting departments has also increased.

[Monoriu]

Pretty much the same in the HK government.  Sometimes I looked at the papers that we did back in the 70s and 80s.  They were simple.  In the past, they used to write 4 pages in English to ask for funding from the legislative arm.  Nowadays we write 40 pages, and in both Chinese and English. 

The old papers were also full of typos.  Without computer word processors, they just accepted that there would be typos.  Now the bosses raise hell if they find a spelling mistake. 

[alfred russel]

There are some things that we do more work for now that genuinely provide more information to readers.

We now also now have someone* reading through ~150 pages of financial disclosures before publication to ensure things like the company name doesn't wrap between two lines at any point in the document.

*that person is me. 

[Baron von Schtinkenbutt]

Y'all need a better typesetting program.

[Syt]

There are some things that we do more work for now that genuinely provide more information to readers.

We now also now have someone* reading through ~150 pages of financial disclosures before publication to ensure things like the company name doesn't wrap between two lines at any point in the document.

*that person is me. 

Isn't that something that machines can do these days? I read the other day an article that software can now turn financial articles into varied news articles for the business pages, so ...

[Baron von Schtinkenbutt]

Isn't that something that machines can do these days? I read the other day an article that software can now turn financial articles into varied news articles for the business pages, so ...

That is still a very difficult problem.  The quality and accuracy of these software systems is still only passable, and it is fairly easy to figure out if a group of articles is algorithmically-generated.  Unless, of course, someone went through and cherry-picked the good ones.

[alfred russel]

Isn't that something that machines can do these days? I read the other day an article that software can now turn financial articles into varied news articles for the business pages, so ...

I don't know. We write our reports, give them to a professional printer, who puts them in printing format as well as the format needed to submit to the SEC. I review what the printer produces, and makes sure haven't omitted anything or made critical mistakes like have the name of the company wrap at the end of a sentence.

Could the printer incorporate a program to prevent the company name from wrapping? Probably. But why bother when you can have me review the thing at 430am the day before the filing is due?

[Syt]

I find it quaint that this is still done on paper, anyways. Does the SEC at least get an electronic version to work off of?

[alfred russel]

I find it quaint that this is still done on paper, anyways. Does the SEC at least get an electronic version to work off of?

They are submitted to the sec electronically and conveniently available electronically on the sec website.

But we also print copies for shareholders and internal use.

[DGuller]

There are some things that we do more work for now that genuinely provide more information to readers.

We now also now have someone* reading through ~150 pages of financial disclosures before publication to ensure things like the company name doesn't wrap between two lines at any point in the document.

*that person is me. 

My favorite is making sure that numbers printed always reconcile perfectly with other numbers printed.  Because if a regulator tallies up the 20 intermediate numbers and gets $176,389,098, and we show the total to be $176,389,099, he will immediate distrust everything that comes out of our company.

[Valmy]

Does the SEC at least get an electronic version to work off of?

The Big 10 demands it be delivered in triplicate using carbon paper though.

[alfred russel]

My favorite is making sure that numbers printed always reconcile perfectly with other numbers printed.  Because if a regulator tallies up the 20 intermediate numbers and gets $176,389,098, and we show the total to be $176,389,099, he will immediate distrust everything that comes out of our company.

We of course not only do that, but also have rounding policies that are reasonably complex to ensure the numbers foot and reconcile (generally don't force round subtotals, numbers that are referenced in footnotes, numbers that have significant scrutiny and are not large, etc--separate procedures for different charts).

We even have a policy on the oxford comma--don't use them in external disclosures.

[celedhring]

I made up about 50% of my uni admission essay. Then again, since I was applying for a fiction writing program, I thought it to be apt.

I can't remember any of my final essays for college. I do recall some really negative ones that I'd written and then scrapped but not what I actually sent.

I do recall joining a bunch of do-nothing clubs my junior year of high school.

I made a totally bogus essay about the humanistic reasons why I wanted to be a screenwriter and the life-changing moments that put me on that path. I felt so dirty that I had to take a shower after finishing it, but it landed me the spot (later when I got the interview, I saw that the admissions guy was incredibly emotional and intense).

[derspiess]

Does the SEC at least get an electronic version to work off of?

The Big 10 demands it be delivered in triplicate using carbon paper though.

Big 12 doesn't, but accuses everyone of cheating.