Hello.
My first job (was a litigation clerk at a Mid-town Manhattan law firm. Mostly anti-trust and corporate defense stuff. The junior attorneys at this firm were Phi Beta Kappa from top-10 undergraduate colleges and in the top-10% of their top-10 law school. They were doing work that a paralegal would do in smaller/less prestigious firms. They were required to bill 2000 hours a year (so their bar-study & non-billable time was on top of that).
That's probably what you can expect from a large firm...these firms are basically document processing engines. As a college student, I was not senior enough to do anything but stamp "Confidential" and verify numbering on the documents we produced. The people who number-stamped the documents were 4th and 5th tier graduates waiting for their bar results/job offers. The paralegals were 3rd to 4th tier graduates waiting for bar results/job offers...or the sons and daughters of people with political connections (some were capable).
I temp-ed as a litigation clerk back here in the Bay Area while looking for a job. Most of my peers were also graduates waiting for bar results/job offers. They were from a school that was 4th tier nationally but a 2nd tier locally.
My father has a former subordinate who graduated from law school (don't know if he passed the bar or ever argued a case). He analyzed and wrote contracts for selling/leasing mainframe computers.
My points are...
1) If you're not in the "recruiting funnel" you will have a hard time finding a "case/trial" job.
2) If you don't go to a powerhouse school (1st or 2nd tier), you will have a hard time finding a "case/trial" job.
3) Graduating is one thing, passing the bar and working on your first case are quite another and many don't consider you an attorney until you've done all three. Kinda like the education, certification, and project experience troika for IT. You may be forced to wait tables until you've done all three (volunteering at the public defenders for the third)...unless you are on the recruitment track (see #1 and #2).
4) There are many "non-case/trial" jobs that a law degree will get you the job. Contract writing/analysis is just one. Most larger companies have attorneys to handle all sorts of "non-case/trial" work including recovery of overdue payments, etc. (yuk!). These "attorneys" do their thing unless there's a problem...then the company turns the problem over to a previously retained trial firm. The average attorney never sees a courtroom except during jury summons. The average attorney never works on a case.
My recommendation would be to do the MBA or a MBA/JD combo. Just being a lawyer doesn't really do it anymore...your undergrad/work experience needs to help steer you into a specialty (engineering for patents, etc.).
HTH,
James
P.S. Remember, the "first-year associate" is the first real job for many people graduating from law school. They will be going through the same disgust as we-all did on our first jobs. So unhappiness will be common.
P.P.S. The way off the certification treadmill is to learn the other side of the business. Don't be an IT specialist...be an IT guy with experience in high-tech discrete manufacturing. An IT guy with experience in spares distribution/returns recovery. Then people will keep you around because you know the business better than the people who flutter in and out on the business side.