Take a year off to travel, get paid $80,000

Granted, $80,000 is only one-third of this lawyer’s typical annual salary. But still, talk about a dream year. Heather Eisenlord’s New York City law firm needed to cut expenses and didn’t want to resort to layoffs. So they offered all of their associates the chance to take one year off from work in exchange for giving up two-thirds of their salary for that year. Thus far, about 125 of the firm’s 1,300 worldwide associates have taken the offer. Eisenlord is one of them. For the next year, she plans to travel around the world. And she’ll get paid $80,000 for doing so.

This year may be a disastrous one for the global economy, but it’s shaping up to be one of the best that Heather Eisenlord has enjoyed in a good long while. Granted, that might not be saying much: For the past five years, Ms. Eisenlord has been an associate at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, a notably grueling place for a lawyer to work.

But even by more stringent standards of fun, the coming year looks pretty good. Ms. Eisenlord, 36, who works in Skadden’s banking group, will be buying a plane ticket that will take her around the world for a year, and she’s been stocking her apartment in Brooklyn with Lonely Planet travel guides.

Although she’s not yet sure exactly what she’ll be doing on her trip, she has some ideas. She would like to teach English to monks in Sri Lanka and possibly help bring solar power to remote parts of the Himalayas. She’ll probably hit 10 to 15 destinations around the world, most likely practicing not-for-profit law wherever she can be helpful.

The best part of all: Skadden is paying her about $80,000 to do it. For a sixth-year associate at a New York law firm, $80,000 isn’t exactly competitive pay. But for someone cruising around the world, doing good wherever she sees fit and, let’s face it, probably hitting a beach or two, the pay is excellent.

Related posts:

1. Where else do you want to travel this year? ...
2. “Gap year” comes to U.S. universities ...
3. Year of the pig, year of the baby ...