Salaries and Firms - DC

I guess the ultimate answer for doing work you love in a locale you love is to find a niche specialty that you can practice wherever you'd like. For example, I know an IP lawyer who is a skiing fanatic, and he wouldn't live anywhere warm if you paid him big $$$. He set up shop in a ski resort along the Rockies, operating his legal practice out of his house.

The problem is that most of us don't have the vision, the discipline, and the balls to go solo and *take* the life we want.