Lawyer Explains Why He Took A Massive Pay Cut To Work With Regis Philbin

Former Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP lawyer Art Chung left the prestigious firm after only 15 months and took a 50 percent pay cut to pursue a career writing trivia for game shows.

In a recent interview with Bloomberg Law, Chung said he went to law school because it was "the path of least resistance" after earning a political science undergraduate degree.

But in practice, he never felt that passionate about being a lawyer.

So after 15 months at Thacher, he took a huge pay cut, moved into a smaller apartment, and went to work writing trivia questions for Regis Philbin's show "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire."

He worked for the show for 10 years and left just last year to move to NPR's "Ask Me Another."

When asked what he's learned from writing trivia games for television shows, — he's also written for "Cash Cab" and "The World Series of Pop Culture" — Chung revealed "lawyers like to be on television. We had so many contestants who were lawyers. They both know a lot of trivia and they also want to show the world they know a lot of trivia."

Check Out Chung's entire interview with Bloomberg Law: