REUTERS — Making partner, the old joke goes, is like winning a pie-eating contest where the prize is more pie. So perhaps it’s not surprising that some lawyers lose their taste for it. Last week, Washington Post advice columnist Carolyn Hax ran a letter from a burned-out lawyer signed “Happy to Drop Out.” “I recently resigned from my position as a partner at a law firm,” Happy to Drop Out wrote. “I killed myself to make partner, but once I made it, I began to realize it just wasn’t worth it.” The letter-writer – who wasn’t immediately looking for a new job and instead plans “to take six months or so to recover” – wanted to know how to respond to people questioning the decision. Hax offered perfectly serviceable advice, noting that it’s “not your responsibility to justify yourself to others.” But what intrigued me more was the outpouring of comments posted by current and former lawyers. A few said Happy to Drop Out was making a mistake, but many more applauded the move and shared their own exit stories.