Law School

[Chobohoya]

I just noticed your avatar and would like to say: Shiner is amazing. Excellent choice.

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Yeah homeboy is probably right I live in Texas and Ivy League doesn't really mean [censored] to some of thes good ole boy [censored] partners.

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Honestly, I think the prestige system sucks. I don't like it. It's not how I'd run things if I ran things. But that's just the way it is. Law is a snooty industry and where you went to school is a HUGE deal to these folks.

[jman220]

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There was a thread on this awhile ago, but I couldn't find it.

I just graduated from a Top 20 law school. I spent $120,000 and three years of my life and I can COMPLETELY guarantee you that it was not worth it.

I think law school (especially the good ones) is a good choice for exactly one kind of person: a snobby [censored] whose idea of a cool job is to lick some partner's ass in a big law firm while making serious bank.

I am honestly considering writing a book on this exact topic in the next few months.

Also, before people accuse me of being crushed by the system or something similar, I was on moot court, ublished an article and proscribed a legal theory in a state court that became international legal news. I could have done ALL of it with about half the time in school and about 1/10th the cost.

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I agree with one comment in this post absolutely. And that is, don't go to a really expensive school that gives you crushing debt. If you for instance, have a choice between going to a tier 1 school that will cost you $150,000 over 3 years, or a bottom tier 2 school that offers you almost a full ride, for god's sakes go to the tier 2 school. This is one thing I didn't do that I regret, I was offered a very very good deal to go to Rutgers-Camden, but I decided to go to a better school that didn't offer me much in the way of scholarships. I regret this now, because I want to work as a prosecutor, and having that much debt means that eventually, I'm goign to have to go into some sort of private practice ot make enough money to repay the $125,000 I owe.

I also agree with what has been said so far in this thread, that too many people go to law school by "default" because they don't know what else to do. Law school is really tough, and you should only go if you have a genuine interest in becoming a lawyer. If you don't, you will be miserable.

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I think law school (especially the good ones) is a good choice for exactly one kind of person: a snobby [censored] whose idea of a cool job is to lick some partner's ass in a big law firm while making serious bank.


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Well, not everyone goes to law school to make make 150k a year working 90 hours a week at a top law firm. (I know I sure as hell didn't, I love doing trials and public speaking/arguing, thats why I did it). It sounds like this comment was made by someone who probably went to law school for the wrong reasons.
I also know people in my class right now, who aren't even going to be a lawyer after they graduate, a law degree will open the door for you to a whole variety of careers, and certainly puts you ahead of applicatns for any job where the other applicants have only college degrees.

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a law degree will open the door for you to a whole variety of careers, and certainly puts you ahead of applicatns for any job where the other applicants have only college degrees.

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I wish this was true! I don't think it is. If you know any of these jobs, could you tell me what some are? In my experience talking to people about this stuff and looking for myself, a law degree can actually hurt you in job apps. Some hiring people see the law degree and they say 'well why isn't he a lawyer, he must not be very good at what he does.' It CAN be (but isn't always I'm sure) a barrier to doing what you want to do.

I know a guy that couldn't get a job back in accounting (his undergrad major) until he took his law degree off his resume. Sick.

But if you know any of these jobs that law degrees will help get you jobs in, please let me know via PM or out in the open. My dean of career himself said 'well, all you really become qualified to do is be a lawyer.' Yuck.

[jman220]

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a law degree will open the door for you to a whole variety of careers, and certainly puts you ahead of applicatns for any job where the other applicants have only college degrees.

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I wish this was true! I don't think it is. If you know any of these jobs, could you tell me what some are? In my experience talking to people about this stuff and looking for myself, a law degree can actually hurt you in job apps. Some hiring people see the law degree and they say 'well why isn't he a lawyer, he must not be very good at what he does.' It CAN be (but isn't always I'm sure) a barrier to doing what you want to do.

I know a guy that couldn't get a job back in accounting (his undergrad major) until he took his law degree off his resume. Sick.

But if you know any of these jobs that law degrees will help get you jobs in, please let me know via PM or out in the open. My dean of career himself said 'well, all you really become qualified to do is be a lawyer.' Yuck.

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I have a friend (fellow 3L) who just got a job in the entertainment industry. He said that the interviewer said to him that a law school degree shows them that the person is obviously intelligent and a hard worker, as it takes both to graduate law school. As for the "Why isn't he a lawyer, I better not hire him..." It seems far more likely that an employer would believe a prospective employee when he just said "I decided I didn't want to be a lawyer." Are you the poster who was referring to the Texas job market/ lawyer problem? I am from a different part of the country than you, (eastern seaboard), so I do admit the situation could be different. Maybe Texans just don't like lawyers. I wouldn't take that personally, considering what has come out of Texas recently.

[CollinEstes]

Texas loves lawyers. Some of the biggest settlements in the country have come from here (Not to long ago outside of Houston Merck who made Vioxx loss what 10 billion). However the political climate in Texas is changing a lot of legal practice in the state. Widespread tort reform has crippled a lot of different areas, namely: Med Mal, Toxic Tort (which is the area I work in, boorrring) and pretty much all negligence case that doesn't involve criminal negligence. I current work as a part-time paralegal and my case load went from close to 200 cases to under 50. Mostly because of a new Multi-district Litigation system, and new medical requirements.


So my point was it is not a good time to try to be actively looking for entry-level positions in Texas because you now have a lot of established 5+ year attorneys losing jobs because of lack of work out there too.

National Tort reform probably isn't that far behind.

[odellthurman]

Law school is only 3 years. Don't make a choice whether to go to law school based on that experience. Make a choice based on the utility of a law degree to you as you go through the rest of your life.

Also, a large number of the posts are focused on working at very large firms in big cities. That is a much different experience and culture then you would find in a smaller town, such as where I work. I do well and don't have to deal with a lot of the large firm politics that are referenced in the posts.

Finally, and this will probably spur derisive responses, a law degree enables you to help a lot of people, which I find very rewarding. I don't know if that is important to you. But it is nice to help a family adopt a child, assist someone to start a business, or help someone get out of a tough situation.

Good luck.

[CollinEstes]

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Law school is only 3 years. Don't make a choice whether to go to law school based on that experience. Make a choice based on the utility of a law degree to you as you go through the rest of your life.

Also, a large number of the posts are focused on working at very large firms in big cities. That is a much different experience and culture then you would find in a smaller town, such as where I work. I do well and don't have to deal with a lot of the large firm politics that are referenced in the posts.

Finally, and this will probably spur derisive responses, a law degree enables you to help a lot of people, which I find very rewarding. I don't know if that is important to you. But it is nice to help a family adopt a child, assist someone to start a business, or help someone get out of a tough situation.

Good luck.

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Good post, lawyers do help people some. But all we really hear about is that money-hungry bastard who has a "free" x-ray station set up outside of the chemical plants telling people they have pleural or pulmonary lung disease.

[marsvolta619]

Well this is all a bit discouraging. I'm gonna be taking my LSATs this year and am(was?) really excited about the law school experience. I was looking at UNLV law school and going into sports/entertainment law or gaming law. In all of my reading it basically says, UNLV's a new school so it doesnt have a lot of respect yet but you'll have a part in building something new.

I know everyone on here automatically thinks law schoolers are gonna be trial attorneys or whatnot, but to me there are way more options out there to what I want to do. PS, if any of you guys currently in law school wants to PM me and give up some of your time, I have a few questions for you.

[jman220]

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Well this is all a bit discouraging. I'm gonna be taking my LSATs this year and am(was?) really excited about the law school experience. I was looking at UNLV law school and going into sports/entertainment law or gaming law. In all of my reading it basically says, UNLV's a new school so it doesnt have a lot of respect yet but you'll have a part in building something new.

I know everyone on here automatically thinks law schoolers are gonna be trial attorneys or whatnot, but to me there are way more options out there to what I want to do. PS, if any of you guys currently in law school wants to PM me and give up some of your time, I have a few questions for you.

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Please don't let this thread discourage you. If you really are interested in law, and want to be a lawyer, and aren't just doing it because its a "default" after undergrad when you have no other plans, you'll do fine. And for all the complaining in this post, I seriously have never met a poor lawyer, who wasn't voluntarily poor. I have met a few lawyers who voluntarily took low-paying public service jobs (because they are rewarding), but I have never met one that seemed to be under-employed. Feel free to pm me if you have any questions.