Old Lawyers Give the Worst Advice Forum

[darthslughorn]

I've been trying to narrow down where I am going in the fall (another thread coming later I expect), and I've been discussing everything with my girlfriend and her family. Her parents are lawyers, and so are all of their friends. They all went to CUA in the 1970s. I don't think Catholic has anything going for it bedsides a cool URL (law dot edu), and the advice they peddle is awful:

"Everyone should go to law school."
"My firm hires people from University of Baltimore, which shows that any law school is a good choice."
"If you get into a Top 5, you have to go no matter the money just for the political connections."
"You can use a law degree to transition into many fields, including business management and academia."
"None of us went to a top ranked school, and we all are doing fine."

To give them credit, they are all practicing lawyers and all are successful, good-hearted people (for lawyers). But damn, they are committing crimes telling people this shit. Has anyone else seen this from older lawlyers?

[imperspective]

I've been trying to narrow down where I am going in the fall (another thread coming later I expect), and I've been discussing everything with my girlfriend and her family. Her parents are lawyers, and so are all of their friends. They all went to CUA in the 1970s. I don't think Catholic has anything going for it bedsides a cool URL (law dot edu), and the advice they peddle is awful:

"Everyone should go to law school."
"My firm hires people from University of Baltimore, which shows that any law school is a good choice."
"If you get into a Top 5, you have to go no matter the money just for the political connections."
"You can use a law degree to transition into many fields, including business management and academia."
"None of us went to a top ranked school, and we all are doing fine."

can confirm they say these tings

[darthslughorn]

I've been trying to narrow down where I am going in the fall (another thread coming later I expect), and I've been discussing everything with my girlfriend and her family. Her parents are lawyers, and so are all of their friends. They all went to CUA in the 1970s. I don't think Catholic has anything going for it bedsides a cool URL (law dot edu), and the advice they peddle is awful:

"Everyone should go to law school."
"My firm hires people from University of Baltimore, which shows that any law school is a good choice."
"If you get into a Top 5, you have to go no matter the money just for the political connections."
"You can use a law degree to transition into many fields, including business management and academia."
"None of us went to a top ranked school, and we all are doing fine."

can confirm they say these tings

Anyone else? What's the worst advice you've been given by a practicing lawyer about choosing a law school? I need to know that I'm not alone here with imp.

[James.K.Polk]

I've been trying to narrow down where I am going in the fall (another thread coming later I expect), and I've been discussing everything with my girlfriend and her family. Her parents are lawyers, and so are all of their friends. They all went to CUA in the 1970s. I don't think Catholic has anything going for it bedsides a cool URL (law dot edu), and the advice they peddle is awful:

"Everyone should go to law school."
"My firm hires people from University of Baltimore, which shows that any law school is a good choice."
"If you get into a Top 5, you have to go no matter the money just for the political connections."
"You can use a law degree to transition into many fields, including business management and academia."
"None of us went to a top ranked school, and we all are doing fine."

To give them credit, they are all practicing lawyers and all are successful, good-hearted people (for lawyers). But damn, they are committing crimes telling people this shit. Has anyone else seen this from older lawlyers?

Admittedly, I can see this being a (moderately) viable argument. If you already had some connections and/or family wealth, you're considerably more likely to get hired into the Capitol or White House with a degree from Harvard than one from Cornell or even Penn.

[LandMermaid]

I worked with a juvenile court system in a small southern town for a while and the judge told me I should consider the local TTT as my top choice because the environment was "better for the female constitution" than the t14 that I told him was my actual top choice.

[zot1]

I guess I should consider myself lucky then. My FIL, a practicing lawyer, upon finding out that I was going to law school, made it his hobby to send me all the articles about how going to law school in 2012 was the worst choice ever.

[monceau]

I always get the spiel about how you can do anything with a law degree, usually followed by "I went to such and such TTTT in 1981 and did really well for myself, school name doesn't matter!"

[Generally]

I work at a law firm, can confirm I get told school doesn't matter all the time. Also have friend who graduated from Florida Coastal, tells me school doesn't matter and it's only about how well you can network. Just got to politely nod and smile.

[jbagelboy]

I work at a law firm, can confirm I get told school doesn't matter all the time. Also have friend who graduated from Florida Coastal, tells me school doesn't matter and it's only about how well you can network. Just got to politely nod and smile.

This is actually better than people who say going to schools with certain names is everything.

[herecomesthesun]

After I got into a T10, I had a guy tell me why I was making the worst decision ever, how my major didn't prepare me at all for law school (not entirely wrong--it's not a hard major at my particular school, but it's not like I've been under the assumption that I'd be prepared for law school by my major), and offer to send me a bunch of articles on why I shouldn't go.

In high school, I had someone else tell me that it was a huge mistake to go and the person asked my parents how they could let me make such a decision.

[mt2165]

tl;dr boomers fucking suck.

[A. Nony Mouse]

After I got into a T10, I had a guy tell me why I was making the worst decision ever, how my major didn't prepare me at all for law school (not entirely wrong--it's not a hard major at my particular school, but it's not like I've been under the assumption that I'd be prepared for law school by my major), and offer to send me a bunch of articles on why I shouldn't go.

In high school, I had someone else tell me that it was a huge mistake to go and the person asked my parents how they could let me make such a decision.

this seems like relatively helpful advice, even if delivered in an obnoxious way.

[herecomesthesun]

After I got into a T10, I had a guy tell me why I was making the worst decision ever, how my major didn't prepare me at all for law school (not entirely wrong--it's not a hard major at my particular school, but it's not like I've been under the assumption that I'd be prepared for law school by my major), and offer to send me a bunch of articles on why I shouldn't go.

In high school, I had someone else tell me that it was a huge mistake to go and the person asked my parents how they could let me make such a decision.

this seems like relatively helpful advice, even if delivered in an obnoxious way.

It is and it isn't. I've been set on law school for years now, and I was never under the assumption I'd waltz out with a job, even if I did go to a school in the top 10. In the first instance was just, given the circumstances of him finding out, super offensive. Despite being happy for everyone and their brother going to med school, he bashed my choices pretty hard. In the second instance, I was more referring to the assumption that my parents are in a position to make any decisions for me.

[krads153]

Not exactly the same since my dad's not a lawyer, but he (a highly educated man in another field) told me that the "top 20 law schools are pretty much the same, so go to the cheapest." He said this, having done no research whatsoever. lol.

[LandMermaid]

Oh also a lawyer friend of my parents told me very emphatically that if I wanted to work in our major state market I had absolutely no reason to apply to any school out of state. I even asked about HYS and he said no...