thanks guys Forum

A forum for applicants and admitted students to ask law students and graduates about law school and the practice of law.

law school?

yes
32
59%
no
22
41%
 
Total votes: 54

Lawyerrr

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Re: Should I even go to law school

Post by Lawyerrr » Mon Mar 30, 2015 12:50 am

You seem to care a lot about compensation. Thats why I voted for you to attend law school. If you go to a school like Columbia (think you said you got into CCN) and have your background, you should be a shoe in for a big law job. And your parents are paying for school. That means you'll probably graduate with no debt, plus whatever savings you already have, and will have a job that pays you $160k + bonus. This pay will also increase by like 10% per year for as long as you're in big law. I don't think you'll have that kind of comp in accounting.

I agree with the people who say you should only go to law school if you want to be a lawyer though.

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jbagelboy

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Re: Should I even go to law school

Post by jbagelboy » Tue Mar 31, 2015 1:49 am

I vote yes cause if my parents were paying for all of this it would actually be a pretty okay deal

its rly just us poors that have to worry about these kinds of decisions

Nomo

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Re: Should I even go to law school

Post by Nomo » Tue Mar 31, 2015 2:03 am

I voted no. Mainly because you don't have much knowledge of the legal field. You obviously don't like your job that much, and you have good law school options. But they aren't good options if you decide you hate law even more than you hated tax.

Nomo

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Re: Should I even go to law school

Post by Nomo » Tue Mar 31, 2015 2:05 am

Can you think of any creative ways to change careers now without going through graduate school? Maybe you can try a career change now, and if that doesn't work out go for law school in a couple years?

What do you really want to do with your life? Its obviously not Big4 Tax, and it probably won't be biglaw either. I'm worried that you're going to be just as dissatisfied in biglaw.

dabigchina

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Re: Should I even go to law school

Post by dabigchina » Tue Mar 31, 2015 3:13 am

Nomo wrote:Can you think of any creative ways to change careers now without going through graduate school? Maybe you can try a career change now, and if that doesn't work out go for law school in a couple years?

What do you really want to do with your life? Its obviously not Big4 Tax, and it probably won't be biglaw either. I'm worried that you're going to be just as dissatisfied in biglaw.
I'm actually not as dissatisfied with the work as I am with how little I get paid. If I made 160k a year doing what I do now I would to to work with a smile on my face every day.

You know how big lawyers bitch and moan about how impossible it is to survive on 45k a year after tax? That's me, except I make 45k a year after tax. period. including bonus.

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PeanutsNJam

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Re: Should I even go to law school

Post by PeanutsNJam » Tue Mar 31, 2015 6:12 am

Big 4 accounting only makes that much after raises and promotions? :(

Cogburn87

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Re: Should I even go to law school

Post by Cogburn87 » Tue Mar 31, 2015 8:01 am

dabigchina wrote: I'm actually not as dissatisfied with the work as I am with how little I get paid. If I made 160k a year doing what I do now I would to to work with a smile on my face every day.

You know how big lawyers bitch and moan about how impossible it is to survive on 45k a year after tax? That's me, except I make 45k a year after tax. period. including bonus.
But you wouldn't be doing what you do now for 160k. You'd be doing biglaw, and no one walks into biglaw each morning with a smile on their face.

Also, I don't really hear big lawyers bitching that it's impossible to live on 45k—they bitch about how miserable they are and how the job isn't close to worth it even with the high salary. For example:
Desert Fox wrote:The real scam is that there is virtually no winning. Yea, so I make 195k a year. It fucking blows and I'd rather be making 50k making fire alarm circuit designs like I was in 2008. But I have entirely too much debt.

Paul Campos

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Re: Should I even go to law school

Post by Paul Campos » Tue Mar 31, 2015 8:02 am

People in this thread are skipping over an important detail, which is that OP doesn't just want big law he wants west coast big law. The five best schools for that don't seem to be on the table. Obviously it's quite possible to get that out of CCN, but it's way harder than getting a generic NYC BL job. Yet everyone seems to be treating the OP's probability of getting what he says he wants out of law school as 1, when it's certainly a good deal lower than that.

Also:

How big of a financial hit is this going to be for the parents? If funding CCN is draining most of their liquidity or all going on a HELOC which would leave them badly leveraged, I'd say no, don't do this, or go to UCLA, or put on the big boy pants and pay for it yourself. Otherwise you're creating a potentially toxic dynamic where you're supposed to feel very grateful to them for allowing you to enjoy the debt-free "prestige" of a life which you actively hate.

If OP is making $80K and bringing home $45K that's a 43.75% effective tax rate, which seems ridiculous, even for Taxifornia. Open a 401K or something.

OP sounds vaguely dissatisfied with his job, as opposed to actively loathing it with every bone in his body, which is the modal state of the typical BL corporate associate these days, at least according to the internets. OP seems like he's about five years away from a fairly boring 45-hour a week $100K to $120K job with no debt, which is something the majority of BL associates would kill for.

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mickey0004

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Re: Should I even go to law school

Post by mickey0004 » Tue Mar 31, 2015 9:10 am

Same shit. Different toilet.

Maybe find something you're truly passionate about rather than spend 3 years in law, and then 2 years in biglaw to discover that you're in the exact same spot as you were in 5 years prior.

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DELG

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Re: Should I even go to law school

Post by DELG » Tue Mar 31, 2015 9:11 am

Paul Campos wrote:People in this thread are skipping over an important detail, which is that OP doesn't just want big law he wants west coast big law. The five best schools for that don't seem to be on the table. Obviously it's quite possible to get that out of CCN, but it's way harder than getting a generic NYC BL job. Yet everyone seems to be treating the OP's probability of getting what he says he wants out of law school as 1, when it's certainly a good deal lower than that.

Also:

How big of a financial hit is this going to be for the parents? If funding CCN is draining most of their liquidity or all going on a HELOC which would leave them badly leveraged, I'd say no, don't do this, or go to UCLA, or put on the big boy pants and pay for it yourself. Otherwise you're creating a potentially toxic dynamic where you're supposed to feel very grateful to them for allowing you to enjoy the debt-free "prestige" of a life which you actively hate.

If OP is making $80K and bringing home $45K that's a 43.75% effective tax rate, which seems ridiculous, even for Taxifornia. Open a 401K or something.

OP sounds vaguely dissatisfied with his job, as opposed to actively loathing it with every bone in his body, which is the modal state of the typical BL corporate associate these days, at least according to the internets. OP seems like he's about five years away from a fairly boring 45-hour a week $100K to $120K job with no debt, which is something the majority of BL associates would kill for.
These things plus also

I would love a nice long billable bullshit meeting

kcdc1

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Re: Should I even go to law school

Post by kcdc1 » Tue Mar 31, 2015 9:21 am

Sounds like biglaw would bring a meaningful pay bump, but no improvement to QOL. Depending on the position, in-house counsel might mean both pay bump and improved QOL relative to your current track. There's some risk, but I'd go for it if I were you.

Since you mentioned your concerns about $$ and losing a year of income -- if you have been admitted at Northwestern, it might be worth shooting admissions an email to ask if you can be moved to the AJD class. I was in a similar spot where I was giving up significant income to attend law school, and graduating in 2 years instead of 3 offered a huge improvement in my financial outlook.

dabigchina

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Re: Should I even go to law school

Post by dabigchina » Tue Mar 31, 2015 12:32 pm

DELG wrote:
Paul Campos wrote:
I would love a nice long billable bullshit meeting
Not if you're getting grilled by he partner the whole time.
Last edited by dabigchina on Tue Mar 31, 2015 2:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.

dabigchina

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Re: Should I even go to law school

Post by dabigchina » Tue Mar 31, 2015 2:01 pm

kcdc1 wrote:Sounds like biglaw would bring a meaningful pay bump, but no improvement to QOL. Depending on the position, in-house counsel might mean both pay bump and improved QOL relative to your current track. There's some risk, but I'd go for it if I were you.

Since you mentioned your concerns about $$ and losing a year of income -- if you have been admitted at Northwestern, it might be worth shooting admissions an email to ask if you can be moved to the AJD class. I was in a similar spot where I was giving up significant income to attend law school, and graduating in 2 years instead of 3 offered a huge improvement in my financial outlook.
thanks, this is not a bad idea. also, great information regarding what in house pay is like.
Paul Campos wrote:People in this thread are skipping over an important detail, which is that OP doesn't just want big law he wants west coast big law. The five best schools for that don't seem to be on the table. Obviously it's quite possible to get that out of CCN, but it's way harder than getting a generic NYC BL job. Yet everyone seems to be treating the OP's probability of getting what he says he wants out of law school as 1, when it's certainly a good deal lower than that.
I think most people are responding to the relevant work experience.
Paul Campos wrote:
If OP is making $80K and bringing home $45K that's a 43.75% effective tax rate, which seems ridiculous, even for Taxifornia. Open a 401K or something.
I just looked at my paystub. My take-home is around 3200 a month. x 12 = 38k. Factor in a 5k bonus taxed at around 40% and you're at 41k. Really I was being generous. Don't forget: health insurance is expensive as fuck.
Paul Campos wrote:
How big of a financial hit is this going to be for the parents? If funding CCN is draining most of their liquidity or all going on a HELOC which would leave them badly leveraged, I'd say no, don't do this, or go to UCLA, or put on the big boy pants and pay for it yourself. Otherwise you're creating a potentially toxic dynamic where you're supposed to feel very grateful to them for allowing you to enjoy the debt-free "prestige" of a life which you actively hate.
My parents have the liquidity to absorb it without going to debt.

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Cobretti

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Re: Should I even go to law school

Post by Cobretti » Tue Mar 31, 2015 2:34 pm

I think it sounds like you want to go. You have the perfect work experience to kill oci, and coupled with where you are looking at attending, I think you should be very confident in landing biglaw (barring a recession or terrible interview skills). If you want to do it, go for it.

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