Engineer turned Criminal Defense Lawyer? Forum

[Bangalmafia]

Hey guys,

I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts/experience on the subject....

I'm an engineering student about to graduate to start work with a tech consulting company. I was hoping to work for the company a few years to save up cash before applying to law school. Here's the thing, I have no interest in heading into IP.... I am mainly interested in focusing on criminal litigation or civil liberties.

Would I be taken seriously as an applicant to law schools or as a hire upon graduation?

I can't help but think, I am getting further from my goals with the job move... but really I don't want to apply for law school straight out of college. The consulting was a nice way to get paid to take time off.

Thanks in advance for any insight.

[rinkrat19]

I don't know about hiring, but engineers do fine in the LS application process. Engineering majors have one of the highest LSAT averages. You may want to frame your personal statement in such a way as to explain why you're leaving a perfectly good field to go to law school, but that's not hard, and certainly not uncommon.

A degree in engineering won't make up for a bad GPA, but adcomms do recognize that your undergrad degree was probably harder than average. When compared with a sociology or art history major with an identical GPA and otherwise equivalent qualifications, you may get the nod.

Work experience after undergrad is not a minus, and can be a fairly decent plus, especially if you're applying to Northwestern, where it's practically required.

[JamMasterJ]

Yes. You have a difficult major and will have solid work experience. If the numbers are strong, you should be in great shape

[Bangalmafia]

Thanks a lot for the encouraging words you guys!

Just out of curiosity... has anyone who has already graduated from law school have any thoughts?

[CanadianWolf]

You should do well assuming that your LSAT score is competitive for the law schools to which you apply. Your applications will be taken seriously due to your work experience & maturity level in addition to completing a challenging undergraduate course of study.

P.S. You do not need to specify an intended specialization when applying to law school.

[shonmay]

.

[justinp]

You don't need to tell them that you want to do criminal defense or whatever. Just say you want to do IP.

As far as getting hired... 'civil liberties' isn't really a field of law that people get to practice, by and large. There are a very few jobs with orgs like the ACLU, but they are INCREDIBLY hard to get (because everyone wants to fight the good fight) and the pay is insulting.

And for criminal defense, the career path is typically DA's office as a prosecutor for a few years to learn the ropes and then switch teams. No one will take you less seriously if you have an engineering background for that.

[Richie Tenenbaum]

You don't need to tell them that you want to do criminal defense or whatever. Just say you want to do IP.

As far as getting hired... 'civil liberties' isn't really a field of law that people get to practice, by and large. There are a very few jobs with orgs like the ACLU, but they are INCREDIBLY hard to get (because everyone wants to fight the good fight) and the pay is insulting.

And for criminal defense, the career path is typically DA's office as a prosecutor for a few years to learn the ropes and then switch teams. No one will take you less seriously if you have an engineering background for that.

To add: Criminal defense pays poorly and can be an extremely emotionally tolling job. You should try to investigate things more before making a huge investment of time and money on law school.