Any MDs applying? Forum

[Renzo]

Not an MD, but a former healthcare clinician. I know a couple of practicing physicians who went to law school, and all were glad they did. One didn't do anything law related, but taught at medical school/teaching hospital and found the legal perspective useful. Another practices as an ED doc and does malpractice work on the side, has been very successful at both.

[MURPH]

I got 12 years in nursing and working as a nursing school instructor. I can't wait to go to law school and get out of health care. MD;JD I am very glad to see your post.

[md;jdwannabe]

Good Luck to you Murph!

[gocubs2010]

Not an MD, but I do have a degree in architecture.

you got out of the latex field?

[MC Southstar]

I thought Sayan's piece made sense overall. I wouldn't go as far as to directly compare the skill sets of T14 law grads and med school grads, but his point is simply that the requirements for getting into either are comparable as opposed to all the TTT law schools. From a holistic, academic (both reading and math), and test taking perspective, I'd say med schools in general are more like T6 to be honest. Med school requires much more well rounded people than law school does, demands hard science backgrounds, and places a lot more emphasis on high GPAs, ethics violations, and softs. Salary-wise, I wouldn't say doctors make more than BigLaw though, nor would I say they necessarily work less hours. Many doctors are in a position to work less hours, but some are even more busy. When you talk about these two issues, it's a little hard to compare the two professions and probably fruitless too.

[FunkyJD]

Good grief! Why in the world is everyone getting so critical?

md;jd posted a legitimate, easy to answer question, and everyone is jumping down his/her throat.

It seems that having a doctor well versed in law, or a lawyer well versed in medicine would be a good idea, so I'm not sure why everyone is up in arms.

to md;jd, I hope the LSAT goes well for you and best of luck with your cycle!

tuotora- This is TLS. Do not be surpised. Many argumentative kids/overachievers whose mothers told them "you should be a lawyer you argure so much" and took it literally.

True. +5,000.

That said, Good luck md;jd. Being a doctor AND a lawyer must be some kind of conversation starter..."what do you do?" To which md;jd replies, "Oh, nothing big. I'm a doctor and a lawyer."

Friend is a doctor, and we have very good conversations about the intersection of law and medicine. Got me curious enough to want to take a health care law class as an elective, just because. Good luck to md;jd.

[Hopefullawstudent]

I know a couple of MDs who are in law school currently. Also, I know a Harvard PhD in Biomedicine who just graduated from law school. I think doctors are just arming themselves for the legal battles ahead (joking here).

As for the pay comparison:

Doctors on average make more than lawyers on average. The ceiling for doctors' pay is also higher in many fields than the ceiling for lawyers' pay. Having said that, a cream of the crop lawyer in Big Law will be making >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> than a cream of the crop surgeon. You guys seem to be caught up in SALARY. When you're a Partner and serving on the board of multiple companies, you could forgo a salary (as many CEOs these days are doing) and still make 2.5 million a year in assets and securities (which are many times tax-exempted to a certain degree!). A surgeon, while he/she might make 800,000 per year, is limited by the number of people he/she is cutting open, whereas a Partner is limited by the number of corporate clients he extracts portions of earnings from. Think about it this way too though, when you are earning above $300,000 a year, most of your non-consumable income will (or should) be tied up in investments (given the financial market is healthy). At that point, doctor or lawyer, a big chunk of your "income" will be in securities, which depend on market performance, not on YOUR performance as a doctor or a lawyer.

Point is: Get good grades. Interview well. Work your butt off. Get rich. Doctors and lawers inter-breed at a ridiculously high rate as well, so don't even get started on joint-income.