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Hi TSL,

Here's the current situation I am in. Would love some feedback:

I currently work as a financial advisor at a Bay Area family office that specializes in athletes/entertainers and other high-net-worth families.

USF was the only school I applied to for the following reasons:
1) A part-time program was a must as my main focus is to continue in my current profession. I will be using the law degree for advancement within my current company.
2) The location of USF relative to my office was important considering my work schedule and fluctuating hours (currently 7AM - 6:30 PM)
3) In my opinion, it was the best of the part-time programs within the Bay Area (Santa Clara would be great but the commute would not have been feasible)

After sitting on an LSAT score from my senior year of college (3+ years ago), I applied late in the beginning of March with a goal of seeing where I stand and weighing my options. I received a non-renewable scholarship for the first year that covers a little more than half of my 1L tuition. Other than that, I would be paying for the remaining 3 years of school out of pocket (roughly $100k).

Why Law School? Serving a unique industry, the usefulness of a legal education became more and more apparent as the specific needs of individual clients increased. While traditional management of stocks, bonds, etc. will remain the core of the business, the family office model serves as a one stop shop for all aspects of a clients financial life, leading to many advanced tax, estate, & risk management planning strategies. Additionally, while the agent handles the team contract/endorsement opportunities, the technical skills to provide due diligence on those contracts/private investments, and the correct way to structure them, appealed to me as another reason to obtain my law degree.

From a financial perspective, since I will be working full-time, I would only be financing half of the cost, which is still a large number for me to wrap my head around. Although there are scholarship opportunities available for the remaining years, I am not going to base my decision on the "hope" that I receive additional merit aid.

As I see it, here are a few of my options:

1) Attend USF PT program - benefits include accepting the current merit scholarship offered, starting the program right away, begin to apply knowledge to daily work settings

2) Do not attend this year, Reapply - Benefits include retaking LSAT, applying much earlier in the cycle , hopefully receive increased scholarship $$ . Negatives include pushing off school for another year / always the possibility of never attending (as we all know, sometimes life gets in the way)

3) Do not attend LS at all - focus efforts/time on obtaining CFA. Benefits include no tuition $/debt repayment, increased technical analysis (specific to investment industry). Negatives obviously include not having the legal knowledge I previously mentioned as being beneficial within a family office, particularly estate & tax law.

Thanks in advance!

Given your unique circumstances, you're unlikely find useful advice on TLS. You're probably in the best position to assess the value of a law degree to your career. Based on your description, it sounds like a JD would add value. Is it worth the $100K in tuition plus lost income from working only part-time? That's a difficult question for any of us to answer.

Having said that, it seems like it would be a worthwhile investment to retake the LSAT if doing so could net you a higher scholarship from USF. Does USF hand out full scholarships (or something close to them) for part-time students? I would find that out.

Thanks for the reply - I should clarify, I would be working full-time, not part-time.

USF does offer higher, renewable scholarships to part-time students. I have attempted multiple times to negotiate this round with no success. Thanks again.

What is your LSAT score and GPA?

When you say you want advancement within your company" does that mean you want to switch roles or will getting a law degree get you more pay for doing the same job?

Have you looked into the California accredited law schools? Are there any that are close to you that have a part time program that would be cheaper for you?

Have you talked to you employer about your law school plans? What is their opinion on it?

Jingo,

3.4 GPA in Biological Sciences from a CA private
153 LSAT

Two fold on the career advancement - 1) obtaining my JD will increase my pay for current job and 2) allow me to transition into a higher position

At the end of the day, the current position requires serving current clients along with prospecting/gathering new assets. I enjoy my current position, but am thinking down the line on whether I want to continue being on the road 200+ days out of the year, four years from now. A JD will still allow me to do the above, should I choose, or transition to a different role within the company (i.e. tax director).

To be honest I have not considered any school that is not ABA accredited and probably wouldn't do so, regardless of whether it is cheaper.

In regards to my employer, I have the full support including a small educational stipend.

I would do a correspondence program. As flexible as a part time JD might be, a correspondence program will be even more flexible. It will take four years, but the part time JD takes four years anyway.

Since you clearly don't care about employment, et al., (being as that you already have a job you really like) you don't really care about on campus interviewing, networking, or even actually being a lawyer for that matter. A correspondence program will probably run you 10k-25k total. Since you're paying for most of it out of pocket, I'd take that deal in a second. Put a down payment on a home in SF with your savings.

Whoa, whoa, why are you completely unwilling to consider non-ABA? There will literally be no difference between an ABA and non-ABA accredited school for what you're using your JD for.

Twenty,

Appreciate the response - I should clarify my previous comments. When I stated I had not considered any school that is non-ABA accredited, I truly meant that I had not thought of/explored any of the opportunities within such programs.

Additionally, while you are right in saying that job employment immediately following graduation is not my number one priority, I would be hesitant to attend a program that could hinder my opportunity for legal employment down the line. While I am sure there are a number of excellent lawyers who have graduated from a non-ABA program and been successful, I personally would feel more comfortable graduating from an ABA accredited program. Just my initial thoughts/opinion. Regardless, I appreciate your response and will be doing some more research into a few of the correspondence programs in the Bay Area to make a more informed decision.

SFlaw10 wrote:Twenty,

Appreciate the response - I should clarify my previous comments. When I stated I had not considered any school that is non-ABA accredited, I truly meant that I had not thought of/explored any of the opportunities within such programs.

Additionally, while you are right in saying that job employment immediately following graduation is not my number one priority, I would be hesitant to attend a program that could hinder my opportunity for legal employment down the line. While I am sure there are a number of excellent lawyers who have graduated from a non-ABA program and been successful, I personally would feel more comfortable graduating from an ABA accredited program. Just my initial thoughts/opinion. Regardless, I appreciate your response and will be doing some more research into a few of the correspondence programs in the Bay Area to make a more informed decision.

Definitely do some research. Just so you know, nobody has any respect for USF law so going there would put you in a similar boat. With your current options, you're pretty much relying on your work experience as a lawyer for any employment chances down the road. It's extremely risky.

There are about 15-25 schools in the country that are not worth going to unless you (1) go for free, and (2) have a guaranteed job lined up afterwards or are independently wealthy and are able to finance your own practice for years until it becomes profitable. This is because those schools have such poor reputations and are so expensive they are on the whole detrimental to your job prospects. USF is one of those schools.

USF could also be good to get a JD which will allow you to take the bar and move up at your company when you become a licensed lawyer. But an unaccredited program will do that for much cheaper, although it will only allow you to take the bar in California. In other words, you gain next to nothing from going to USF except more debt. Any career success you have will be solely due to your work experience, not the name of your law school or whether it is stamped with the ABA label.

If you want anything resembling decent job prospects outside your company you must retake.