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How long before starting law school (or at least the whole application process) did you want to be a lawyer/go to law school?

What was it that made you interested in law?

I'll start:

Apprx 4 years

It was a job that I had that made me interested in Law and the possibility of going to law school. Before that experience I had never even thought about it.

Lawquacious wrote:I'll start:

Apprx 4 years

It was a job that I had that made me interested in Law and the possibility of going to law school. Before that experience I had never even thought about it.

Been interested more or less my whole life (my dad's a lawyer). Kind of always thought I would end up one, but didn't really pursue it as my career path until the end of my sophomore year, at which point I realized that I was nearly halfway through college, and had to start figuring out my after college path. Rising senior now, so a couple of years that i've been pretty serious about it, and maybe 7-8 months since I became set on it.

Cool- thanks for the post.. I realized after starting this thread that since I'm on Pacific time and it's after 11pm here prob most posters have gone to bed.. but still kind of hoping it will get going as I'm interested to see if there are any trends in the responses. I imagine for a lot of people it is a family thing but it wasn't that way for me (actually my great grandfather studied law at GULC and was a judge, but he died really young and no one else in the family who I've ever known directly has been a lawyer).

Lawquacious wrote:Cool- thanks for the post.. I realized after starting this thread that since I'm on Pacific time and it's after 11pm here prob most posters have gone to bed.. but still kind of hoping it will get going as I'm interested to see if there are any trends in the responses. I imagine for a lot of people it is a family thing but it wasn't that way for me (actually my great grandfather studied law at GULC and was a judge, but he died really young and no one else in the family who I've ever known directly has been a lawyer).

I pretty much arrived at my decision without any prodding or input or anything from my dad. Just so happened that way, lol.

Two things happened: About three years ago, I got into a nasty dispute with my old landlord in France (also a lawyer), and as I was struggling through this with my ex-boyfriend (a law student) figuring out whatever rights renters had, I was constantly amazed by how there were all these laws protecting me and my roommate - but we had no idea they existed, and by that point it was too late for us to do anything unless we wanted to be stuck in France forever. Our lobo lawyer landlord knew this, and accordingly took advantage. I remember reflecting that people who didn't know what their options were were very needlessly vulnerable.

Then I went to Asia to work for a while, and saw what it was like when the system treated ordinary people like a disposable resource and when people didn't even feel entitled to rights. I came home really motivated to work in public interest and started volunteering for a law firm helping undocumented immigrants who have been victimized. Several things really impressed me during my time there, among which is that it's not social workers or police officers who are able to improve a person's life forever, but the lawyers.

It's been about one and a half years now since when I decided to become a lawyer.

Pretty similar to Knockglock. My father is a lawyer, and I pretty much saw it as the first option for my whole life. I wasn't 100% certain, however, and wanted to explore other career options, but thanks to the economy and my own laziness (college convinced me for a short time that I wanted to be a professional author), my post-undergrad opportunities were pretty much zilch. I've spent the last two years doing a job I could have done without any college at all, and kicking myself for not just going to law school.

Luckily, it seems that my work experience may have played a part in upping my chances of admission. So I guess it's all working out up to this point.

Pretty much a mix of what knockglock and OP have already said.

madcherrylimas wrote:Two things happened: About three years ago, I got into a nasty dispute with my old landlord in France (also a lawyer), and as I was struggling through this with my ex-boyfriend (a law student) figuring out whatever rights renters had, I was constantly amazed by how there were all these laws protecting me and my roommate - but we had no idea they existed, and by that point it was too late for us to do anything unless we wanted to be stuck in France forever. Our lobo lawyer landlord knew this, and accordingly took advantage. I remember reflecting that people who didn't know what their options were were very needlessly vulnerable.

Then I went to Asia to work for a while, and saw what it was like when the system treated ordinary people like a disposable resource and when people didn't even feel entitled to rights. I came home really motivated to work in public interest and started volunteering for a law firm helping undocumented immigrants who have been victimized. Several things really impressed me during my time there, among which is that it's not social workers or police officers who are able to improve a person's life forever, but the lawyers.

It's been about one and a half years now since when I decided to become a lawyer.

That's a cool way of getting interested...

I have known since right around when I graduated from high school 10 years ago. Since then I have considered other careers at times and have thought that I would wait many more years before starting law school but circumstances and my work experiences aligned last year and made it a good time for me to apply.

Around 5 years ago I remember thinking seriously about when I would apply and I looked at some practice LSAT questions online. The questions scared the heck out of me and I thought "oh, I could never do this!" But then last year when I began prepping the LSAT stuff didn't seem difficult at all when I first approached it so waiting those extra years definitely did me some good.

madcherrylimas wrote:Two things happened: About three years ago, I got into a nasty dispute with my old landlord in France (also a lawyer), and as I was struggling through this with my ex-boyfriend (a law student) figuring out whatever rights renters had, I was constantly amazed by how there were all these laws protecting me and my roommate - but we had no idea they existed, and by that point it was too late for us to do anything unless we wanted to be stuck in France forever. Our lobo lawyer landlord knew this, and accordingly took advantage. I remember reflecting that people who didn't know what their options were were very needlessly vulnerable.

Then I went to Asia to work for a while, and saw what it was like when the system treated ordinary people like a disposable resource and when people didn't even feel entitled to rights. I came home really motivated to work in public interest and started volunteering for a law firm helping undocumented immigrants who have been victimized. Several things really impressed me during my time there, among which is that it's not social workers or police officers who are able to improve a person's life forever, but the lawyers.

It's been about one and a half years now since when I decided to become a lawyer.

If TLS had a like option, I'd "like" this.

At about 13 I realized I wasn't smart enough to be a doctor...

...since then

I want to change the world and save poor people by working in a biglaw firm and allowing the trickle-down effect to work its magic.

Two words: Sam Waterston.

bleaker wrote:Two words: Sam Waterston.

haha, thats probably why I first became interested in law around 7th grade. In high school I took electives in Constitutional Law (very basic) and got hooked on that aspect. I've read through some books in Admin Law, IP, Criminal, and International Public to see what else I'm really into, but I'm still in love with Con Law, though some other areas also grab interest.