Thoughts about attending law school
Posted: Sat Nov 20, 2010 2:45 pm
Hi everyone,
I am new to this forum. I just have some quick thoughts about attending law school, and wanted to know what you guys think. I've currently been out of school for 3 years, and I am a CPA w a big 4 accounting firm. I specialize in tax and work mostly with partnerships and federal stuff, but I've thought about the idea of going to law school. I debated about it back in college, but figured I'd get some work experience under my belt to decide what I really wanted to do.
I only want to go if I could get into a T20 (or prefer T14) school, but even if that happens, do you think it'd be worth it for someone in my situation? I currently make 60-70k a year, and have a lot of career growth prospects. Given the nature of public accounting, however, I don't really expect to break six figures for another 4-5 years. (Most accountants stop at 80-90k, even in industry, until you make sr manager..esp in this economy). With tax, however, I work regularly with attorneys. Its a natural progression I feel to progress onto more of the tax planning aspect. You can do this without a JD, but it really helps (at least from my perspective) to be able to construct contracts as well and being able to understand the accounting with it for some complex tax structures. My big hesitation is that law school is clearly not worth it outside of the top 25, and even in that case, the T14....but when you look at T14 tuition, you're easily looking at 50k a year w COL. Prorated out, this is roughly a 150k expense, with around 160k (after tax) of prospective lost wages...so i'm looking at a 300k decision. Given the risk involved, it seems clear that its either T14 or bust.
In any event, I look at work from the perspective that work is work, and not doing something because its something I 'enjoy'; but, accounting is fairly mind-numbing, and I think law (even tax law), would be more stimulating.
Thoughts?
I am new to this forum. I just have some quick thoughts about attending law school, and wanted to know what you guys think. I've currently been out of school for 3 years, and I am a CPA w a big 4 accounting firm. I specialize in tax and work mostly with partnerships and federal stuff, but I've thought about the idea of going to law school. I debated about it back in college, but figured I'd get some work experience under my belt to decide what I really wanted to do.
I only want to go if I could get into a T20 (or prefer T14) school, but even if that happens, do you think it'd be worth it for someone in my situation? I currently make 60-70k a year, and have a lot of career growth prospects. Given the nature of public accounting, however, I don't really expect to break six figures for another 4-5 years. (Most accountants stop at 80-90k, even in industry, until you make sr manager..esp in this economy). With tax, however, I work regularly with attorneys. Its a natural progression I feel to progress onto more of the tax planning aspect. You can do this without a JD, but it really helps (at least from my perspective) to be able to construct contracts as well and being able to understand the accounting with it for some complex tax structures. My big hesitation is that law school is clearly not worth it outside of the top 25, and even in that case, the T14....but when you look at T14 tuition, you're easily looking at 50k a year w COL. Prorated out, this is roughly a 150k expense, with around 160k (after tax) of prospective lost wages...so i'm looking at a 300k decision. Given the risk involved, it seems clear that its either T14 or bust.
In any event, I look at work from the perspective that work is work, and not doing something because its something I 'enjoy'; but, accounting is fairly mind-numbing, and I think law (even tax law), would be more stimulating.
Thoughts?