30yrs Old. Need Help from Law Students Forum

[justalive]

Let me tell you about myself:

I'll be getting out of the Air Force as a Capt after 8 years. While in the AF, I was able to get my MBA from an AACSB accredited school and I also got my Project Management Professional (PMP) Certificate. I originally applied to law school prior to entering the Air Force for an educational delay program to ultimately go into JAG but was denied. Now that I have 8 years under my belt and a full GI Bill, I'm thinking about jumping on the train again and looking at going to Law School. The only debt (Roughly $30K) I have is from my wife who will be finishing Medical School. After helping her pursue her dream I'm looking at pursuing mine.

Any thoughts on going to law school at 30 w/ a family? Does career experience help applications? And finally-- is it worth it?

[Dr. Review]

Have you taken the LSAT yet? Have you researched the type of work that you would be doing in any (realistic) areas of law in which you might be interested? Have you read through the threads discussing the sorts of hours junior associates at large firms typically work?

Before we can really give you valid input, you need to define your goals and set your eyes on what would be realistic. You need to figure out why you want to go to law school and what it is that interests you about the field. You need to study (a lot) for the LSAT and get a real number so that you can see what sort of schools might be realistic for you.

[chuckbass]

You're not too old, but you're too old to do all of this without a solid plan (as said above)

[UpandDown97]

Let me tell you about myself:

I'll be getting out of the Air Force as a Capt after 8 years. While in the AF, I was able to get my MBA from an AACSB accredited school and I also got my Project Management Professional (PMP) Certificate. I originally applied to law school prior to entering the Air Force for an educational delay program to ultimately go into JAG but was denied. Now that I have 8 years under my belt and a full GI Bill, I'm thinking about jumping on the train again and looking at going to Law School. The only debt (Roughly $30K) I have is from my wife who will be finishing Medical School. After helping her pursue her dream I'm looking at pursuing mine.

Any thoughts on going to law school at 30 w/ a family? Does career experience help applications? And finally-- is it worth it?

Thank you for your service!

As other posters have mentioned, it is not too late, but it all depends on what your personal goals, career goals, family goals, etc. are.

Do well on your LSAT, and because of your limited debt, the sky is the limit.

[TLSModBot]

I will be graduating at 30 with family - you'd be above median age but not unreasonably so. Just be prepared in interviews for the 'so why law and why now' questions to gauge your long-term staying power. Otherwise, it's doable and even sometimes beneficial if you have better focus than you would've at a K-JD age. It more comes down to whether you can take the time you need to perform your best or not.

[CanadianWolf]

"Is it worth it?" is a relative question. What are your other options ? What are your career goals that require a law degree ?

[yfang12]

Let me tell you about myself:

I'll be getting out of the Air Force as a Capt after 8 years. While in the AF, I was able to get my MBA from an AACSB accredited school and I also got my Project Management Professional (PMP) Certificate. I originally applied to law school prior to entering the Air Force for an educational delay program to ultimately go into JAG but was denied. Now that I have 8 years under my belt and a full GI Bill, I'm thinking about jumping on the train again and looking at going to Law School. The only debt (Roughly $30K) I have is from my wife who will be finishing Medical School. After helping her pursue her dream I'm looking at pursuing mine.

Any thoughts on going to law school at 30 w/ a family? Does career experience help applications? And finally-- is it worth it?

30 is defiantly not too old, you can be a lawyer at age of 33ish and if you do well you can become a junior partner before you are 40 and you still got 15 years in the field before you consider retirement.
Law school is a huge commitment,so on the upside older people has more self-discipline than those we just fresh out of college.Some law school like people has more life experience for they can make through law school with less drama. I have a aunt who went to law school at age to 35 and she is a deputy mayor right now, so if this is what you really want i think you can do it.

Good luck

[justalive]

Thank you for the replies. I did take the LSAT before I joined the AF. I didn't get a great score but I did get into some pretty decent law schools. So I know that I'll have to brush off the cobwebs and get back into it.

Why I'm interested in law....we'll I think I enjoy the intellectual challenge of it. The different clients you can have, each unique in their own way. It's also fun interpreting court decisions and finding where the lines are drawn and where they become open. I also find it a way to give back to the public in the form of better laws or to challenge existing laws.

I'm not sure in what particular field I would ultimately pursue. I'm interested in Mergers & Acquisitions, Immigration, and Property law right now but I guess that's something to research a bit more. When you entered law school did you already have a specific field you wanted to pursue or did it evolve?

[Dr. Review]

Thank you for the replies. I did take the LSAT before I joined the AF. I didn't get a great score but I did get into some pretty decent law schools. So I know that I'll have to brush off the cobwebs and get back into it.

This is good. Take that score as a starting point. See if the schools that admit people with median scores near or below your LSAT/GPA are worth attending (with respect to employment outcomes).

Why I'm interested in law....we'll I think I enjoy the intellectual pursuit of it. It's fun interpreting court decisions and finding where the lines are drawn and where they become open. I also find it a way to give back to the public in the form of better laws or to challenge existing laws.

I am glad that you do have some reasons to go to law school. However "giving back to the public in the form of better laws or to challenge existing laws" is something that most lawyers do not typically do, particularly those in the fields you cite below.

I'm not sure in what particular field I would ultimately pursue. I'm interested in Mergers & Acquisitions, Immigration, and Property law right now but I guess that's something to research a bit more. When you entered law school did you already have a specific field you wanted to pursue or did it evolve?

Many do have a field in mind. Many do not. Many develop one while in law school. Others go where the jobs are. Corporate and M&A work is generally going to be done at the mid-sized and large firm level. As seen above, please ensure that any school likely to admit you provides an avenue towards this work. Please also note the relative difficulty of maintaining the working hours required by these firms and the washout rate. Immigration - this is not a large field. It can be difficult to find a firm of any size or repute doing much work (or hiring) in the immigration field. Property law - somewhat of an expansive term. This can be anything from pulling deeds and titles and doing related research to commercial real estate transactions. It might be a good idea to research more on how property law breaks down and what types of firms do this type of work.

[twenty]

Totally viable, but why? If you're just collecting degrees, that's cool - and the GI Bill makes that adventure pretty cost-effective. If you want to go biglaw, maybe read about the lifestyle and decide if that's something you want to be doing with a wife and kids. Would you stay in the AF while in law school?

[UpandDown97]

Though ultimately attending law school is a personal decision, knowing your stats would be useful for giving better advice to you about what kind of options to pursue.

[justalive]

Again thank you very much. I don't know if I would enjoy big law, but then again have not had experience with those kinds of firms. I appreciate the feedback.

[fallingup77]

Started law school @ 30 last year with a wife and two very small children. It's totally doable--I worked full-time for 6 years before going back to school and saw my family more during 1L year than I ever would have working full-time. There's a lot of great study advice all over TLS, but it's just about studying smart and treating school like a 9-5 as much as possible. In reality, it was more like 9-3 during the spring semester. Obviously more work closer to finals. Also, my wife stays home with the kids and works out of the house. This made things easier on the family, too. She's a saint to say the least.
Finished top 1/3 fwiw.
The work experience, especially military, will only help you with applications.
Good luck to you!