My score (170) is good until at least 2023 and potentially 2024. (The LSAC guidelines say that a score is good for "five testing years"; my last and highest score was from July 2019)
How do I find out if law is even a good career choice for me? In retrospect, I think I took the LSAT because I saw law as a stable and lucrative career to almost "default" into. I have done basically no legal work in my entire life. I did a very informal (and not very informative) "internship" as a legal assistant at a tiny personal injury firm for 2 and a half months shortly after college. (We didn't use WestLaw or Lexis Nexis; it was extremely basic.) I think that if I went to law school/became a lawyer, I'd want to do BigLaw and/or BigFed.
How do I get in touch with someone who's worked BigLaw and/or BigFed? I'd want to ask them about their work and see what it's like.
How do I see if law is right for me? My current idea is to find a paralegal job at a Vault 100 firm and spend maybe a year working there. This is complicated by the fact that I need to make money and have been also applying to work at an insurance firm where I can expect to make $66k starting salary. If I get a job in a non-legal related field, would it be okay to just do that and save money? If I end up taking a non-legal job, are there any other ways to find out if I'd enjoy law?
- I should mention that the insurance firm I may start working at also has in-house Paralegal positions that I'd be eligible to lateral into after working for one year. But, doing so (and staying at that company) would mean I'd only be able to apply in 2023, which might give me only one cycle to get a good offer.
Further background:
- I am living with a relative currently but I feel compelled to move out in the next 6-12 months. (it is also uncertain how long they will be able to live in the NYC metro where I am looking for work). Therefore, I will likely not have a place to live rent-free, which means I must be concerned with job income and also would not be able to study as constantly for the LSAT as for my first run, in the event that I need to retake.
- I'm not applying until at least day-one (late August/early September) 2022. I do not feel prepared to apply this current (2021) cycle.
- I have not touched LSAT prep since July 2019.