Top Law Schools

Post removed...

PatriotP74 wrote:
I believe that knowledge and being a Lawyer in the sense of being able to pass the BAR etc would help immensely in starting your own business or working in the business world?

No. Youre wrong. Law school curriculum doesnt even teach you how to practice law. It has absolutely nothing to do with starting your own business or working in the business world.

That being said going to say a top 50 school how much money would some of you graduates and students spend (in debt of course) to gain that knowledge? Or is it worthless? Keep in mind you would already of started law school when you found this out!

The knowledge is basically worthless. Most people who realize they dont want to practice law should probably cut their losses after 1L and drop out. If you dont realize it till your half way through or after 2L, then you should probably stay the course, assuming you arent completely fucked with debt.

Post removed...

definitely not worth the time, energy, or money

PatriotP74 wrote: While i understand it does nothing to help you start a business there are many legal hurdles businesses have to go through, would the knowledge or ability to do that yourself not be worth anything still?

Thanks!

Going to law school to get the legal knowledge you need for running a business would be like going to medical school to learn first aid. Except that at least in medical school you would be guaranteed to learn everything you need to learn first aid, whereas law school will not necessarily give you all the specific legal knowledge you need for your business. Much easier to just do research on your own, and to hire a good lawyer (who specializes in the area you need) when you need one.

The bar exam basically has nothing to do with running a business either, btw -- you cover stuff like state civil procedure (court stuff), criminal law, family law, etc.

Zero, because law school only teaches you to be a lawyer. If you want legal training as it relates to business, either learn on your own or do JD/MBA.

I wouldn't go to law school and not be a lawyer if they paid me to go. It is a complete waste of time that can be much better spent.

$0


Don't go to law school unless you want to be a lawyer. And probably not even then.

The only case I can think of where getting a JD as a "stepping stone" to something other than practicing law wouldn't be objectively stupid would be IF you had your heart set on being a law professor, and IF you also had some kind of guaranteed straight shot into legal academia without first practicing law (and for all I know, such a thing may well be impossible).

ScottRiqui wrote:The only case I can think of where getting a JD as a "stepping stone" to something other than practicing law wouldn't be objectively stupid would be IF you had your heart set on being a law professor, and IF you also had some kind of guaranteed straight shot into legal academia without first practicing law (and for all I know, such a thing may well be impossible).

It is impossible unless you go to HYS and even then it's really quite hard.

spleenworship wrote:

ScottRiqui wrote:The only case I can think of where getting a JD as a "stepping stone" to something other than practicing law wouldn't be objectively stupid would be IF you had your heart set on being a law professor, and IF you also had some kind of guaranteed straight shot into legal academia without first practicing law (and for all I know, such a thing may well be impossible).

It is impossible unless you go to HYS and even then it's really quite hard.

That's what I figured - I was just racking my brain trying to think of anything, and that was the best I could come up with. I guess there's also the case where you're independently wealthy and just want to do it for fun, but that seems even more contrived.

Patriot, I can confirm that going to law school unless you're absolutely sure that you want to be a lawyer is probably a bad idea.

I graduated from one of the t14 a few years ago. I went in thinking I would practice law, but in my final year I decided I wanted to do something different. What I've found is that even after finding my "niche" outside of law (which is a business related field, btw) and being fairly successful on the job, I'm still getting questions about my J.D. whenever I interview for a new job. My guess is it will be another few years before this stops happening.

Bottom line is that a lot of employers are very cautious and conservative in the current job market (and probably will continue to be for the foreseeable future) and anything that doesn't fit the cookie cutter template sends up red flags. No matter how good you are, there is always another applicant that fits the template better than you do. As a freshly minted J.D. looking for jobs in a non-legal field, you're going to have a rough time unless you have some substantial post-college work experience, and even then it's not going to be an easy road. I know more than one J.D. that tried to go back to their pre-law career and didn't have much luck. If you go to law school straight out of undergrad, I don't see things working out for you.

If you want to work in business, use your business degree to get a business job.

If you want to start your own business, get a job with a business incubator or start up company and learn the ropes there.

Three years of law school isnt really going to do much to help you start a business.

That's like getting an accountant degree so you can do your taxes properly. Don't waste your time unless you want to be a lawyer.

And for the sake of whatever deity you believe in, if you want to practice law, practice your writing a bit. Sheesh.

PatriotP74 wrote:

Nova wrote:

PatriotP74 wrote:
I believe that knowledge and being a Lawyer in the sense of being able to pass the BAR etc would help immensely in starting your own business or working in the business world?

No. Youre wrong. Law school curriculum doesnt even teach you how to practice law. It has absolutely nothing to do with starting your own business or working in the business world.

That being said going to say a top 50 school how much money would some of you graduates and students spend (in debt of course) to gain that knowledge? Or is it worthless? Keep in mind you would already of started law school when you found this out!

The knowledge is basically worthless

While i understand it does nothing to help you start a business there are many legal hurdles businesses have to go through, would the knowledge or ability to do that yourself not be worth anything still?

Thanks!

Ever heard the expression "an attorney who represents himself has a fool for a client"?
Sure, the knowledge helps, but, a survey class in business law is just as effective

PatriotP74 wrote:I believe that knowledge and being a Lawyer in the sense of being able to pass the BAR etc would help immensely in starting your own business or working in the business world?

Yeah, the rational part of me would ask myself that question too if that popped into my head and the irrational part of me, for some reason, agreed with it.

Like everyone else has said, law school doesn't teach you much of anything useful for anything other than lawyering. And it hardly does even that. It's just a credentialing / signaling / sorting mechanism for people looking to enter some area of legal practice. If you have a preexisting connection to some desirable field where a prestigious law degree could give you a boost even as a non-practicing lawyer (whatever those fields may be), then I suppose YHS could be worth some amount of money. Or, like another poster said, maybe if you're dead-set on being a law professor (which is kind of strange for someone who hasn't ever been a law student).

Aside from these very limited and difficult paths, getting a JD with no intention of being a lawyer doesn't make sense to me. A JD is not versatile, and legal education is not practical. About the only things "practical" in good law schools are clinics -- but they're only practical for people who plan to practice law.