Is the JD/MBA worth it for my particular situation? Forum

[RobertBets]

PLEASE READ BEFORE VOTING

Is the JD/MBA worth it for me if:

1) It's at a solid program (UVA law/Darden business)
2) It's mostly free (the only money lost would be the one year of lost income thanks to the GI Bill), so after factoring in living expenses, when I graduate I'll have roughly 50,000 dollars in my pocket from saved income and be debt free (albeit 36 years old)
3) I want to live in the southeast my whole life (Atlanta, Nashville, DC, Charlotte, Orlando, etc...and maybe Dallas. I have strong ties to several of these.)
3) I know I want to start my career in law, but am open-minded at this point as to litigation vs. transactional (although if I had to pick today, I would choose litigation and, though I know this is very hard to count on, clerk and hopefully work at an elite lit shop like W&C or Bondurant in Atlanta. But again, I'm very open-minded as to lit vs corporate.
4) I know I want to start in law (either Biglaw or an elite boutique), but I'm not sure if I want to stay in it my whole life (I may, I may not. Won't know until I start practicing.)
5) If I did leave law one day, I would not consider going into financial services. The only exit options out of law I would consider would be consulting, an executive position in a company, real estate, franchising a chic-fil-a (halfway serious on this one), or entrepreneurship (I think a tight-knit alumni network might be especially helpful on the last one)

Here are the pros I see:

1) Personal satisfaction. Honestly that would probably be the main reason. And I would hate to let the fourth year of my GI Bill go to waste.
2) Tight-knit alumni network in the region I want to live. In the professional world, I just figure it's probably a good thing to know people.
3) Maybe give me some business acumen I would not acquire otherwise, which is always a good thing.
4) Maybe give me the extra resume/skills boost needed to transition into one of the aforementioned exit options if I end up practicing litigation and not transactional (example: I decide I want to leave law, but I'm a litigator. I want to go for an executive position in a company. I would otherwise have no shot because I was in lit and not transactional, but since the CEO or CFO or whatever was a graduate of Darden business and I have the same MBA he/she has, they may decide to give me a shot). I just don't see how hanging out with future CEO's for a year while not accumulating extra debt could be a bad thing in any way. But I am definitely ignorant, so that's why I'm asking TLS.

Possible Cons:

1) The lost year of income and time in the work force.
2) Maybe would make lit groups suspicious if I decide I want to do lit and judges may be suspicious as well if I try to clerk (although I hope they would not think that if I told them it was mainly for personal satisfaction and I wouldn't have gone for the MBA if the GI Bill wasn't paying for it)
3) Maybe be perceived as a flight risk by transactional groups (although I hope that would not be the case. And I hear that perception may be different/nonexistent in the Southeast vs. NYC)
4) Logistics. OCI/Summer associate position timing, having three law school summers instead of two, firms want me to start working for them but I still have another year to go, etc. may be tricky
5) Increased academic difficulty (Not sure about this one)

Sorry for the long post. What do you think, TLS? Is it worth it? Thanks so much!

[A. Nony Mouse]

Because you got a response in your thread on the admissions forum, I'm going to lock this, but if you'd prefer a different forum, let me know and I'll move it.