What does being a lawyer mean to you? Forum

[jamesbond]

Up and down these (and other) forums I constantly see several variations of the phrase “don’t go to law school unless you want to be a lawyer/practice law.” But what does that actually mean? What does it mean to be a lawyer? I ask not because I’m unfamiliar with the legal world, (I myself have been working as a T&E paralegal for 5 years now) but because aren’t there so many illustrations of what a lawyer is?

Aren’t there many ways one could want to be a lawyer? And I’m not just referring to areas of legal practice. Can’t part of wanting to be a lawyer be that you want to wear business suits and have an office ? What about being able to offer free legal advice to your family? I used to be subscribe to the notion that practicing law was the only reason to even think about law school, but what about all the other stuff that can come along with it?

Basically, I just want to hear what “being a lawyer” means to you. Maybe the definition has even changed for you over time.

[lymenheimer]

aren’t there so many illustrations of what a lawyer is?

Aren’t there many ways one could want to be a lawyer?

Yes. [/thread]

[A. Nony Mouse]

I don't think anyone who says "don't go to law school unless you want to be a lawyer" has only one kind of law/being a lawyer in mind, just that the person considering law school should have some kind of understanding of what being at least some kind of lawyer is, an understanding that actually matches what some kind of real life lawyer actually does.

Basically people need to educate themselves on what real lawyers do, and not go off of what TV/movie lawyers do. That could be a variety of things, though.

[84651846190]

Up and down these (and other) forums I constantly see several variations of the phrase “don’t go to law school unless you want to be a lawyer/practice law.” But what does that actually mean? What does it mean to be a lawyer? I ask not because I’m unfamiliar with the legal world, (I myself have been working as a T&E paralegal for 5 years now) but because aren’t there so many illustrations of what a lawyer is?

Aren’t there many ways one could want to be a lawyer? And I’m not just referring to areas of legal practice. Can’t part of wanting to be a lawyer be that you want to wear business suits and have an office ? What about being able to offer free legal advice to your family? I used to be subscribe to the notion that practicing law was the only reason to even think about law school, but what about all the other stuff that can come along with it?

Basically, I just want to hear what “being a lawyer” means to you. Maybe the definition has even changed for you over time.

Yes, there are many ways one could be a lawyer. That's not the main point that you should be considering in deciding whether to go to law school, however. The two main points are that 1) going to law school is usually VERY expensive and 2) going to law school is not a guarantee for getting ANY kind of legal job, let alone one that pays well. Even if you do get a good job, you will quite possibly be paying back debt into your 40s and will have to struggle with long hours and stressful work for DECADES to really make your law degree worth it.

[WheatThins]

I wouldn't go to law school so you can wear suits and sit in an office. What part of that sounds appealing? If you said you wanted to be an astronaut so you get to wear a space suit to work, that'd be cool. If you wanted to be a baseball player so you can work on baseball fields for a job, that'd be cool. If you wanted to be a firefighter so you could slide down a poll into a fire truck, that be cool too. But going to law school to wear a suit? Yikes.

[zot1]

Kicking ass.

[KMart]

aren’t there so many illustrations of what a lawyer is?

Aren’t there many ways one could want to be a lawyer?

Yes. [/thread]