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Honestly, does anyone out there regret going to law school/becoming a lawyer?

Maybe it's not what you thought it would be, or you wish you could do something else etc...

Sarahamelia wrote:Honestly, does anyone out there regret going to law school/becoming a lawyer?

Maybe it's not what you thought it would be, or you wish you could do something else etc...

You should search for posts about Campbell Law School. There is one particular individual upset about his decision and job prospects. Likely not directed at law school in general, but definitely at his choice of law school. also search "Biglawyers is this job better than others" or something like that. Plenty of anecdotes both on the positive and negative side, also not generally directed specifically at law school so much as at their choice of practice, but some have a distaste for law school in general. They would be a good start in addition to whatever is added ITT.

The economy is better now, but for me to go when I did was incredibly reckless. While it looks like it might have turned out to be a good investment, I got very lucky. If I was a little less smart and a little less lucky in terms of where my childhood friends ended up, I'd have been screwed. You also have to realize that just because a school places 50% of grads in your desired job doesn't mean your odds are 50/50. If you're not diverse, not well connected and are from a major metropolitan area then the general employment figures don't apply to you. Your odds going in may be more like 4:1. The main thing to consider is that even with that six-figure salary and a full ride, you're still not making it rain due to taxes and repaying COL expenses so while the effect of losing is catastrophic, the effect of winning isn't necessarily that amazing.

But to answer your question, of course a significant number of people regret it. Anything in life that requires an investment and only pays out a percentage of those who invest will inevitably generate regret. When you factor in that being unemployed coming out of law school is much more bad than being employed is good (from an economic and l/t outlook standpoint), many more people will strongly regret the decision than strongly support it. I tutored the LSAT for a while before law school, and became friends with many of the students I worked with.

A significant number of people who I tutored wound up failing the bar despite going to t1's and in some instances, t-14 schools (well over 50% of the people I've kept in touch with who took the bar). I don't know if you can imagine how bad it is to fail an exam you studied for, for months and lose your job because of it, and then have to restudy over and over. One person I tutored has failed 4 times so far, and hasn't had any income for years. It could speak to my teaching skills or it could just indicate how much harder it is for someone starting with a 140 LSAT diagnostic to make law school a good investment irrespective of how many dozens of points they improve. I cannot fathom the pain of restudying the same stuff each day for 2 years while the debt collectors call around the stop, and no 21 year old can understand it either.

If you're the sort of person who thinks that they want to go to law school, then you're probably going to regret whatever you decide to do. Just make sure you don't regret it for the wrong reasons.

Being a lawyer has ended up requiring a lot of working hours. Even though I expected it, it still blows.

Single-Malt-Liquor wrote:If you're the sort of person who thinks that they want to go to law school, then you're probably going to regret whatever you decide to do. Just make sure you don't regret it for the wrong reasons.

I hate when good, respected posters make posts like this.

I don't regret it at all.

But a handful of my friends from law school who never got jobs regret it entirely. A few hate being lawyers, but I think it has more to do with their toxic work environments than anything.