Top Law Schools

I am not sure if i want to be a lawyer, but I am really interested in studying law and want to get this education.
A lots of friends suggest me not to, but my parents encourage me to try.
Planning on being a lawyer for 1-2 years before starting my own business.
Does law school bring you onto another level? Do you think law school still values for those who will not become lawyer? How do you like the law school education so far?
Thanks!

visionmaomao wrote:I am not sure if i want to be a lawyer, but I am really interested in studying law and want to get this education.
A lots of friends suggest me not to, but my parents encourage me to try.
Planning on being a lawyer for 1-2 years before starting my own business.
Does law school bring you onto another level? Do you think law school still values for those who will not become lawyer? How do you like the law school education so far?
Thanks!

law school makes you hate people, reading, and enjoying life. Basically everything you can get outside of law school, but not while you are in it. I have another advanced degree and law school is nothing like it. Go get an MBA or something, they have fun and don't hate their lives.

You ostensibly learn how to be a lawyer but law school doesn't actually do a good job w that

W your career goals u probably should not go to law school

I don't think there's any point in law school for someone who doesn't want to be a lawyer. It's also not very good for studying law as an institution; it's supposed to teach you how to be one (though it's debateable whether it does that). If you want to study law as an academic subject, go into poli sci or sociology or the like.

No. It doesn't even teach you how to be a lawyer.

visionmaomao wrote: Planning on being a lawyer for 1-2 years before starting my own business.

Do not go to law school.

Law School teaches you how to take law school exams which are set up to be as close of a pre-cursor to the bar exam. You learn how to be a lawyer when you start practicing law. However, Law School is a necessary part of the process of becoming a lawyer.

Do not go to Law School unless you want to be a lawyer.

visionmaomao wrote:I am not sure if i want to be a lawyer, but I am really interested in studying law and want to get this education.
A lots of friends suggest me not to, but my parents encourage me to try.
Planning on being a lawyer for 1-2 years before starting my own business.
Does law school bring you onto another level? Do you think law school still values for those who will not become lawyer? How do you like the law school education so far?
Thanks!

I think going to law school does add value, even if one doesn't want to become a lawyer. I enjoyed studying the law and found it interesting, which would have been the case regardless of my ambitions for after law school. But whether you enjoy studying the law is subjective -- some people do, others don't. Now, the key question is whether the cost of going to law school (both actual monetary cost and the opportunity cost) justify the value it adds. If you don't want to be a lawyer, in many cases, the answer is negative.

If your ambition is to start your own business, you might be better served by taking the money you would've spent on law school and using it as start-up capital instead.

grades?? wrote:

visionmaomao wrote:I am not sure if i want to be a lawyer, but I am really interested in studying law and want to get this education.
A lots of friends suggest me not to, but my parents encourage me to try.
Planning on being a lawyer for 1-2 years before starting my own business.
Does law school bring you onto another level? Do you think law school still values for those who will not become lawyer? How do you like the law school education so far?
Thanks!

law school makes you hate people, reading, and enjoying life. Basically everything you can get outside of law school, but not while you are in it. I have another advanced degree and law school is nothing like it. Go get an MBA or something, they have fun and don't hate their lives.

I agree the OP shouldn't go to law school based on their post, but this is such garbage advice and so over the top hyperbolic. Sometimes TLS is really too TLS for its own good.

Law school doesn't teach you how to pass the bar or practice law. Law school doesn't even teach you how to do law school -- I had to learn that from TLS guides and supplements. I enjoyed it anyway though.

No, law school blows. Don't go unless you actually want to be a lawyer

I became a better writer and thinker because of law school. I enjoyed that part about it. Also, if you want to go into business, the legal background would be useful.

But this is a marginal benefit to give up three years of your life and however much money for something you don't want to do for a living.

eagle2a wrote:No, law school blows. Don't go unless you actually want to be a lawyer

^^^^^^This.

As I was told during my legal education, "law school teaches you how to think like a lawyer."

This is true. My brain seems forever altered to be far more analytical and skeptical in how I approach just about anything.

That said, I agree that one should not go to law school unless they're certain they want to be a lawyer.

You can learn the law quite well, if that's what you want to do, without actually going to law school. It's all over the internets.

I agree that law school has helped me to read and think much more analytically. It does radically improve your general reading skills (since you do it so much), and it helps develop a diligent mindsets when approaching problems.

None of these things are worth the cost (tuition + 3 years) if being a lawyer isn't your goal though. I just think law school does have tangible and broad benefits.

Some people hate law school, and some enjoy it. Idk how you can hate law school and enjoy being a lawyer, since from what I've heard, law school >>>>>>> practice.

PeanutsNJam wrote: Idk how you can hate law school and enjoy being a lawyer, since from what I've heard, law school >>>>>>> practice.

Making money helps

Good Guy Gaud wrote:

PeanutsNJam wrote: Idk how you can hate law school and enjoy being a lawyer, since from what I've heard, law school >>>>>>> practice.

Making money helps

Practice is much better than law school. But I like my job and was really sick of being in school.

In very few ways does law school actually teach you or prepare you to be a lawyer. They like to say that they are teaching you to "think like a lawyer". But as far as the practical, day-to-day skills you will need to succeed as a lawyer, you will learn essentially none of them in law school, and will instead learn it on the job as you go.

Good Guy Gaud wrote:

PeanutsNJam wrote: Idk how you can hate law school and enjoy being a lawyer, since from what I've heard, law school >>>>>>> practice.

Making money helps

Nonsense. I LOVED law school, but I LOVE my job a thousand times more. Maybe a million times. And it's not just about the money. Although that is super nice.

Caveat: I have a nice job.

Law school does not teach you how to be a lawyer. Law school teaches you a particular mode of thinking that is useful for conducting legal research and producing memoranda. You will, in all likelihood, use very little of what you learn in law school in practice (may be different if you are lit. rather than corp).

I don't think law school distinguishes you much if you aren't going to be a lawyer (HYS is the exception), and attending LS can be an impediment to finding non-law jobs (as has been discussed at length in other threads).

I also agree with the people that disliked law school but like practice - my job is infinitely more interesting than school. I'm one of those weird people that loves corp/transactional work though, so take that with a grain of salt.

A. Nony Mouse wrote:

Good Guy Gaud wrote:

PeanutsNJam wrote: Idk how you can hate law school and enjoy being a lawyer, since from what I've heard, law school >>>>>>> practice.

Making money helps

Practice is much better than law school. But I like my job and was really sick of being in school.

Yeah, this. I hated law school, but I really enjoy practicing. Since I am not independently wealthy and need to have a job, this will do.

The idea of going to law school because you are interested in studying law feels baffling. It is mostly really dry material and you are surrounded by a lot of unpleasant people.

patentlitigatrix wrote:
The idea of going to law school because you are interested in studying law feels baffling. It is mostly really dry material and you are surrounded by a lot of unpleasant people.

I definitely wouldn't go to law school for the joy of it. That sounds awful and this is coming from someone who enjoyed law school.