Is law school even worth it? Forum

[BLS07]

areyouinsane? is that you?

No, this is my first time to this forum. But my story is not unique. I am a very well dressed oakie from grapes of wrath. I followed the handbills to law school and now I am fubar.

you dig sixteen tons, what do you get, another day older and deeper in debt. St. Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go. I owe my soul to the company store.

To flood this post with cultural references, I am just trying to save one lamb.

Sure .Nice to have you back buddy. Any good doc review stories lately?

Actually, I have a pretty good job. Still can't make enough progress on my loans to . . . I don't know. . . buy a house, have kids, or the like. At least for about 7-8 years. By then, I'll need to adopt.

Edit: and that is if I can keep my job. Losing my job would be catastrophic. After my meager saving run out, I would probably give up and move to canada or something. I try to block out what would happen if I lost my job. It's like thinking about life after death. All conjecture.

[prezidentv8]

Law school is a losing proposition for most who enter.

What?! But my school reported 100% employment last year!

"employment" is a fuzzy concept. Like the definition of "is." 20 dollar an hour temp doc review in a basement is defiantly employment. Six weeks of working for the law school in the admissions department, provided those six weeks are in the right part of the calendar, is employment. Barista at Starbucks. Employment.

140,000 in non-dischargable debt at 7% will cost you approximately $1625.52 per month, every month, for 10 years. Try to have that hanging over your head every month for ten years. I know. It makes death seem like a warm embrace.

What about international law?! And ADR!

[CanuckObserver]

I was just offered $63,000 a year with Siemens when I complete my undergrad degree in May. The only problem is I've always wanted to be a lawyer; I find the law and politics interesting.

I was wondering with the law job market being highly saturated at the moment, along with the average salary of a lawyer being around 65k, and also the fact that your coming out of law school in financial debt/stress ( 250k+ not including housing and other expenses.) Is law school even worth it?

Aside from the issues of market saturation/risk of unemployment or underemployment, costs (including lost opportunity costs), student loan repayments (which hurt!) and so forth, I would add that one can find the law and politics interesting, yet find the practice of law uninteresting, as I am sure many, many thousands of political-science-students-turned-law-student-turned-lawyer can attest. So, I would suggest you really think about why you have "always wanted to be a lawyer" in some more specific terms.

I highly recommend getting some work experience, if the job at Siemens interests you then go for it. If not, somewhere else. Not only will that expose you more to the working world, but likely you will in your travels meet more practicing lawyers (rather than 0L's or law students with stars in their eyes) and as you Get to Know Yourself a lot more, have a better idea of what kind of law practice (if any) interests you.

If after a few years you really want to go into law, go for it. I promise that if it is important to you, you will find a way to go. If you don't as you decide it is not for you, no harm done - you will have saved a lot of money, years and progressed further in whatever career path you have found you do enjoy.

I am not at all disparaging of the law. I have been practicing a handful of years and think going back to law school was one of the best things I did for myself as I genuinely enjoy the practice of law and my legal career thus far, but I am very thankful I worked a few years before going back (even though I "thought" I wanted to be a lawyer before I even started undergrad) as I expect my career satisfaction would have been a lot lower without that "break" to figure out more what I really wanted when I said I "wanted to be a lawyer", and to figure out what sort of law I wanted to go into (and where) which was dramatically different than I would have chosen fresh out of undergrad.

I have seen many of my former classmates who went straight from undergrad already burning out, miserable and/or leaving the profession as they went to law school with very little understanding of what they really wanted as a career and what they hoped to find by being a lawyer (aside from a decent paying job and what I would describe as "prestige" - which may or may not be attainable). So, they either ended up practicing in an area that did not fit for them, or in an entire profession that did not fit for them and it shows in their attitude, work, overall life. There are a couple who went back who are also leaving, but far fewer of those than the former described group.

[Curious1]

See Prof. Campos of Colorado Law School's Explanation:

[url]http://Law%20School%20Was%20the%20Best%20Decision%20I%20Ever%20Made.blogspot.com/2011/08/who-should-go-to-law-school-now.html#comments[/url]

Prof. Campos' website is actually called inside the law school scam @ Blogspot dot com. One of the moderators on this site must have a strange sense of humor.

If you don't fit in one of those categories, take the seimens job.

edit: the above link was mangled. Someone who moderates this site has a vested interest in continuing the law school scam.

inside the law school scam [all one word] dot blogspot dot com/2011/08/who-should-go-to-law-school-now.html#comments"

This really scared me--especially the comments. It seems that there are a lot very bitter people who are completely set against law school in any circumstance.

Nevertheless, the consensus seems to be if you go to a T5 school it's generally ok, except biglaw lawyers are all miserable.

To that I would have to say--any job that pays that much money is going to be pretty miserable. Investment bankers work consistently more than lawyers, and consultants aren't really paid that much to work all the time (I think BCG, McKinsey and Bain start at 60)

So guess it depends on what you want, money or freedom.