Top Law Schools

Deleted Post

i know family law and personal injury is a lot of investigating if that is your thing. "oh that's where he's hiding all those paychecks! file that divorce right away!!"

Investigative work is a significant part of criminal defense but most criminal defense lawyers hire a separate investigator to do that work. Also, most criminal law work is done by public defenders.

In my opinion, you need to think carefully about switching careers; many police officers earn more than attorneys--especially when frequently paid overtime to testify at trials.

With respect to "being a great lawyer", it depends upon how you define "a great lawyer".

Are you thinking of practicing in the criminal law realm ? If so, defense work may not be a realistic option for a former police officer.

P.S. Lawyers primary function is legal research & writing. Investigative background work might be done by an attorney with a lot of available time.
Prepare for & take the LSAT exam to get a more solid view of your law school options.
Also, consider that police officers deal in certainty (may view things as clear-cut black and white" issues, whereas lawyers do the opposite.

Have you considered becoming an FBI agent ?

I just read through your prior posts & learned that you've already taken the LSAT & have enrolled in a part-time law degree program. In my opinion, you're smart for keeping your job while pursuing a law degree on a part-time basis.

I've always thought if there's anywhere where a law degree made sense for someone who doesn't want to practice law, it would be in law enforcement. If you've been a cop for two years, you really haven't had much opportunity to do much of anything beyond write people tickets, basically. This seems to happen to a lot of police officers. They get tired of dealing with patrol, and so they bail.

I'm more familiar with CA police department than PA (and for the record, you should probably transfer to CA because the pension is significantly better, the pay is significantly better, large-city departments will have better upward mobility, and our union is stronger), but it seems like you're doing a "grass is greener" thing based on prestige. Your 3.9 GPA is impressive, but Temple law and your very low LSAT are not. If you're prestige-whoring, retake the LSAT and go somewhere worth whoring for. 25 years old is not old by law school standards. The average age of the full time class at Temple is 25, and the average age of the part time class will be even higher. You have a lot more time to consider your choices than you think you do.

In a year or two, you'll be able to move out of "grunt work" into something that's more conducive to your skill set. If you like investigations, I promise you there are more/better ways to get there than from law as a career. Not sure what PA police officers make, but in CA, six years (two prior, four in law school) as a cop, you'd be coming up on the 100k mark. You might not see that much money again as an attorney for 5-6 years after you graduate. Plus, your pension is way better right now.

If you're a smart guy and a hard worker, you'll do well with the PD.

twenty wrote:I've always thought if there's anywhere where a law degree made sense for someone who doesn't want to practice law, it would be in law enforcement. If you've been a cop for two years, you really haven't had much opportunity to do much of anything beyond write people tickets, basically. This seems to happen to a lot of police officers. They get tired of dealing with patrol, and so they bail.

I'm more familiar with CA police department than PA (and for the record, you should probably transfer to CA because the pension is significantly better, the pay is significantly better, large-city departments will have better upward mobility, and our union is stronger), but it seems like you're doing a "grass is greener" thing based on prestige. Your 3.9 GPA is impressive, but Temple law and your very low LSAT are not. If you're prestige-whoring, retake the LSAT and go somewhere worth whoring for. 25 years old is not old by law school standards. The average age of the full time class at Temple is 25, and the average age of the part time class will be even higher. You have a lot more time to consider your choices than you think you do.

In a year or two, you'll be able to move out of "grunt work" into something that's more conducive to your skill set. If you like investigations, I promise you there are more/better ways to get there than from law as a career. Not sure what PA police officers make, but in CA, six years (two prior, four in law school) as a cop, you'd be coming up on the 100k mark. You might not see that much money again as an attorney for 5-6 years after you graduate. Plus, your pension is way better right now.

If you're a smart guy and a hard worker, you'll do well with the PD.

How long have you been a police officer?

retake

My work involves some investigation when I draft complaints, but it's almost entirely internet-based. If you like being out in the field, following your nose, etc., it's not necessarily the job for you to be a lawyer.