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I've been toying with an idea lately, and I'm curious as to the thoughts of the Dakka community. I'm 25 right now, and for the last two years of so I have been bouncing from teaching job to teaching job with each new school year due to the education budget for my state being fairly dismal and the extreme competition for teaching positions at the moment. It also doesn't help matters that as time has gone on, I've grown to realize that I'm not particularly fond of teaching. The realization of my discontent has led me to consider what I should do with my life, and I've started to think that pursuing law as a career may be something that I could actually enjoy, as it requires a great deal of critical thinking, debate, reading, and research, all of which are things that I find very enjoyable.

The trouble with my idea is that I already have student loan debts (roughly $50,000 thanks to escalating tuition) and I'm unsure of whether pursuing law is simply a pipe dream or a legitimate course of action. I've checked the American Bar Association's suggested skills and capabilities, and I can confidently say that I can demonstrate such abilities. I have an excellent academic record, an M.A. in teaching and a B.A. in English, excellent references, and I've done well on practice LSAT tests, so I don't believe that admissions would be an insurmountable problem. I'm just really not sure as to whether this is something I should do.

In short then . . . does anyone have any advice?

Maybe contact some law firms and see if they have any programs to help people through university, either just with summer placements, or with financial aid too.

Push your qualifications, maturity (experience), and drive and dedication to pursuing law.

IANAL, so YMMV.

I hear that there just aren't a lot of jobs out there, so a lot of graduates just end up with a few years of debt for their trouble. My cousin graduated, had a little trouble passing the bar, and managed to get a job in real estate laws foreclosing on houses. He'd rather be doing other things in real estate law, but needs to keep a roof over his own head.

An older story is my mother, who went back to school late in life for her law degree. Her joke was that she raised two teenaged boys, what's law school compared to that. She just went to a state school, and made enough money during a summer internship at a major firm to pay for her entire legal education. This was back in the 90s, so might not apply to today's market. Huh, just noticed your location; the school in question was UofL. No idea what their tuition is at these days, or what the local firms are paying. I suspect if there is a glut of young lawyers on the market, the experience and something to put on the resume might be most of what they offer, but have no idea.

In general, life is too short to be doing something you hate. That said, you need to keep a roof over your head. You might want to look into other options, like becoming a paralegal, so you can get into the field and work off some debt and make contacts. Then go back to school and get lawyer'd up. I would take a good, hard look at the job market and make sure something is waiting for you on the other side.

 Nevelon wrote:
IANAL

Has Apple expanded their product line?

FWIW: I am not a lawyer, but my mom and a number of good friends are.


That said, some questions and commentary:

Do you have a passion for legal studies and the law? It sounds like you have the qualifications, but you have the qualifications for teaching as well, and you don't enjoy it. My mother had plenty of qualifications, but it turned out she hated actually practicing law. She spent half her career doing other legal-ish sort of things: running the country Bar Association, running pro-bono agencies, dean of a small law school. I have more than one friend that left their legal careers (but not their student loan debt) to pursue other careers, largely because they hated the work. (Note: A number are still practicing law - and love it - but more of my friends that have legal degrees are no longer practicing than are.)

Have you checked placement rates? They're not great right now, perhaps at an all time low: http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/04/the-jobs-crisis-at-our-best-law-schools-is-much-much-worse-than-you-think/274795/ I'm reminded of Andrew McCarthy in St. Elmo's Fire: "You know there are more people in law school right now than there are lawyers on the entire planet?"

How do you feel about work/life balance? Most new lawyers I know were pretty much work slaves for at least 2-4 years, and that's after law school, which is its own grind.

There is a long running and very informative thread about Law School here.

grayshadow87 wrote:I've been toying with an idea lately

Not a great start....

I've grown to realize that I'm not particularly fond of teaching.

Replace teaching with "the law," and you've described most of my law school classmates and coworkers.

The realization of my discontent has led me to consider what I should do with my life, and I've started to think that pursuing law as a career may be something that I could actually enjoy, as it requires a great deal of critical thinking, debate, reading, and research, all of which are things that I find very enjoyable.

I'm guessing you pick teaching because you thought you'd be good at it and find it enjoyable as well though.

In short then . . . does anyone have any advice?

Would you like that original or extra cynical?

Keep this in mind: I'm a very lucky recent law school graduate. I have a good government job, my debt is terrifying yet managable, and I don't actively regret going to law school.

That said... don't. I'm not saying you should think about it more. I'm not saying do more research. I'm saying, don't go. Three years of school, with loans, for something you might enjoy?

Nevelon wrote:
I hear that there just aren't a lot of jobs out there, so a lot of graduates just end up with a few years of debt for their trouble.

This. So much of this it hurts. My good friend in law school is making about $14/hour with no benefits. She works a second job to pay off loans, and lives with her mother. Two years ago another kid I graduated with made my Chai Latte. I found out that I pass the bar exam on break from my job at Target unloading a truck.




Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Ahtman wrote:
There is a long running and very informative thread about Law School here.

A good bit that I agree with (and have given my own variation of, although this is well written):

Only go to law school next year if (1) you have always dreamed of being a lawyer; or (2) you are accepted by a very prestigious institution; or (3) you are offered a full scholarship.

 Polonius wrote:

grayshadow87 wrote:

The realization of my discontent has led me to consider what I should do with my life, and I've started to think that pursuing law as a career may be something that I could actually enjoy, as it requires a great deal of critical thinking, debate, reading, and research, all of which are things that I find very enjoyable.

I'm guessing you pick teaching because you thought you'd be good at it and find it enjoyable as well though.

I get what you're saying Polonius, and your points are valid. My question though is, isn't this how almost anyone picks a career path? Because they think they'd be good at it and find it enjoyable? I mean, when you get down to it, even if someone has always dreamed of being a lawyer, it's really just a glorified version of thinking they'd be good at it and that they'd like doing it. The debt is significant and there is no guarantee of a job, so that is something that is very important to consider, but nobody, even somebody who's always dreamed of doing something, doesn't really know if they'll like the day-to-day until they actually try it or try something very, very similar.

Well, if you use the same process, you can expect the same results.

Look, maybe he went into education for terrible reasons. But I find it hard to believe he earned a BA and an MA in a field he didn't think about first.