Law school as an adult??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:48 years old and now I am thinking about going back to law school. Does anyone know of a good accredited law school online since I work part time with 3 kids? Also someone told me there are some law schools that give big scholarships for working Moms. Helpful when we have college tuitions to pay soon!! Thanks

Please don't do this, especially if you have to go into debt to do it.

Signed,

Lawyer who has been practicing for 23 years

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can you become a paralegal instead?

The legal profession is based on prestige and on the East Coast status translates to money. It will be almost impossible for you to go to an accredited online school and get hired.
Things that you cannot get at an online law school: law review or journal experience, moot court experience, public service hours, ABA accreditation, letters from quality professors for clerkship experience, large alumni network


If you are dead-set, apply for a job at Georgetown Law, and then go to night school.

So applying for a job guarantees entry into the program?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU DO THIS?!?

I am not kidding, OP. I cannot fathom why this would be attractive.

- lawyer mom who would do it very differently if given another shot

What would you do differently and why

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you become a paralegal instead?

The legal profession is based on prestige and on the East Coast status translates to money. It will be almost impossible for you to go to an accredited online school and get hired.
Things that you cannot get at an online law school: law review or journal experience, moot court experience, public service hours, ABA accreditation, letters from quality professors for clerkship experience, large alumni network


If you are dead-set, apply for a job at Georgetown Law, and then go to night school.

So applying for a job guarantees entry into the program?

DP. No (I realize this was likely tongue in cheek). But also note most universities require you work there for a certain period of time before you can get tuition remission. And it’s taxable.

[Anonymous]

Law school is not graduate school, it's vo-tech for professionals. You are not going to find a lot of "intellectual stimulation," especially in an online program. It's a lot of money and you will almost certainly never practice law, so it's pointless. Get a paralegal certificate, or mediation, or something totally unrelated to the law, where you have an actual chance of using it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU DO THIS?!?

I am not kidding, OP. I cannot fathom why this would be attractive.

- lawyer mom who would do it very differently if given another shot

What would you do differently and why

I would have gone to culinary school and been a caterer. Food is my passion, law is just what I thought I was supposed to do. And honestly, I could have had the exact same career with a MPH or MPP and saved myself a lot of loans and time.

But, OP, there are so many great ideas for things you could do if you need a recharge and more engagement - putting yourself through law school would not even be on my list top 100 ideas. Please do start a new thread with some info on your interests and salary needs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:48 years old and now I am thinking about going back to law school. Does anyone know of a good accredited law school online since I work part time with 3 kids? Also someone told me there are some law schools that give big scholarships for working Moms. Helpful when we have college tuitions to pay soon!! Thanks

Waste of time & money. If you don't believe me, then ask Kim Kardasian.

Kim didn't go to law school--she just took the baby bar exam, which you don't need to have a degree to do.

[Anonymous]

Don’t do it!! Do literally any other grad program. Law school takes many years and a ton of money! The value return is very low for most of us.
Signed- a miserable lawyer

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can I suggest getting a mediation certificate? You don’t need a law degree and there are community mediation volunteer opportunities that I think scratch a lot of the same itch.

Do you have a link to a program that offers a certificate?

Northwestern has one online that was reasonably affordable.

[Anonymous]

It's hundreds of thousands of dollars and will be SO unpleasant. I say this as someone who generally enjoyed law school and had liked my career overall so far. But all the things that were great about LS for me would NOT have been true in an online setting and if I had kids and was working. I was all-in and also made lots of friends, lived in a glorified dorm, etc.

Georgetown has a good PT program but not sure if it's fully online. To be blunt you have to go someplace with some name recognition to have any real path forward. Being older will only make it harder and you will hate a job like Jr associate in biglaw if you have kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:48 years old and now I am thinking about going back to law school. Does anyone know of a good accredited law school online since I work part time with 3 kids? Also someone told me there are some law schools that give big scholarships for working Moms. Helpful when we have college tuitions to pay soon!! Thanks

If you're serious, please understand that someone who is too lazy to even research part time school will not succeed in law school and most definitely not in practice.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn’t do this unless you have a really really good reason. Otherwise it will likely be a huge waste of money, time and energy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t do this unless you have a really really good reason. Otherwise it will likely be a huge waste of money, time and energy

In immigrant families it's a prestige to be a lawyer. And so many people in this area who can afford this area and make so much money are lawyers. I'm not getting the 'miserable' lawyers on here? what's your deal?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t do this unless you have a really really good reason. Otherwise it will likely be a huge waste of money, time and energy

In immigrant families it's a prestige to be a lawyer. And so many people in this area who can afford this area and make so much money are lawyers. I'm not getting the 'miserable' lawyers on here? what's your deal?

Getting a high paying lawyer job is not the typical outcome. Most high paying lawyer jobs are very tedious and incredibly stressful. You don't get it because you haven't worked in big law, and you refuse to believe anyone who tells you what it's like.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t do this unless you have a really really good reason. Otherwise it will likely be a huge waste of money, time and energy

In immigrant families it's a prestige to be a lawyer. And so many people in this area who can afford this area and make so much money are lawyers. I'm not getting the 'miserable' lawyers on here? what's your deal?

NP. I'm not a miserable lawyer, but, I absolutely hated law school. Agree with the above poster who said there is zero intellectual stimulation in law school. If that's the reason OP wants to go, there are far better and less expensive ways to achieve that.