What can I do with a JD and an MSW?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A law degree is useful because it allows entry to the legal profession or it trains you to analyze with the legal implications in mind. However, you've never taken the bar and don't plan to take it, and you don't remember anything from law school. So you would like to make use of your law degree but not practice law or do a job that requires you to think legally. So I guess your question should be you want a position that superficially requires a "JD" behind the name but the actual functioning of the position does not require any legal acumen?

OP here. Correct. I'm wondering if I can still use my JD somehow.

But (I'm not that poster) ... in what capacity? You don't remember anything, and you don't have any legal experience, and you don't have the qualification (bar membership) giving you license to do anything with it. It's like me saying "I'd like to use my high school French, but I don't remember any of it."

The JD is moot now.

OP here. Well in order to re-learn things in the law I'm willing to do an unpaid internship or something like that while I continue with my current part-time job. Starting next year I can work full-time, maybe an unpaid internship plus my current 20 hour/per week job. I'd like to work full-time in a more career-oriented career eventually, but we don't need my income and I'm doing this mainly to keep my mind sharp.

[Anonymous]

op, I wouldn't repeat the same mistake with the MSW as you did with the JD. Absolutely you should jump through the hoops get your LICSW. This will make a huge difference in terms of options available to you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:op, I wouldn't repeat the same mistake with the MSW as you did with the JD. Absolutely you should jump through the hoops get your LICSW. This will make a huge difference in terms of options available to you.

OP here. Yes, I agree. I was in the middle of getting my hours for my LICSW when I had to resign from my job due to health reasons. So I no longer have those hours for my LICSW. I'm going to have to start all over, which is fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:honestly, I bet some of the law school stuff will come back to OP. And if she went to a top law school, they likely didn't teach very practical stuff. I attended a similar school and basically they taught you how to be a law prof, not a lawyer (since most of the profs were amazing in school, clerked for a few years, maybe did a year or two at a firm or government or something, and then returned to academia). Even if OP were fresh out of law school, she probably wouldn't know how to write a will, have taken a class in Medicare or Social Security issues, taken a deposition, or other useful things.

OP here. You're right. I never learned how to do any practical things in law school, it was exactly as you say, learn how to be a law prof. Why don't they teach those practical things in law school? I would have enjoyed law school a lot more if they had.

[Anonymous]

You can be a mediator without having your law license.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A law degree is useful because it allows entry to the legal profession or it trains you to analyze with the legal implications in mind. However, you've never taken the bar and don't plan to take it, and you don't remember anything from law school. So you would like to make use of your law degree but not practice law or do a job that requires you to think legally. So I guess your question should be you want a position that superficially requires a "JD" behind the name but the actual functioning of the position does not require any legal acumen?

OP here. Correct. I'm wondering if I can still use my JD somehow.

But (I'm not that poster) ... in what capacity? You don't remember anything, and you don't have any legal experience, and you don't have the qualification (bar membership) giving you license to do anything with it. It's like me saying "I'd like to use my high school French, but I don't remember any of it."

The JD is moot now.

That's not really how law school works. You still have the credential. She's not looking to *practice*.

[Anonymous]

Why are you going back to work, OP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm 40. I have a JD (never used) and an MSW (been working as a social worker). I have been working part-time for the last few years in a non-clinical social work role while I SAH part-time with my young children. My youngest is going to Kindergarten next year and I'm ready to go back to work full-time.

I graduated from a top law school but never took the bar exam for various reasons. Social work was a better fit for me. I'm looking to change careers slightly and maybe try to incorporate my JD somehow. My area of specialty/experience includes working with the elderly and individuals with disabilities. Being a geriatric care manager really appeals to me as one possible option.

I think too much time has passed from law school for me to go back and practice law now and take the bar exam. I don't remember anything from law school. But if possible I would like to make use of my JD that has been collecting dust for 15 years now.

Any suggestions for me?

Maybe you could become a divorce lawyer, an elder fraud investigator, a long-term care planner, or a financial planner who specializes in helping affluent but messed up families with their finances. Or, maybe you could set up some kind of law firm service bureau that employs people with neurological disabilities. Example: Set up a social media promotion firm for law firms.