Anyone here go to law school in their 30's and feel like it was financially smart?

[Anonymous]

Know two people who never used it. Both women. YMMV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At that age an MBA program might be worth it, but not law school.

OP here- I've been invited to apply to a top 5 MBA program as well. I'm trying to decide between part time law or part time MBA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At that age an MBA program might be worth it, but not law school.

OP here- I've been invited to apply to a top 5 MBA program as well. I'm trying to decide between part time law or part time MBA.

Also isn't a law degree useful for just random but important things in life? Like contracts you may be involved in, family issues etc.

[Anonymous]

question for OP: exactly what are you join g to accomplish with the grade free?

Law degree becomes very useful once you reach executive level positions. At most non-JD required/preferred jobs, your law degree won’t help much.

[Anonymous]

Part time law school while working a real full time job is grueling. You have to start work early to get off early for class (e.g., 7 AM - 4 PM), rush across town, and then have class from 5 PM - 9 PM. After that you still have to do all your reading for class. You'll need to use vacation time to prep for finals. All weekends will be consumed with studying and catching up on laundry, cooking, etc to make up for the crazy week nights. You'll have zero social life for 4 years if you want decent grades.

You'll also likely need to quit your good paying full time job (or at least take a leave of absence) for two summers to to student associate stints. These are essential to get good employment as a lawyer after graduation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At that age an MBA program might be worth it, but not law school.

OP here- I've been invited to apply to a top 5 MBA program as well. I'm trying to decide between part time law or part time MBA.

Also isn't a law degree useful for just random but important things in life? Like contracts you may be involved in, family issues etc.

No it isn't useful in that way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At that age an MBA program might be worth it, but not law school.

OP here- I've been invited to apply to a top 5 MBA program as well. I'm trying to decide between part time law or part time MBA.

Also isn't a law degree useful for just random but important things in life? Like contracts you may be involved in, family issues etc.

No, absolutely not. Law school teaches you how to spot and analyze legal issues. Legal practice actually teaches you an area of the law. My practice doesn't involve K's or family law. At best, I can tell you when you need a lawyer for those issues. I might remember enough from studying for the bar that I might be able to spot some issues, but I certainly can't spot all the issues nor do I have the time or willingness to do the legal research necessary to analyze said issues.

Anyways, this sort of 'couldn't it be useful for things in life' idea has always baffled me. It'd also be useful to know whether that chest pain is indigestion or a heart attack, but no one advocates spending 4 years and $250K on med school cause it could be useful.

[Anonymous]

To reiterate the point, it is only worth getting a professional degree if you want to be in that profession.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I work in policy and need a graduate degree. I'm 36. Trying to decide between an MPP or law degree, and want to see if anyone who is financially savvy on this board did the same at my age, and did you find you were able to get a return on your investment?

Thank you in advance for any insight!

I did, but honestly law school is MUCH more expensive now, so IDK if it is worth it (ie: time/money). Since you asked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work in policy and need a graduate degree. I'm 36. Trying to decide between an MPP or law degree, and want to see if anyone who is financially savvy on this board did the same at my age, and did you find you were able to get a return on your investment?

Thank you in advance for any insight!

I did, but honestly law school is MUCH more expensive now, so IDK if it is worth it (ie: time/money). Since you asked.

Say cost isn’t an issue- has it been worth it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not me but, I had a couple of good friends in law school who were in their thirties and definitely made it worthwhile. One was a CPA at big 4 and made partner very quickly doing tax law. The other was a government contracting officer. In both cases, their degrees vaulted their careers, but in both cases their careers lent themselves to it

Any kind of compliance is always in demand. Think of it this way - the need never goes away and not a lot of people like doing it. Classic supply and demand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work in policy and need a graduate degree. I'm 36. Trying to decide between an MPP or law degree, and want to see if anyone who is financially savvy on this board did the same at my age, and did you find you were able to get a return on your investment?

Thank you in advance for any insight!

I did, but honestly law school is MUCH more expensive now, so IDK if it is worth it (ie: time/money). Since you asked.

Say cost isn’t an issue- has it been worth it?

I don't work in the law field, I am in a totally different field that I would have landed in, either way. It has to be "worth it" for you - you have to be actually interested in the law. 30 is considered "old person" in daytime law school.

[Anonymous]

Me, but I had a full scholarship.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To clarify- I’m considering part time law school.

Are you paying for it? If yes, then only do it if you want to practice as a lawyer. If no, then sure.

If course, if you're asking whether law school is a good investment in general? For the average grad, no, absolutely not. At a T14, then it's probably a decent investment for about half the class.

I strongly recommend that you look at the bimodal distribution of lawyer salaries, and understand that there's a high and a low, and nothing in between. The mythical group in the middle - - in house counsel, non-supervisory GS15s, etc - - started at a big law firm.

I always thought like this poster, but now that I'm a hiring manager in-house, I see that it isn't quite true. I have seen many resumes of lawyers who start in-house after doing in-house internships or low-level state clerkships and similar, and spend a lot of time at very small companies or as contract manager type roles at larger companies. These lawyers seem to be heavily weighted to commercial transactions lawyers, and definitely do seem to have lower salaries than their counterparts who came from big law. The salaries we've been asked to match are more "middle" --- in the $90k to $150k range. The biggest risk for this type of lawyer is that their work is easily automated, or pushed down to lower-level "contract manager" types.

I myself am a T5 graduate who spent 7 years at a firm, and came in-house as a sr counsel.

[Anonymous]

What's your LSAT score?