How badly do you regret having gone to law school ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not at all. But it worked out well for me (I have a semi-interesting fed job that pays 170k/yr and I rarely work more than 40 hrs/week.) But I am a lawyers lawyer - I love the minutia - and I can find any area of the law interesting.

OP there are many different ways to practice law. I’m sure you can find one. How come you have not been able to find anything?

because it’s an unforgiving profession with a caste system and I’m at the bottom

Are you ... Document Review Guy?

He is DEFINITELY DRG and he needs therapy, not commiseration.

[Anonymous]

Big regrets, but it's complicated wishing away a decision like that.

The bad: I did not wind up practicing law and paying back my loans is taking forever. I graduated debt free from undergrad and really wish I had just entered the workforce then. I've made more money with a law degree than I would have without it, but not enough to justify the money I borrowed and it has really narrowed my career options in an unpleasant way (I like my current job well enough but it's not what I'd choose to do if I did it again, and I've had a number of truly terrible jobs that I took for the money and because they allowed me to use my degree). If I were to advise anyone now, I would say go work for at least 3-4 years between undergrad and law school and then see if you still want to go. But I actually got that advice before I went, from a person I didn't like, and I should have taken it. It's hard to tell a 22 year old anything.

The good: I likely would not have ended up in the city where I now live without that a degree. I would not have made the friends I did, who are still my closest friends today. I would not have met my husband and thus would not have had my daughter. I have zero regrets about any of that and find the idea of not having those things pretty devastating.

But yeah, if there were a way to just erase that degree and the loans from my life, and chalk those three years up to a lesson learned, I'd take it in a heartbeat.

[Anonymous]

I don't regret law school at all. I have a good job that I mostly enjoy with people I like a lot (in biglaw, even). I make a ton of money so that I can pay for kids' educations, take nice vacations, live in a nice house, drive nice cars, and save money.

I don't think I would have been well suited to the other professions that would have made this possible.

[Anonymous]

I definitely have regrets about law school. I didn't enjoy law school or working in the law field. Of course, I hated having the student debt (which I only paid off recently after making payments for 15 years. The only plus was making my parents proud and receiving immediate respect (though perhaps unjustified) when I meet new people. But still - unless, you LOVE practicing law, I don't think it is worth it. At the time, my parents pressured me to go b/c I didn't know what I wanted to do (like many 22-23 year olds).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a toughie.

I came from nothing and went to law school because I didn't know what else to do with a liberal arts degree. I had a terrible LSAT score (being too unsophisticated and poor to even know about the existence of prep courses) but very high grades from a decent but not great college. I got into a school at the bottom of the top 20-25 at a time when tuition wasn't as crazy as it is now, so I went. I somehow ended up at the very top of the class, got a great clerkship, and from there landed a job with a top firm in Biglaw. It took a while, but eventually I made equity partner, made a lot of money (low by Biglaw partner standards but still very good), -- and walked away completely in my early 50s.

I hated every minute of my time with Biglaw. My colleagues were zero fun at their best and total a$$holes at their worst. The clients were only slightly better, and of course mostly evil. The hours themselves weren't always killer, but you never really could be comfortably off the clock and that brings a lot of stress even when you're not working. You constantly felt yourself being "evaluated" in one way or another, and it didn't stop once you made partner.

I remember having lunch with other partners in the firm cafeteria and listening to them talk proudly of how their kids were at T-14 law schools and joinging biglaw - and feeling really sorry both for them and the kids.

I stayed in the law for one reason alone: money. I had a big family and big families require money. It's also very hard to walk away from that kind of money when you come from none, especially when you have a famiiy. You feel like it's crazy or even selfish to give it up. But give it up I did, almost the second my youngest graduated college.

So, to sum it all of, the law gave me a real leg up on providing very well for a great family and enabling me to retire very early and very comfortably, and I'm grateful for all of that. But it sure sucked the whole time I was doing it.

do you actually not work at all now? what do you do with your time? maybe I’m a weirdo but if I were in your position I would have so much fun doing pro bono cases and kicking *ss.

I no longer do any kid of work at all. I have no interest in "kicking ass" in the legal field, even doing pro bono. I let my law license expire years ago and no longer even consider myself a lawyer. Before Covid, I traveled internationally a lot and otherwise just hung out with family and friends. When Covid hit, I bought a country house with a pool and hunkered down. It's been great. Who knows what's next -- after we get past the Delta variant, that is!

[Anonymous]

Best decision I ever made. I was working as a bench chemist and was totally miserable. I now work for the government and love my job. I make a decent income while working 40 hours a week.

[Anonymous]

I loved law school and don’t practice anymore. I learned some great skills in law school that many people don’t have - writing, persuasion, analytical skills, logic, and oral advocacy. I Do a mix of policy and government relations work for federal contractors. I have excellent work life balance and like the people I work with. You don’t have to be a lawyer to get a lot out of a law school education.

[Anonymous]

Can we schedule an intervention for doc review guy?? Like redo his resume and apply him for other jobs? I know so many people who easily move on from doc review. It’s not this dead end job he thinks it is. Go do something unrelated to law

[Anonymous]

But wherever you go, there you are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a toughie.

I came from nothing and went to law school because I didn't know what else to do with a liberal arts degree. I had a terrible LSAT score (being too unsophisticated and poor to even know about the existence of prep courses) but very high grades from a decent but not great college. I got into a school at the bottom of the top 20-25 at a time when tuition wasn't as crazy as it is now, so I went. I somehow ended up at the very top of the class, got a great clerkship, and from there landed a job with a top firm in Biglaw. It took a while, but eventually I made equity partner, made a lot of money (low by Biglaw partner standards but still very good), -- and walked away completely in my early 50s.

I hated every minute of my time with Biglaw. My colleagues were zero fun at their best and total a$$holes at their worst. The clients were only slightly better, and of course mostly evil. The hours themselves weren't always killer, but you never really could be comfortably off the clock and that brings a lot of stress even when you're not working. You constantly felt yourself being "evaluated" in one way or another, and it didn't stop once you made partner.

I remember having lunch with other partners in the firm cafeteria and listening to them talk proudly of how their kids were at T-14 law schools and joinging biglaw - and feeling really sorry both for them and the kids.

I stayed in the law for one reason alone: money. I had a big family and big families require money. It's also very hard to walk away from that kind of money when you come from none, especially when you have a famiiy. You feel like it's crazy or even selfish to give it up. But give it up I did, almost the second my youngest graduated college.

So, to sum it all of, the law gave me a real leg up on providing very well for a great family and enabling me to retire very early and very comfortably, and I'm grateful for all of that. But it sure sucked the whole time I was doing it.

do you actually not work at all now? what do you do with your time? maybe I’m a weirdo but if I were in your position I would have so much fun doing pro bono cases and kicking *ss.

I no longer do any kid of work at all. I have no interest in "kicking ass" in the legal field, even doing pro bono. I let my law license expire years ago and no longer even consider myself a lawyer. Before Covid, I traveled internationally a lot and otherwise just hung out with family and friends. When Covid hit, I bought a country house with a pool and hunkered down. It's been great. Who knows what's next -- after we get past the Delta variant, that is!

How much money did you have when you retired? Im a lawyer, late forties, with six millions saved and no kids to put through college and am trying to decide if that’s enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can we schedule an intervention for doc review guy?? Like redo his resume and apply him for other jobs? I know so many people who easily move on from doc review. It’s not this dead end job he thinks it is. Go do something unrelated to law

nobody “easily” moves on from doc review unless they had a prior career.

[Anonymous]

I don’t anymore. Graduated in the last recession so for the first couple of years, I questioned my choice but I hustled and have been debt free and had good jobs for awhile. It’s been a good investment

[Anonymous]

I don’t regret it. Met my spouse there, so it would be worth it for that alone. Did biglaw for a few years and then switched to a regional mid-sized firm where I’m now an equity partner. Clients are generally nice, I mostly have nights and weekends off, and I have a lot of flexibility. The work is not always the most glamorous (I do smaller M&A deals and outside GC work for the most part). The comp is less than what I would be making in biglaw for sure, but it’s hard to complain about a $500k plus HHI in a lower cost of living city.

Like a PP, I went straight to law school since I had no clue what to do with my liberal arts degree, and it has worked out well. I came out with $190k in debt, and it’s down to $25k. Spouse didn’t have to take on any debt, which made a big difference in our agility to buy a house in our 20s, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not at all. But it worked out well for me (I have a semi-interesting fed job that pays 170k/yr and I rarely work more than 40 hrs/week.) But I am a lawyers lawyer - I love the minutia - and I can find any area of the law interesting.

OP there are many different ways to practice law. I’m sure you can find one. How come you have not been able to find anything?

because it’s an unforgiving profession with a caste system and I’m at the bottom

This is correct.

30 years ago universities began corporatizing. The MBAs and corporate CEOs who started filling up administration and boards saw law schools as a cash cow. Faculty mostly let this happen. At the same time the ABA decided to accredit all kinds of schools. Student loans got easier. And then Wall Street vipers came in and started creating trash for-profit diploma mills that left their students in financial shackles.

The reason law school is a bad decision today is that it’s too easy to get into a school that costs way way too much.
As usual in America, blame the wealthy, the investor class, and corporations.

[Anonymous]

I don't regret it, but full acknowledge that I was lucky. The Army paid for most of my education and then gave me a great law job right out of school. Even then I didn't know how good I had it and after four years I decided to "cash in" on a high paying job at a big law firm, only to discover how awful life could feel. I felt fortunate to escape back to a government law job. I'm now at over 20 years of service with just 7 left to retire but probably won't leave, since I get well paid for a 40 hour a week job that I find interesting and still leaves a balance for family and travel and other interests.

Unless you can get into the government, or can make ends meet at a nonprofit, or are the rare breed who loves BIGLAW (and they are out there), I can see how finding both employment and happiness as a lawyer be really hard.