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35 y.o. DH thinking about Law School (2nd career). Advice?
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Anonymous
| I work with a number of recovering lawyers and they have all told me that in their experience those who love law school (and the law) hate being lawyers and those who hate law school law being lawyers. I work in a pseudo regulatory field so there is some value in having a law degree, but half of my office are attorneys who hated being lawyers. if he thinks he'd like the law, I seriously doubt he'd like practicing it in a traditional sense. |
Anonymous
Agreed, they are both mediocre. |
Anonymous
I totally disagree. I'm a UVA grad so no dog in this fight, but I do a lot of recruiting for my firm. Mason has been shooting up the rankings in the past several years and is already ranked higher than Maryland, even though Maryland is over a century old and Mason has barely been around 30 years. Mason also has the advantage of being 5 minutes from DC and all of the job and networking opportunities that affords. And I believe Mason is also cheaper than Maryland, both in-state and out-of-state. I'd still choose Georgetown or GW over either one, but between Mason and Maryland I think Mason is definitely a better bet from a long-term job-opportunity standpoint. |
Anonymous
|
OP, you can not get distracted in law school. It sounds like you and DH have a lot on their plate.
Quick, true story - DH knew someone in law school that a problem student latched onto. Needy, needy, needy. But the problem child was related to someone famous so problem child just barely made it through a not-so-good (apparently not miracle worker famous) But problem child was never happy. law school. The person "pc" clung onto (used for rides and such) ended up out on her ass. The leach had nothing to lose; it didn't matter what problem child did wrong, she was never going to get thrown out with her connections. Her connections even landed her a damn good job. Unfortunately, the nice friend had everything to lose; she thought she was "helping" a "friend" in need and ended up out on her ass. She was starting a family of her own and had a mortgage and "grown up bills" to take care of. Of course, no one to help her then. DH always says he wonders what happened to the nice friend, since she was the one who "deserved" to do well; she was a better student (when not distracted with drama) and just a nicer person. Apparently, the problem student would not hesitate to throw anyone under the bus, and DH did not doubt that problem child did that to his friend in more ways than one. Problem child even had a married guy with a sick wife on the side! Problem child thrived from drama, drama, drama and DH says she probably still does. Morals of the story: 1.) Being the nicer person does not a lawyer make. 2.) Always, always, always avoid the problem student or the like. 3.) Your DH needs no distractions if he plans to go to law school. A wife and family, well that would really make things difficult. In addition, I have to chime in with agreement that there are just too many lawyers as it is! |
Anonymous
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Oops, should read: law school. But problem child was never happy.
Talk about distracted! |
Anonymous
This makes absolutely no sense. |
Anonymous
| Advice? Short and sweet -- don't do it. |
Anonymous
| oh my. |
Anonymous
| What is his end goal? What type of law does he want to practice? In what environment? A firm? A bank? Government? Non-profit? "Law" doesn't really narrow it down enough to answer this question. Ask him what he really wants to do and maybe we can try to answer. If he doesn't know, he should start talking to some lawyers about what they do - there is a huge range. |
Anonymous
What in the world are you talking about? And why? |
Anonymous
| You know that lawyers have one of, if not the highest, rate of suicides and substance abuse for a profession, right? Could be that certain personality types gravitate to it but I think there is a lot of stress and at times a real lack of appreciation for the enormous amount of work done. |
Anonymous
|
Front page of NY Times today: "Armies of Expensive Lawyers, Replaced by Cheaper Software"
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/05/science/05legal.html?pagewanted=1&hp The legal industry is restructuring... Work once done by highly paid associates at big law firms (doc review- billed out at hundreds of $ per hour) was once performed by contract attorneys in this country (hourly wage w/o benefits), then by contract attorneys in India (outsourcing), now by computers using linguistics technology. This means there is even MORE of a glut of lawyers than we thought. |
Anonymous
are you drunk? |
Anonymous
| Since I haven't seen in this thread any experiences of starting law school at 35, I thought I'd add to it. A friend of mine started law school in his late thirties, when he was already married and a father. He did very well in school, got a clerkship, and is now with a mid-sized firm. He is pretty happy and law is a good fit for him. The downside is that the hours are absolutely horrendous, and what might be bearable at 25 or 26 is very hard when you are 42 and have kids (his spouse is having a very hard time with it, and it's not great with the kids). Also, the law firm setup is hierarchical based on years experience and he is the low man on the totem: again, hard, when you are 42 and have other experience. But on the other hand, he knows he is lucky to have landed a decent job in this economy. |
Anonymous
That was neither quick nor a story. More like the ramblings of a lunatic. |