25 y/o $4M Net Worth-should I go to law school?

[Anonymous]

A friend of ours went to law school, paid for by his employer, and then did not take the bar exam.

When someone asked him why he didn’t take the bar exam, his response was, “if someone shoved a needle in my eye, why would I take it out and shove it back in repeatedly?”

Don’t go to law school unless you really want to be a lawyer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You don't want to be a lawyer. Don't go to law school.

+1 I am a lawyer in BigLaw, and I don't hate it like most on these boards, but the fact is you have the safety net to do whatever you want with your life, OP. Why would you choose to do something you don't want to do? Just stay at your current job and spend some time thinking about what career path actually would make you happy - even if the salary isn't huge at least it isn't costing you money like law school would.

[Anonymous]

Law school is a refuge for UMC kids who don’t know what else to do. Hard pass on it.

[NickScarfo]

Anonymous wrote:If you don't want to be a lawyer, you shouldn't go to law school. If you do go to law school, you shouldn't assume you will get into BigLaw. If you do get into BigLaw, but you don't really want to be a lawyer, you will hate it and get out as soon as possible. The BigLaw to government path worked for me very well, but I wanted to be a lawyer and didn't care that much about acquiring wealth. It doesn't fit your situation at all.

I'd only go to a law school with uber strong Biglaw stats (T10) and was only interested in Biglaw within the legal field.

[NickScarfo]

Anonymous wrote:

NickScarfo wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You don’t want to practice law, it seems.

Regardless of your nest egg, I would advise working for a few years anyway, since you are not feeling driven to go to law school.

You can always go to law school when you are older, especially since you won’t have to take out debt.

I inherited seven million dollars recently and am a lawyer. If I knew that was going to be my situation, I probably would have tried to get a job in finance, private wealth management etc after college, gone to law school and taken lots of trust and estate classes, and then gone into estate law.

But I’m a nerd who likes law.

Lots of great jobs out there that don’t require a law degree.

Why do you feel you would need an education in wealth mgmt/T&E to handle a windfall? I had a great lawyer, CPA, and now, an RIA, handle estate matters.
My question only related to law school from a financial POV.

PP did not say that at all. You would not be a very good lawyer.

Ouch! He seemed to imply the knowledge would be useful, but it seems like overkill to me. I don't think I misread the post.

[Anonymous]

NickScarfo wrote:Hi, all! New to the forum. I'm a 25 year old 2018 Ivy League graduate who was forced to delay my career start because of parental illness.
Before graduation, I'd been contemplating going to law school with the hope of entering Biglaw.
After dealing with my dad's death and estate, I inherited the above figure. The inheritance is invested with target returns of ~7-10%.

With this starting nest egg, I decided to forgo law school (and the allure of a Biglaw salary) in favor of a F100 graduate training program (commercial insurance) with a $65k starting salary.
I don't have an intrinsic desire to practice law at this point. I also plan on living only on my actively generated income and taking full advantage of compound interest.

From a pure earnings/wealth building perspective, is law school worth it for me?

If you are only interested in financial returns, you need to think about what others on this thread have said (taking into account the risk of not getting a job in big law in 4 years etc). Consider the financial possibilities for commercial insurance, and also consider the opportunity cost of going to law school (e.g. you would NOT be earning your commercial insurance salary while spending a LOT of money for law school). Your break-even point is much further down the road than you might think.

It sounds like law school is not a good fit for you, based on what little you write. FWIW, I work with high net worth individuals, most of whom don't need to work. For your own mental health (and financial stability), make sure you are on some kind of career path for at least a while. You can make other choices down the road.

[Anonymous]

Your biggest risk is to marry unwisely or get a bad financial adviser. If you go get an mba look for a spouse in grad school.

[NickScarfo]

Anonymous wrote:

NickScarfo wrote:Hi, all! New to the forum. I'm a 25 year old 2018 Ivy League graduate who was forced to delay my career start because of parental illness.
Before graduation, I'd been contemplating going to law school with the hope of entering Biglaw.
After dealing with my dad's death and estate, I inherited the above figure. The inheritance is invested with target returns of ~7-10%.

With this starting nest egg, I decided to forgo law school (and the allure of a Biglaw salary) in favor of a F100 graduate training program (commercial insurance) with a $65k starting salary.
I don't have an intrinsic desire to practice law at this point. I also plan on living only on my actively generated income and taking full advantage of compound interest.

From a pure earnings/wealth building perspective, is law school worth it for me?

If you are only interested in financial returns, you need to think about what others on this thread have said (taking into account the risk of not getting a job in big law in 4 years etc). Consider the financial possibilities for commercial insurance, and also consider the opportunity cost of going to law school (e.g. you would NOT be earning your commercial insurance salary while spending a LOT of money for law school). Your break-even point is much further down the road than you might think.

It sounds like law school is not a good fit for you, based on what little you write. FWIW, I work with high net worth individuals, most of whom don't need to work. For your own mental health (and financial stability), make sure you are on some kind of career path for at least a while. You can make other choices down the road.

Thank you! I definitely want a good career, just not necessarily a legal one. I think of this money as a fund for [occasional] major asset purchases and eventual retirement. I was in a very different position when I last seriously considered law school. My starting salary in the corporate world is only an entry level figure. I expect to have more options over time as I build a skill base and industry knowledge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you want to learn to invest money wisely, then a JD/MBA is your best bet over just law school alone. But don't do it if that is something that you feel you SHOULD do vs. what you WANT to do. If you will get career satisfaction out of learning to parley that nest egg into something bigger---then that's a valid path. But other paths (such as learning to be a financial advisor, e.g.) also offer that same knowledge with a much better quality of life than a full on JD program and BigLaw job.

A JD/MBA is never a 'best bet.' it's only an extremely inefficient way to flush $300K down the toilet.

[Anonymous]

NickScarfo wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

NickScarfo wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You don’t want to practice law, it seems.

Regardless of your nest egg, I would advise working for a few years anyway, since you are not feeling driven to go to law school.

You can always go to law school when you are older, especially since you won’t have to take out debt.

I inherited seven million dollars recently and am a lawyer. If I knew that was going to be my situation, I probably would have tried to get a job in finance, private wealth management etc after college, gone to law school and taken lots of trust and estate classes, and then gone into estate law.

But I’m a nerd who likes law.

Lots of great jobs out there that don’t require a law degree.

Why do you feel you would need an education in wealth mgmt/T&E to handle a windfall? I had a great lawyer, CPA, and now, an RIA, handle estate matters.
My question only related to law school from a financial POV.

PP did not say that at all. You would not be a very good lawyer.

Ouch! He seemed to imply the knowledge would be useful, but it seems like overkill to me. I don't think I misread the post.

DP but yes, you did misread the post. PPP said they would chase that knowledge and then turn it into a career because they would be academically interested in their position and would nerd out about it, and have a passion for the law.

You have none of that. You have a secure financial foundation and a desire to extract the best ROI. Law school is not it because the money doesn't justify the time unless you're *also* passionate about what you're doing. You want to do "BigLaw" which is not even an area of law, it's a type of employer. Without passion, BigLaw is a slog. Most people grind it out because they have loans to pay down, are saving for a downpayment, ring, nest egg to start a family - all the things you already have. So it would be a slog in an unknown area of law to reach a financial breakeven point about 7 years from now . . . why?

[NickScarfo]

Anonymous wrote:Your biggest risk is to marry unwisely or get a bad financial adviser. If you go get an mba look for a spouse in grad school.

I'm generally skeptical towards marriage anyway.

[NickScarfo]

Anonymous wrote:

NickScarfo wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

NickScarfo wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You don’t want to practice law, it seems.

Regardless of your nest egg, I would advise working for a few years anyway, since you are not feeling driven to go to law school.

You can always go to law school when you are older, especially since you won’t have to take out debt.

I inherited seven million dollars recently and am a lawyer. If I knew that was going to be my situation, I probably would have tried to get a job in finance, private wealth management etc after college, gone to law school and taken lots of trust and estate classes, and then gone into estate law.

But I’m a nerd who likes law.

Lots of great jobs out there that don’t require a law degree.

Why do you feel you would need an education in wealth mgmt/T&E to handle a windfall? I had a great lawyer, CPA, and now, an RIA, handle estate matters.
My question only related to law school from a financial POV.

PP did not say that at all. You would not be a very good lawyer.

Ouch! He seemed to imply the knowledge would be useful, but it seems like overkill to me. I don't think I misread the post.

DP but yes, you did misread the post. PPP said they would chase that knowledge and then turn it into a career because they would be academically interested in their position and would nerd out about it, and have a passion for the law.

You have none of that. You have a secure financial foundation and a desire to extract the best ROI. Law school is not it because the money doesn't justify the time unless you're *also* passionate about what you're doing. You want to do "BigLaw" which is not even an area of law, it's a type of employer. Without passion, BigLaw is a slog. Most people grind it out because they have loans to pay down, are saving for a downpayment, ring, nest egg to start a family - all the things you already have. So it would be a slog in an unknown area of law to reach a financial breakeven point about 7 years from now . . . why?

You're right. Law school is a tremendous investment for someone who doesn't have a true calling. That said, I've yet to find a true passion for anything and am okay with that. I think I need work and life experience before developing one. As of right now, I take pride in doing good work, learning, and becoming valuable to society. These are not reasons to pursue professional schooling independent of a need to build wealth.

[Anonymous]

I'm sorry for your loss.

You have a good chunk there to pursue a job you'd be passionate about. Have you thought about what you're passionate about?

[Anonymous]

Maybe try to get into a top public policy masters program and work in government? or for congress?

[Anonymous]

Take some money as an investment in you - to figure out where you get energy. Where are your passions.

Throughout this thread - I have not heard ..... what I really Love is .....
what did you right in your college application? I am sure there was some element of changing the world. Go find that person.

Law School can be great - do you want to do immigration law? Work for the Southern Poverty Law Center? Another part of society that is underserved? [There are students in DC who have learning needs who are 5th year 9th graders - but parents never realized that their children were not getting the services that Federal Laws require DC to provide] You are in the financial position to take your father's hard work, pay it forward, and have a great life.

When you are 50 - and you look back - what do you want to have accomplished?