Aspiring law student seeking info from lawyers

[Anonymous]

Argh, hit enter while editing.

Should read "A lot of people who lost their jobs went back to school so they could live on loans for a while." The competition for ALL legal jobs is extraordinary and only likely to get worse as there is contraction in all sectors of the market. The decision about a career can't just be emotionally driven when you are a middle aged parent when the deck is stacked against you possibly ever working in the field in a high paying job OR a save the world one. A prior poster was right in that there have never been many of those PI jobs and there are far fewer now, with a LOT of people competing for them, like thousands for each spot. Some of those people may not ever find a legal job. Hard to save for your kids' college with that kind of staggering debt when you can't find a job. The danger of being overqualified for non-legal jobs is real.

If you are doing this as kind of a vanity career and can really absorb the full tuition cost without missing it (the idea that there are a lot of scholarships for law school just isn't true, especially in this area) then go for it. That includes not needing to work for 3 years or to pay into retirement for 3 years to go to school, not needing the $120k+ for retirement, kid tuition, elderly parents, emergencies like your spouse being laid off. If that is not the financial reality of your family, I'd figure out a different path to doing good in the world. You already have a great background. Dig in and start parlaying your credentials and experience into a way to really make the world a better place. Best wishes, whatever your path may be.

[Anonymous]

Good to average lawyers, unlike poor to moderate doctors, are very subject to the the current economy when they graduate. If you are an attorney graduating into this recession, when lawfirms are not hiring interns or graduates, you have lost most of your hope of getting into a credible law firm. When the law firms start hiring again, they will hire the top from the next graduating class - leaving those attorneys who graduated during the recession to find alternative legal oriented careers. I finally got hired by the Fed. Gov't; but it was after years of jumping from legal type jobs - 20 years out, and I still make less than $150K - not happy about it. Yes, maybe a small chip on my shoulder since I didn't graduate from a Top-tier school, but I was in the top 20% of GPA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"

I totally disagree with this - that is a very Big Law attitude. There are many legal employers, especially in the legal aid/social services sector, who don't want to hire someone from a top tier law school or with big law experience. They don't want to deal with a (perceived) prima donna who may demand salary/benefits/support staff that they can't provide, or they don't want to hire someone who is going to leave to go to the next best thing in a few years, or they don't want to hire someone who is going to have an attitude and second-guess their supervision, or they don't believe that 1-2 years at Big Law has actually trained someone to go to court without supervision, to handle her cases independently, etc.

There is a whole other world of legal work, albeit lower paying legal work, that most Big Law/top tier school types never see.



So, if you do go to a lower tier school, paradoxically, don't you dare take a big law position if offered to pay off those loans because then you're 2x stigmatized when you want to go gov't or non-profit."

No - my point was that the responses to this post are pretty myopic. Working for the ACLU is not the typical non-profit job (and I would agree that someone wanting an ACLU gig needs to have great credentials).

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thank you to everyone for your candor, helpful info., and thought-provoking questions. I really appreciate the time you took in responding from your experience. I can tend to be rather PollyAnna-ish so the reality check is essential.

I am credentialed enough in mental health to have a private practice, though I am not currently doing so. I do work but it's in a part-time position that isn't very challenging, chosen because it is so kid-friendly. I'm at the point in my mothering and career when I had planned on pursuing a doctorate but looking at the classes (and the 5 - 6 year commitment), I have to be honest in saying that I just don't want to sink another 6 years into a career path that I haven't ever enjoyed that much. Plus, financially it doesn't add up. I enjoy working on behalf of children and families but the thought of providing individual therapy again makes me want to run the other way. It's a high stress, relatively low-paying job at the Master's level (the hourly rates sound great until you factor in that insurance reimbursements are lousy, most people can't afford private pay, and overhead and insurance take a huge cut). The drain is very emotional rather than cerebral, and I was hoping to shift more toward the latter, while still doing something I can believe in. I love research and writing and having a product, something that is missing from my current profession.

The advice to look for ways to shift into work I want to do (with the credentials I already have) is a good one. I will look into how I can do that.

On the personal side, I do think I am also looking for a bump up in prestige, to be quite honest. I used to be a high-achiever and the job I have now is woefully lacking in challenge but is so great for being in synch with my kids that I couldn't pass it up. I see my husband's success and lucrative career (not law but equal in stature) and envy it. However, there is nothing prestigious about owing too much money and not being able to find a job.

Again, thank you!

[Anonymous]

OP - read your last post. I'm a non-lawyer that works in health policy and earlier recommended a grad degree (45 credits and closer to $45K) rather than a law degree. It doesn't sound like you are super set on practicing law, so I think looking into policy might be good and you'd likely be graduating with significantly less debt.

I work with a woman with an MSW who got burned out and came to my field (though she works on different issues than me, she was able to get out of that field and translate her degree to something else). You may not need a grad degree, but when I wanted to switch "careers" in my mid 20s (hadn't exactly established a huge career in 5 years of working) I found grad school to be a great way to learn and make connections. I was able to find some funding and graduated debt free, which I think would be hard to do with law school.

Good luck - it sounds like you have some great skills and I'm sure you will be able to carve out a path even without another grad degree, and certainly without a law degree.

[Anonymous]

Let us know what happens OP. Best of luck to you!

- a naysayer from up thread

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Man. I loved law school, love being a lawyer, and love my biglaw litigation job. Really.

You either a) have not being doing your current job long enough; b) are taking some type of happy medication; c) need therapy to work 80 hours a week; d) have no life outside of your career; or e) some combination of all of these.