Is a gap year to "apply to law school" common?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It saddens me that anybody's career ambition would be to become a lawyer. What a soulless existence.

It saddens me that people are so judgmental. To each their own.

Signed, a lawyer who finds his career to be enriching and who worked for two years between college and law school in order to consider carefully whether to become a lawyer.

[Anonymous]

Law schools don't care. Being a senior and being one year out is identical.

Going straight through to grad school isn't always the best idea, but she should try to find something better than a tad of volunteering.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I'm an attorney 20 years out of law school and I guarantee you it's not all brand name and grades that matter to employers, especially outside of BigLaw. When hiring for entry-level positions, all other things being equal, I will give the nod to someone who had real work experience between undergrad and law school. For starters, it shows that the decision to go to law school was likely well thought out, and not just a default grad option for the liberal arts major who didn't want to be a doctor. For another, it illustrates the ability to succeed at work and not just school. As much of a grind as law school is, if you're a good student anyway and work hard, it's not that tough -- just more school. The ability to meet deadlines, get up and go to work and get work done during the day, and answer to a boss is much more important to me.

I agree that it's a waste of time to take a gap year to study for the LSAT and kill time trying to get into law school. Go get a job as a paralegal or other type of assistant in a legal field and see what it is that lawyers actually do all day. The competition is way too fierce, even for government and NGO jobs, to spend the money on law school if you don't know that you actually want to practice law.

You're conflating genuine work experience with a gap year doing some bullshit gig (if that) while applying to law school.

I guarantee you I'm not. Did you notice I mentioned real work experience?

Also, the thread has gone in the direction of BigLaw hiring, without discussing that there are many great legal jobs outside BigLaw. I've spent my 20-year career in government and non-profit work. Public interest law doesn't pay nearly as well as BigLaw, no question, but I get to do extremely interesting work and I have decent work-life balance for a litigator. Bonus -- my colleagues are great people, notwithstanding the occasional drama queen. And I could have gone anywhere with my top-drawer law school degree, so it's not a question of the ranks of public interest being filled with graduates of second-rate law schools.

In my field, we definitely look for people with relevant work experience before law school -- especially work that shows a commitment to public interest law.