Advice for a career switch from teacher to lawyer?

[Anonymous]

I've been a middle school English teacher for 15 years and am interested in a career switch to education law. Just in the "what if..." fantasizing stage now. I'm 40 years old with 2 elementary-aged kids. Anyone know someone who has made this career switch? I know a few who have gone the other way, from law to teaching. I figure if I specialize in education, then my teaching years are relevant and not just a complete do-over. Especially in terms of special ed law.

Can anyone speak to the job market for lawyers in the education field in this area? Do education lawyers work for larger firms? for the fed govt? for themselves? for school systems? How much money could I expect to earn? My family would stay in our MCPS (down county) house, so I'd want law school and eventual job location to be nearby.

How realistic is it to gradually take some courses while still teaching full time? We have to do continuing education / professional development courses anyway. Any decent online courses -- at least to try out first and see if I like it?

Any other advice for trying to see if this pipe dream has potential?

[Anonymous]

My friend's dad became a lawyer in his 50's. My high school friend's mom became a lawyer in her 40's.

Education law? Ummm ... like you want to represent kids whose IEPs aren't being met or something?

I know of one law school in Maryland that lets you do law school in four years.

[Anonymous]

Why. This is such a waste of time and money.

[Anonymous]

I assume you will have to go part-time (due to kids). Do you have to work while you're going to law school or do you have a spouse willing to support or savings? Parttime can be four or five years. Then there's the cost. Harvard just his $98,000 per year. You will probably graduate with enormous debt.

[Anonymous]

Most education lawyers who represent parents are solos or small firms.

[Anonymous]

This is funny because I am a lawyer who frequently wishes that I became a teacher!

[Anonymous]

Please find several people who do what you want to do, and talk to them about what it's like - both the day to day and the business side, like marketing, billing, and collecting. Are there jobs they do or know about, that could be done without a law degree? Also ask if they would let you work as an unpaid intern during school.

Look at the bar requirements for your state, and understand the fees and continuing education requirements.

Finally, look at local schools to understand the cost, part time options, and course material, almost none of which will be about Ed law. Then see if you're still interested. This is not impossible but it will be a lot of work and money at a time most people are peaking at the career they chose in their 20s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is funny because I am a lawyer who frequently wishes that I became a teacher!

+1 Don't do it.

[Anonymous]

First you become a lawyer, then you team up with an education lawyer to learn that field. Law school will not teach you a specialization, it will teach you the basics, the basis of all law, how to read and write law, and a while lot of stuff you will never use in your practice and not a lot of what you will use in your practice.

[Anonymous]

Oh god. Teaching is exhausting but do you want to go into debt to work yourself to death in a small firm or as a solo making 60k a year with shitty benefits?

[Anonymous]

You could be a special education lawyer. They typically work for small solo firms or for some education non-profits. I would talk to some lawyers who do that type of work before committing financially to this plan. You could also do education policy with a JD.

[Anonymous]

Well financially it doesn't really make sense. As a 15 year teacher, you are probably making say $75,000 a year. Tuition at Georgetown for law school is $60,000 a year. So if you went full time you would be out:

$75,000 (lost salary) x 3 = $225,000
$60,000 (tuition) x 3 = $180,000

Total cost to you is: $405,000

Since you would be 43 years old when you graduated, let's assume that you are going to work for 22 more years. In that time you would need to
make ~$18,500 more a year vs teaching to break even after 22 years of work. Really with the time value of money you would probably need to make $25,000 a year more as a lawyer to break even.

So assuming you can:

1) Go to a good law school full time
2) Get a job that pays you close to $100,000 a year after graduating
3) Can give up the all of the summers off, spring break off, winter break off, etc that comes with teaching.
4) Give up the good benefits and pension that teachers have.

After 22 years you will break even financially switching your career, just before you retire.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well financially it doesn't really make sense. As a 15 year teacher, you are probably making say $75,000 a year. Tuition at Georgetown for law school is $60,000 a year. So if you went full time you would be out:

$75,000 (lost salary) x 3 = $225,000
$60,000 (tuition) x 3 = $180,000

Total cost to you is: $405,000

Since you would be 43 years old when you graduated, let's assume that you are going to work for 22 more years. In that time you would need to
make ~$18,500 more a year vs teaching to break even after 22 years of work. Really with the time value of money you would probably need to make $25,000 a year more as a lawyer to break even.

So assuming you can:

1) Go to a good law school full time
2) Get a job that pays you close to $100,000 a year after graduating
3) Can give up the all of the summers off, spring break off, winter break off, etc that comes with teaching.
4) Give up the good benefits and pension that teachers have.

After 22 years you will break even financially switching your career, just before you retire.

Oh and on top of all of this lawyers tend to be very unhappy with their jobs. Just read this boards for more info on this.

[Anonymous]

hmmm. it depends on what you want to do of course. your best bet is to seek out people whose jobs you think are interesting and ask them. this isn't my area, but know many different kinds of lawyers that touch on "education" law.

- lawyers representing kids with IEPs or other kids who don't think they're getting a fair shake. good work, not a lot of money in it. small and solo practitioners tend to do this as part of their practice. you may well have an "in" to the system and be a real asset to work like this, but its not lucrative, and might not be a good option if you would need to incur a heavy debt load
- institutional lawyers at schools, school systems, etc. This seems like good work too, and steadier. and bigger lawfirms will represent private schools and universities as well. In any such role, you're dealing with a wide range of things beyond "education law"
- lawyers at teachers unions, advocacy organizations, thinktanks, etc. Not wellpaid, and not strictly "education law"

anyway, I don't know that I could really recommend any of this unless you had the money end figured out - ie, could get scholarship money or other funding or have money set aside for which this would be a good use. it might be!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've been a middle school English teacher for 15 years and am interested in a career switch to education law. Just in the "what if..." fantasizing stage now. I'm 40 years old with 2 elementary-aged kids. Anyone know someone who has made this career switch? I know a few who have gone the other way, from law to teaching. I figure if I specialize in education, then my teaching years are relevant and not just a complete do-over. Especially in terms of special ed law.

Can anyone speak to the job market for lawyers in the education field in this area? Do education lawyers work for larger firms? for the fed govt? for themselves? for school systems? How much money could I expect to earn? My family would stay in our MCPS (down county) house, so I'd want law school and eventual job location to be nearby.

How realistic is it to gradually take some courses while still teaching full time? We have to do continuing education / professional development courses anyway. Any decent online courses -- at least to try out first and see if I like it?

Any other advice for trying to see if this pipe dream has potential?

Do education lawyers work for larger firms? for the fed govt? for themselves? for school systems? All of the above except large firms since education law doesn't make it rain enough for big firms.

How much money could I expect to earn? People who get into education field are most likely doing it for public interest and not to make money. Chances are 100k at best by mid career.

My family would stay in our MCPS (down county) house, so I'd want law school and eventual job location to be nearby. You have several school choices in this area but the general rule for law school is to pick the ones with the highest ranking, which is Georgetown. However, since you already identified a specialty area to focus on, it won't hrut as much to look into specific programs and see which school has a better network in special education law (I also see some disability law in this one too). American in general has the better reputation of being a public interest school--BUT DO NOT GO THERE IF YOU'RE PAYING STICK PRICE.

How realistic is it to gradually take some courses while still teaching full time? Going to law school is not just about taking some courses here and there--it is a lifestyle choice. You'd be required to take several core areas of law during your first year (or first few semester if part time)--torts, contract, crim, civ pro, property, constitutional, crim pro. Theoretically, the rest of your career lies on how well you perform in those courses as you'd be graded on a scale with the rest of the students. However, since you already have a specialty area in mind, it won't matter as much, but you'd still want to do your best. Next comes the law school activities, the most prestigious ones being moot court and law review. Again, you may forego those opportunities if you already have an area in mind, but you'd need to hustle and bustle your ass off to network with potential employers.

Any other advice for trying to see if this pipe dream has potential? Speak with actual attorneys/firms/organization that have a presence in special ed law, again, I think disability law is one good area to explore. You might also want to look into seeking out lawyers who work for the department of education or local government education deparments. Also, ask yourself why you want to be come a lawyer. If it's just a fantasy, then don't do it. If a law license is a barrier of entry for some career goal of yours, then go for it.