Law school as an adult??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Don’t do it OP. Waste of time and money.
I’m a Fed at an agency where many of my colleagues are attorneys. I make just over 100k. Many of my colleagues are saddled with law school debt. I just have a bachelors and no debt. We are doing the same job. I’m sure a lot of my colleagues thought they’d be making a lot more money. There is a serious glut of lawyers out there and many of them to not make the $$$ to justify law school.
Add online law school and your age to that glut and it does NOT look good.

Well, if OP just wants to experience law school and then lounge around the federal government her loans would be forgiven in 10 years. Not a terrible outcome in that case.

The likelihood of an online, unaccredited law school graduate getting a federal government job is zero.

There are plenty of accredited online law schools.

No, there are not. There are no ABA accredited online law schools. There are a handful of shitty hybrid programs. Please don't claim that cash-grab masters in legal studies counts as a law school.

Here's one

https://www.stmarytx.edu/2021/online-jd-launch/

Glad you found the one shit school that has one. https://www.lawschooltransparency.com/schools/stmarys/jobs

Lawyers have bi-modal income. Most will not make 200k.

Having said that, its no more difficult to get into big law as it is to get into other similar paying positions (surgeons, senior/staff software engineers at Google, private equity, hedge funds etc.). Go to a top 14 law school and stay in the top third to half of your class. Associate pay at big law now ranges from 235k - 530k at market firms and 1 mil+ for partners. That comes at the cost of being on call 24/7 but even if you step away from that world in 8 years there a lot of opportunities in corporate, especially in niche areas like securities, IP lit, asset management etc. that pay 300k + while having good work-life (may need relocation from DC though).

Lawyers work a lot but those in big law make many times more than top level federal employees or most other professions in private industry over the course of their careers.

[Anonymous]

As a lawyer, I urge you not to do this. You will incur substantial debt, and likely will not have time to really recoup that. Also, the early years of being a lawyer are not really intellectually stimulating. At all.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Everyone who goes to law school is an adult.

Anyone who thinks "I'm a Libra" is a good indication of why they ought to go to law school is not thinking clearly.

You're a dick and obviously an arrogant lawyer.

Wow thanks! I am not any kind of lawyer and I am certainly not a dick. Which part made you think I was, the adult part or the Libra part?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a lawyer, I urge you not to do this. You will incur substantial debt, and likely will not have time to really recoup that. Also, the early years of being a lawyer are not really intellectually stimulating. At all.

This is not true universally. It depends. In corporate and transactional law, sure. In specialized litigation, no. In a 100+ person group, yes. In a small 15 person group, no.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a lawyer, I urge you not to do this. You will incur substantial debt, and likely will not have time to really recoup that. Also, the early years of being a lawyer are not really intellectually stimulating. At all.

This is not true universally. It depends. In corporate and transactional law, sure. In specialized litigation, no. In a 100+ person group, yes. In a small 15 person group, no.

Going to a 15 person PI mill will not service OP's debt out of law school. Those jobs are on the wrong end of the bimodal salary chart.

[Anonymous]

I started law school at 37 and wasn't the oldest in my class, so it's certainly possible. But echo what others have said: don't go to online law school, don't go to a crappy law school, and don't go to any law school at this stage in life if you have to pay tuition to do it. I went all-in (i.e., I quit my job and we moved to another city so I could go to a better school), but Georgetown and GW have good night programs that take 4 years instead of 3.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a lawyer, I urge you not to do this. You will incur substantial debt, and likely will not have time to really recoup that. Also, the early years of being a lawyer are not really intellectually stimulating. At all.

This is not true universally. It depends. In corporate and transactional law, sure. In specialized litigation, no. In a 100+ person group, yes. In a small 15 person group, no.

Going to a 15 person PI mill will not service OP's debt out of law school. Those jobs are on the wrong end of the bimodal salary chart.

Who said PI? There are plenty of small teams within big law firms, as are there is great boutiques.

I started my career as part of a small litigation boutique making market in 2011 and then moved to a large firm in 2017 and made partner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a lawyer, I urge you not to do this. You will incur substantial debt, and likely will not have time to really recoup that. Also, the early years of being a lawyer are not really intellectually stimulating. At all.

This is not true universally. It depends. In corporate and transactional law, sure. In specialized litigation, no. In a 100+ person group, yes. In a small 15 person group, no.

Going to a 15 person PI mill will not service OP's debt out of law school. Those jobs are on the wrong end of the bimodal salary chart.

Who said PI? There are plenty of small teams within big law firms, as are there is great boutiques.

I started my career as part of a small litigation boutique making market in 2011 and then moved to a large firm in 2017 and made partner.

But this is irrelevant to OP, who's asking for part time, online law programs. She's not ending up in a lit boutique.

[Anonymous]

Are 22 year olds not adults?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Thanks all, this is a sobering thread. I'm an NP who has been considering this since a relative started a part time law program at a regional school for only $13k a year (they place into a lot of public service work that relative wants to do). I'm a fed with a PhD stuck around $100k, looking around at my attorney friends all just making way more money, both in fed and private, and feeling like I wasted my brains. But if the odds of substantially increasing incomes are THAT bad...oh well.

I do have a route to a part time, free or low cost MBA through my spouse's job, but am not sure that would actually be helpful for advancement from a lesser known school. Feel free to chime in on that one!

Does that PhD happen to be in STEM? If so, you can probably find a patent agent job and maybe even get part time law school paid for.

Nope. Social science, unfortunately. I work in environmental review currently.

. Look for jobs at DOI- lots of environmental scientist / geologist positions at GS 13 and 14.

Hahaha thanks. I'm a GS-12 in DOI (entry level with PhD is 11). In theory I have the experience to move up, but I'm still putting in applications.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I echo the common sentiments in the responses. If you want to be a practicing lawyer, you will have an extremely low chance of employment as a 50+ year old woman with an online degree. It is called the practice of law for a reason, graduation is not the end of the education, it’s the beginning and you will need a decent job as a new lawyer where you can go and develop into a “real practicing lawyer”. That job will be very very very hard to find.

Law school is an expensive education and time consuming. I am a practicing lawyer, your age with 23+ years experience. I enjoyed the education but hated the test taking. I went to a top 20 school and still had difficulty finding a job. I was able to pay off my loans in less than 10 years but it took living a meager lifestyle and mercifully the scholarships were high and 20+ years ago the costs were lower. The big law big checks come with big sacrifices, but those will not be available to a grad from an online school. If you have a burning passion to be a practicing lawyer go for it, but not the online, unaccredited law school. If you have not done so already, try shadowing a lawyer who practices in the area you are interested in for a few days.

Most lawyers are not making $200,000 so if it’s riches you seek, don’t. I try not to be a dream killer, but in your case I don’t get the sense that you have a burning desire to be a practicing lawyer so I am joining the choir encouraging you to spend much more time thinking this through.

Is this really true? How much do you make? Why do so many lawyers on here make $500k-$1m if it's so rare (the few who do just happen to post here all the time)?

I cannot believe I’m reading this. All you have to do is go to the bureau of labor statistics and look up average salaries for lawyers and you’re looking to see about $140,000 a year. Most lawyers never make over $200,000; only big law Partners (probably fewer than 5% of all attorneys) make those huge salaries, the vast majority of lawyers make well under 200k. My ex-husband is a fed attorney, and he’s at the top of the scale and makes about 165. He’s been a lawyer for 25 years. I am younger, and I outearn him.

[Anonymous]

Law school as adult? Law schools accept minors?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I started law school at 37 and wasn't the oldest in my class, so it's certainly possible. But echo what others have said: don't go to online law school, don't go to a crappy law school, and don't go to any law school at this stage in life if you have to pay tuition to do it. I went all-in (i.e., I quit my job and we moved to another city so I could go to a better school), but Georgetown and GW have good night programs that take 4 years instead of 3.

Curious what do you do now and how much do you make?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I echo the common sentiments in the responses. If you want to be a practicing lawyer, you will have an extremely low chance of employment as a 50+ year old woman with an online degree. It is called the practice of law for a reason, graduation is not the end of the education, it’s the beginning and you will need a decent job as a new lawyer where you can go and develop into a “real practicing lawyer”. That job will be very very very hard to find.

Law school is an expensive education and time consuming. I am a practicing lawyer, your age with 23+ years experience. I enjoyed the education but hated the test taking. I went to a top 20 school and still had difficulty finding a job. I was able to pay off my loans in less than 10 years but it took living a meager lifestyle and mercifully the scholarships were high and 20+ years ago the costs were lower. The big law big checks come with big sacrifices, but those will not be available to a grad from an online school. If you have a burning passion to be a practicing lawyer go for it, but not the online, unaccredited law school. If you have not done so already, try shadowing a lawyer who practices in the area you are interested in for a few days.

Most lawyers are not making $200,000 so if it’s riches you seek, don’t. I try not to be a dream killer, but in your case I don’t get the sense that you have a burning desire to be a practicing lawyer so I am joining the choir encouraging you to spend much more time thinking this through.

Is this really true? How much do you make? Why do so many lawyers on here make $500k-$1m if it's so rare (the few who do just happen to post here all the time)?

I cannot believe I’m reading this. All you have to do is go to the bureau of labor statistics and look up average salaries for lawyers and you’re looking to see about $140,000 a year. Most lawyers never make over $200,000; only big law Partners (probably fewer than 5% of all attorneys) make those huge salaries, the vast majority of lawyers make well under 200k. My ex-husband is a fed attorney, and he’s at the top of the scale and makes about 165. He’s been a lawyer for 25 years. I am younger, and I outearn him.

DP. What do you do that outearns your older husband?