How badly do you regret having gone to law school ?

[Anonymous]

Probably the worst decision of my life. Tons of debt and can’t get a job to save my life

[Anonymous]

Definitely regret it. I graduated a long time ago so I was able to pay back my loans quickly but I would have been much happier working in a different field and then wouldn’t have had to work at a firm to pay back loans for a degree I don’t want.

[Anonymous]

I honestly would prefer a criminal record than having gone to law school. It was really that bad a decision

[Anonymous]

Regret! My undergrad degree would have been more profitable 10 years/20 years out.

[Anonymous]

The only thing good about having gone to law school is that I met my husband while I was in law school, so that was good, and he is an attorney so even though I don’t have a job I can still chat intelligently with him about his.

Not sure life would have turned out better had I not gone to keep school but I wouldn’t recommend it to anybody.

[Anonymous]

This is a toughie.

I came from nothing and went to law school because I didn't know what else to do with a liberal arts degree. I had a terrible LSAT score (being too unsophisticated and poor to even know about the existence of prep courses) but very high grades from a decent but not great college. I got into a school at the bottom of the top 20-25 at a time when tuition wasn't as crazy as it is now, so I went. I somehow ended up at the very top of the class, got a great clerkship, and from there landed a job with a top firm in Biglaw. It took a while, but eventually I made equity partner, made a lot of money (low by Biglaw partner standards but still very good), -- and walked away completely in my early 50s.

I hated every minute of my time with Biglaw. My colleagues were zero fun at their best and total a$$holes at their worst. The clients were only slightly better, and of course mostly evil. The hours themselves weren't always killer, but you never really could be comfortably off the clock and that brings a lot of stress even when you're not working. You constantly felt yourself being "evaluated" in one way or another, and it didn't stop once you made partner.

I remember having lunch with other partners in the firm cafeteria and listening to them talk proudly of how their kids were at T-14 law schools and joinging biglaw - and feeling really sorry both for them and the kids.

I stayed in the law for one reason alone: money. I had a big family and big families require money. It's also very hard to walk away from that kind of money when you come from none, especially when you have a famiiy. You feel like it's crazy or even selfish to give it up. But give it up I did, almost the second my youngest graduated college.

So, to sum it all of, the law gave me a real leg up on providing very well for a great family and enabling me to retire very early and very comfortably, and I'm grateful for all of that. But it sure sucked the whole time I was doing it.

[Anonymous]

The firm I worked at was horrible. Thr clients were vile. I needed permission from the client to take time off. One time my mother was hospitalized and they wouldn’t even let me take just one day off for that.

[Anonymous]

Not at all. But it worked out well for me (I have a semi-interesting fed job that pays 170k/yr and I rarely work more than 40 hrs/week.) But I am a lawyers lawyer - I love the minutia - and I can find any area of the law interesting.

OP there are many different ways to practice law. I’m sure you can find one. How come you have not been able to find anything?

[Anonymous]

Sorry, OP. What year did you graduate from law school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not at all. But it worked out well for me (I have a semi-interesting fed job that pays 170k/yr and I rarely work more than 40 hrs/week.) But I am a lawyers lawyer - I love the minutia - and I can find any area of the law interesting.

OP there are many different ways to practice law. I’m sure you can find one. How come you have not been able to find anything?

because it’s an unforgiving profession with a caste system and I’m at the bottom

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a toughie.

I came from nothing and went to law school because I didn't know what else to do with a liberal arts degree. I had a terrible LSAT score (being too unsophisticated and poor to even know about the existence of prep courses) but very high grades from a decent but not great college. I got into a school at the bottom of the top 20-25 at a time when tuition wasn't as crazy as it is now, so I went. I somehow ended up at the very top of the class, got a great clerkship, and from there landed a job with a top firm in Biglaw. It took a while, but eventually I made equity partner, made a lot of money (low by Biglaw partner standards but still very good), -- and walked away completely in my early 50s.

I hated every minute of my time with Biglaw. My colleagues were zero fun at their best and total a$$holes at their worst. The clients were only slightly better, and of course mostly evil. The hours themselves weren't always killer, but you never really could be comfortably off the clock and that brings a lot of stress even when you're not working. You constantly felt yourself being "evaluated" in one way or another, and it didn't stop once you made partner.

I remember having lunch with other partners in the firm cafeteria and listening to them talk proudly of how their kids were at T-14 law schools and joinging biglaw - and feeling really sorry both for them and the kids.

I stayed in the law for one reason alone: money. I had a big family and big families require money. It's also very hard to walk away from that kind of money when you come from none, especially when you have a famiiy. You feel like it's crazy or even selfish to give it up. But give it up I did, almost the second my youngest graduated college.

So, to sum it all of, the law gave me a real leg up on providing very well for a great family and enabling me to retire very early and very comfortably, and I'm grateful for all of that. But it sure sucked the whole time I was doing it.

do you actually not work at all now? what do you do with your time? maybe I’m a weirdo but if I were in your position I would have so much fun doing pro bono cases and kicking *ss.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not at all. But it worked out well for me (I have a semi-interesting fed job that pays 170k/yr and I rarely work more than 40 hrs/week.) But I am a lawyers lawyer - I love the minutia - and I can find any area of the law interesting.

OP there are many different ways to practice law. I’m sure you can find one. How come you have not been able to find anything?

because it’s an unforgiving profession with a caste system and I’m at the bottom

You’re not looking in the right places with the right attitude. the bottom is where you actually learn the ins and outs of the practice area. and at smaller firms you get thrown into things because they can’t afford to do otherwise.

[Anonymous]

My DH and I both went to law school (different schools and didn’t meet till after). Neither of us regrets it at all. I loved law school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not at all. But it worked out well for me (I have a semi-interesting fed job that pays 170k/yr and I rarely work more than 40 hrs/week.) But I am a lawyers lawyer - I love the minutia - and I can find any area of the law interesting.

OP there are many different ways to practice law. I’m sure you can find one. How come you have not been able to find anything?

because it’s an unforgiving profession with a caste system and I’m at the bottom

Are you ... Document Review Guy?

[Anonymous]

I don't regret it at all. Love my career. But I do think law school school should be two years plus a year or two of apprenticeship.