Reply to Am I crazy to consider law school in my mid-50s?

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[quote=Anonymous]I'm a 42-year-old lawyer who has been practicing since age 25, went to a top 10 law school, and I work in civil rights law (on the plaintiff side), including pursuing age discrimination claims.  People on this board who are suggesting that OP will have to deal with age discrimination (in any profession, but particularly in big law) are not apologists, they are realists.  I don't think you do anyone any favors by pretending age discrimination isn't a real thing she will need to be prepared to deal with if she goes to law school.  Whether she wants to challenge those norms or not, it's important to know they're there when you're making a decision like this.

FWIW, I would not recommend law school based on OP's posts at this point in her life.  Baby lawyers are often NOT the ones doing the most interesting work -- certainly not much more interesting that what skilled paralegals or other advocates can do.  So if doing interesting law-related work is the motivation, law school it not necessarily the best way to get there, especially for the first several years out of law school.  I also think the idea that it will be easier to get a position as a lawyer doing "interesting but low-paying work" (as in an a non-profit) has a lot of flaws -- there are plenty of ideological people who feel this way, so those jobs are not any less competitive than the high-paying, uninteresting jobs.  And the people hiring for those jobs want to see passionate, committed advocates in that field -- not someone who just wants "interesting legal work."

I think the advice to consider the paralegal route is good.  You may also consider getting a job as a legal secretary -- I have a friend who worked as a secretary at a large firm while she was in law school in her 20s, and noted that she was paid as much as the paralegals but had better hours (though not as much responsibility).  It would give you exposure and experience to decide whether you want to be a paralegal.  Finally, you could consider becoming something like a Social Security Disability Advocate, for which you do not need to be a lawyer but can represent people in their disability claims.

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