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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I graduated from law school at age 44.  This is a second career for me.  I'm practicing in the general area that I had hoped to, but I don't find my work particularly meaningful.  I got turned down for a number of "dream" jobs - most likely due to my age -  and finally just settled.  I don't have debt and I make a decent salary for my field, but I have a dreadful boss and am looking around for a new job.  It's pretty daunting.  The market is flooded with law school grads who can't find work, most of them 10-20 years younger than I am.  Going to law school took a huge bite out of my finances and my time with my kids.  I'm still contemplating whether it was worth it from a number of vantage points.  [b]It's hard to go to law school in your 40s - for starters, everything is graded on a curve and it is impossible to compete with kids in their 20s who have nothing else going on in their lives but law school.[/b]  Then you graduate and face the job market, which is awful for all lawyers, but worse if you're in your 40s and just starting out.

I would recommend, as others have, first getting a taste of the kid of work you'd like to do by volunteering/interning/working as a paralegal.  You need to know if you love the work enough to make some serious sacrifices for it.  [/quote]

I'm a recent law school graduate and I have to admit that I often thought about this when I'd see older folks in my classes. I could not imagine getting through law school while having additional responsibilities. While there are exceptions, those at the top of the class tend to be those who put in the most hours. So if you can't work as much as the next guy, you're pretty much f*cked out of the gate. Also, your first semester grades are really the only thing that matters in terms of getting a job (crazy, I know), so if you have a long adaptation period you're setting yourself up for failure. By 2L year everyone catches on and the curve becomes much tighter, so those who were at the top of the class during 1L will stay there.[/quote]

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