Should I Go to Law School?
No one can answer this question for you. You need to make up your
own mind. The best others can do is give you some things to think
about, and some information upon which to base your decision. You
need to make an informed decision, which means you should acquire as
much information as possible about law school and especially about
law practice before making your career decision.
The following is my two cents' worth. This list is drawn from my
personal and professional experiences as an undergraduate, law
student, lawyer, professor, and pre-law advisor. I believe it to be
fairly representative of the views of undergraduate pre-law advisors
generally.
The WRONG Reasons to Go to Law School
- I'm a liberal arts major, and I don't know what else to do
with my degree.
- My parents want me to go.
- I have always wanted to go to law school/be a lawyer.
- I have always been fascinated by the law. It's
intellectually stimulating.
- I want to change the world.
- I like to argue/debate.
- Everyone else in my family is a lawyer.
- I did well on the LSAT, so why not?
- I want to make a lot of money.
- Law school is so versatile. I can use it for something else,
like business or politics.
The RIGHT Reasons to Go to Law School
- I want to be a lawyer. (If you don't
know what that means, go find out!)
The mistake many students make is that they focus on law
school instead of on careers in law. Law school can be a fun,
intellectually challenging endeavor. It can also help you to
please your parents and to postpone your career decision making
for a few more years. But ultimately, law school is just
that—three years of schooling that prepares you for a career in
the law. You are not even a lawyer when you graduate! You won't
know enough to be one. You'll need to take and pass the state
bar exam before you can call yourself a lawyer, and you'll need
to gain experience before you'll be comfortable with that label.
Since law school prepares you to be a lawyer, you will need
to find out as much as possible about what being a lawyer is all
about before you decide to go to law school. That means at least
the following: (1) Talk to lawyers. Ask them if they like their
jobs, and why. Find out what they do, and what they like and
dislike about their daily activities. Find out if they are happy
or stressed, challenged, or bored. Ask them whether they'd do it
again. (2) Read legal journals and newspapers to find out about
the advantages and disadvantages of the legal profession,
current trends in hiring, current salary scales, and the like.
(3) Most importantly, take a legal job of some sort. Spend a
summer—or even better, a year—as a paralegal or legal intern in
a law office, volunteer for a district attorney's or public
defender's office, or assume some other legal undertaking.
Nothing can substitute for this experience. Once you learn first
hand what the practice of law is like, you'll be much better
prepared to decide whether it's for you.
Explanations for the Wrong Reasons to Go:
- I'm a liberal arts major, and I don't
know what else to do with my degree.
Law school is not supposed to be a dumping ground for
wayward liberal arts majors. Admittedly, it often is, but many
of these folks end up unhappy with their career choice down the
road. Don't repeat their mistake. Law is not the only suitable
career for a liberal arts major. Also, if you want a legal
career, consider one that does not require the expenditure of
three years and thousands of dollars in tuition: a paralegal or
legal assistant, perhaps.
- My parents want me to go.
Pressure from one's parents is a reason many students
choose law school. Chances are your parents want to know that
you can take care of yourself and get yourself properly settled
so that don't have to worry about you so much anymore. My
parents were pretty typical in their belief that law school was
a ticket to security—good money, prestige, and all that. The
only trouble is, it's not true. Law school and a legal career
are no guarantee of money, prestige, or happiness.
Parents want their comfort level increased, and gosh they're
entitled to that after all those years of taking care of you.
But not at the expense of you taking a job that you will not be
happy with, or that does not provide what you want and need from
a career. Your parents will understand this argument. In the
long run, most parents don't really want their kids to be
lawyers, or doctors, or anything specifically. They simply want
their children to be happy and successful. If you choose the
right career, for the right reasons, you'll be doing both them
and you a favor.
- I have always wanted to go to law
school/be a lawyer.
Okay, but why? List 5 reasons, right now. Can you? Often,
students use this belief as a short cut—they have always
believed this, and therefore it must be true. Not necessarily.
If you can't articulate why you want to go, then you need to do
some homework, as noted above. Remember, you need to make an
informed decision about whether to attend law school.
- I have always been fascinated by the
law. It's intellectually stimulating.
Most law students find that law school is fascinating and
intellectually stimulating. Many lawyers find law practice
stressful and unfulfilling.
- I want to change the world.
Lawyers don't change the world. From time to time, famous cases
and lawyers emerge—true enough. But there are hundreds of
thousands of lawyers in this country, and lightening strikes
only a few of them. (How many famous lawyers can you name?)
Moreover, there is a whole body of social science literature
suggesting that using the legal system to change society doesn't
work, or at least causes as many problems as it solves. If you
want to change the world, you can do so equally well in another
profession, or if you pursue a career that leaves you some spare
time to do good things.
- I like to argue and debate, and I'm
good at it.
What is the connection between your fondness for arguing and
your desire to do it professionally? Remember, litigators (trial
lawyers) are engaged in an adversarial process. You had better
like that component of practice, because that's what the arguing
and debating boils down to. A talent for argument and debate may
make you a good litigator, but it doesn't answer the question of
whether you should or want to be one.
- Everyone else in my family is a
lawyer.
See response to no. 2, above.
- I did well on the LSAT, so why not?
Law school means three years of your life, plus thousands of
dollars in tuition, for a job that you might not like. Remember,
the LSAT was designed to measure one thing only—your ability to
succeed in your first year of law school. It’s a poor indicator
of your career choice.
- I want to make a lot of money.
The graduates of the top law schools who go to the top firms in
the biggest cities make very good money. In exchange, they bill
over 2,000 hours per year, which means they often work long
hours, seven days per week, with no guarantee of making partner
(in 7-10 years). For the rest, salaries aren't appreciably
higher than other professions. If you want to make a lot of
money, start a business, become a broker or an investment
banker, or pursue an information technology career.
- Law School is so versatile. I can use
it as a stepping stone to something else, like business or
politics.
If you want to go into business, go into business. Law schools
train lawyers. They place students in legal jobs. Their career
and placement offices are geared to this result. If you want
your law degree to be multi-purpose, you will bear pretty much
the entire responsibility for turning it into a multi-purpose
degree. Keep this fact in mind when deciding whether to go to
law school.
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