AllforOne
... and I'm all out of bubblegum.
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The topic came up in a Cavs thread, and rather than continue to off-topic the shit out of it, I figured I'd start a discussion here.
The question: should I go to law school?
My answer is a very good lawyer answer: It all depends.
Back in the summer of 1991, when I started law school (fuck, that was a long time ago), a law degree was seen as one of the tickets to a lucrative career. Law firms were still scooping up new hires by the armload, and it seemed like the gravy train would never end.
Notice I said nothing about actually enjoying the law in that paragraph. Because very few of us, I reckon, went into law because we actually liked law. Mot of us went into it for two reasons, and two reasons only. One, we wanted to make money. And two, we didn't want to have to go to med school to do it. Oh sure, we didn't say anything like that on our application essays. We slathered on layers of bullshit of "deep commitment to justice" and "rule of law" and "making a positive difference" ... but at the end of the day, it was about money.
Those are really shitty reasons to pick a career. Not that making money is a bad thing; but it's never going to make you happy, especially if you hate what you do to make it. Unfortunately, I had to find that out for myself. I hated pretty much every minute of law school, but convinced myself that everybody hates law school, and that things would be better once I was out in the real world. I clerked for a judge for two years after law school, and then started working for one of the big firms downtown. I had Made It. I was making more money than I'd ever made before, had an office with a decent view of downtown ....
... and one morning, about six weeks in, after that initial sugar rush had worn off, I came into the office, sat at my desk ... and realized that I did not like one thing about law. I didn't like researching the law. I didn't like writing arcane briefs debating the finer points of the second sentence of paragraph (f) of section 110 of the Who Gives A Fuck Act of 1989. I didn't like the always-competitive atmosphere. I didn't like having to work 10-12 hour days damn near every day, plus some weekends. I didn't like the constant pressure to bill, bill, bill.
I told myself to stick it out for three months, then six months, then a year. It never improved. It just got worse. I stopped exercising (because I never had time), gained weight, and was getting stress-related illnesses. I was moody and difficult to be around. (More so than normal, anyway.) Most importantly, I saw no signs of it ever getting better. Law is a treadmill, one in which you're constantly running hard just to keep pace. That's a tough thing to do month after month and year after year.
My "aha!" moment actually came a few months into that time with the big firm. I was at a mandatory Saturday session for all attorneys in our firm, one at which some of the senior partners were imparting their wisdom for the rest of us. One of those partners told a story in which he was in Europe with his family for a skiing vacation, when one of his clients had an incredibly big emergency. (BTW, all matters in law are incredibly big emergencies.) So he had to spend much of his vacation on the phone while his family went out to enjoy the Alps. His takeaway message was "you have to ask yourself if you're willing to make those sacrifices, because this career requires them." I wanted to stand up, say, "no, I'm not willing to do that," and walk out.
Once I hit that one-year anniversary, I left. Didn't even know what I was going to do next. I just knew that this wasn't it, and that I was never going to find it while working 50-60 hours a week at something I hated. It wasn't a rash decision -- I had been putting aside money for months. And I was fortunate in that I had almost zero student loan debt, so I had no "golden handcuffs" chaining me to my desk.
I recognize that big firms are but one type of employer. That said, I had worked at a few other places along the way -- a medium-sized firm during my second year, a small firm during my third -- and didn't like them any better. Maybe I could have found some other way to use my law degree, had I stuck it out. I simply had no desire to.
So would my advice be to stay far away from the law? No. But I would suggest not going to law school unless you have good answers to these questions:
1. Do I enjoy law? That one's a tough one to answer if you've never set foot in a law firm. Just make sure that your desire is based on something more than "I want to make money." Make sure that you really enjoy details and research. Make sure that you are okay with what is often an adversarial job. Make sure that you are okay with stress and long hours. Make sure that you're not doing it just for the money. Make sure that you're not going to law school just because you're not sure what to do after graduating from college and want to delay entering the "real world."
2. Can I afford law school? There's not much scholarship money available for law schools; so unless you've gotten one of them, or you're independently wealthy, then you're probably looking at student loans. These days, that could well mean $150,000 or more in loans by the time you graduate ... and those are loans that will follow you until you pay them (federally-insured loans cannot be discharged in bankruptcy). So you'll be starting your career in a deep financial hole, one that will take you a decade or more to dig out of. It will limit your paths to those that pay well. (Unless you want to make $46,000 a year for some public-interest job that dangles the carrot of loan forgiveness after X years.)
3. Am I okay with the opportunity cost? Law school is three years for most programs. That's three years that you won't be earning a salary and getting off the ground in some other career. So not only will you be digging out of that hole of three years of law school tuition and expenses ... you'll also have foregone three years of other income too.
If you can't answer "yes" to all three of those questions, then don't go. If you can, then proceed with caution. Make sure you know as much as you can about what's ahead.
I'm not saying "no." I am saying "know."
The question: should I go to law school?
My answer is a very good lawyer answer: It all depends.
Back in the summer of 1991, when I started law school (fuck, that was a long time ago), a law degree was seen as one of the tickets to a lucrative career. Law firms were still scooping up new hires by the armload, and it seemed like the gravy train would never end.
Notice I said nothing about actually enjoying the law in that paragraph. Because very few of us, I reckon, went into law because we actually liked law. Mot of us went into it for two reasons, and two reasons only. One, we wanted to make money. And two, we didn't want to have to go to med school to do it. Oh sure, we didn't say anything like that on our application essays. We slathered on layers of bullshit of "deep commitment to justice" and "rule of law" and "making a positive difference" ... but at the end of the day, it was about money.
Those are really shitty reasons to pick a career. Not that making money is a bad thing; but it's never going to make you happy, especially if you hate what you do to make it. Unfortunately, I had to find that out for myself. I hated pretty much every minute of law school, but convinced myself that everybody hates law school, and that things would be better once I was out in the real world. I clerked for a judge for two years after law school, and then started working for one of the big firms downtown. I had Made It. I was making more money than I'd ever made before, had an office with a decent view of downtown ....
... and one morning, about six weeks in, after that initial sugar rush had worn off, I came into the office, sat at my desk ... and realized that I did not like one thing about law. I didn't like researching the law. I didn't like writing arcane briefs debating the finer points of the second sentence of paragraph (f) of section 110 of the Who Gives A Fuck Act of 1989. I didn't like the always-competitive atmosphere. I didn't like having to work 10-12 hour days damn near every day, plus some weekends. I didn't like the constant pressure to bill, bill, bill.
I told myself to stick it out for three months, then six months, then a year. It never improved. It just got worse. I stopped exercising (because I never had time), gained weight, and was getting stress-related illnesses. I was moody and difficult to be around. (More so than normal, anyway.) Most importantly, I saw no signs of it ever getting better. Law is a treadmill, one in which you're constantly running hard just to keep pace. That's a tough thing to do month after month and year after year.
My "aha!" moment actually came a few months into that time with the big firm. I was at a mandatory Saturday session for all attorneys in our firm, one at which some of the senior partners were imparting their wisdom for the rest of us. One of those partners told a story in which he was in Europe with his family for a skiing vacation, when one of his clients had an incredibly big emergency. (BTW, all matters in law are incredibly big emergencies.) So he had to spend much of his vacation on the phone while his family went out to enjoy the Alps. His takeaway message was "you have to ask yourself if you're willing to make those sacrifices, because this career requires them." I wanted to stand up, say, "no, I'm not willing to do that," and walk out.
Once I hit that one-year anniversary, I left. Didn't even know what I was going to do next. I just knew that this wasn't it, and that I was never going to find it while working 50-60 hours a week at something I hated. It wasn't a rash decision -- I had been putting aside money for months. And I was fortunate in that I had almost zero student loan debt, so I had no "golden handcuffs" chaining me to my desk.
I recognize that big firms are but one type of employer. That said, I had worked at a few other places along the way -- a medium-sized firm during my second year, a small firm during my third -- and didn't like them any better. Maybe I could have found some other way to use my law degree, had I stuck it out. I simply had no desire to.
So would my advice be to stay far away from the law? No. But I would suggest not going to law school unless you have good answers to these questions:
1. Do I enjoy law? That one's a tough one to answer if you've never set foot in a law firm. Just make sure that your desire is based on something more than "I want to make money." Make sure that you really enjoy details and research. Make sure that you are okay with what is often an adversarial job. Make sure that you are okay with stress and long hours. Make sure that you're not doing it just for the money. Make sure that you're not going to law school just because you're not sure what to do after graduating from college and want to delay entering the "real world."
2. Can I afford law school? There's not much scholarship money available for law schools; so unless you've gotten one of them, or you're independently wealthy, then you're probably looking at student loans. These days, that could well mean $150,000 or more in loans by the time you graduate ... and those are loans that will follow you until you pay them (federally-insured loans cannot be discharged in bankruptcy). So you'll be starting your career in a deep financial hole, one that will take you a decade or more to dig out of. It will limit your paths to those that pay well. (Unless you want to make $46,000 a year for some public-interest job that dangles the carrot of loan forgiveness after X years.)
3. Am I okay with the opportunity cost? Law school is three years for most programs. That's three years that you won't be earning a salary and getting off the ground in some other career. So not only will you be digging out of that hole of three years of law school tuition and expenses ... you'll also have foregone three years of other income too.
If you can't answer "yes" to all three of those questions, then don't go. If you can, then proceed with caution. Make sure you know as much as you can about what's ahead.
I'm not saying "no." I am saying "know."