A quick word on blocking ads
It looks like you are using an ad blocker. That's okay. Who doesn't? But without advertising revenue, we can't keep making this site awesome. Click the link below for instructions on disabling adblock.
Welcome to the Newschoolers forums! You may read the forums as a guest, however you must be a registered member to post. Register to become a member today!
I'm a lawyer at a large corporate firm.
Here's my advice. Ready?
Take your 80 grand or whatever your tuition would cost. Get it all together.
Go to the casino.
Put it all on black.
There, you've made a better investment than law school.
californiagrownGo into medicene.
J.D.Basically it's a hell of a lot of money and three years (at least) of your life to spend on a total crapshoot as to whether you end up with a position that will make your investment worthwhile. The odds just aren't very good. Most people end up in debt and with no law job, or a crappy one that isn't commensurate with what their degree cost them.
I know you want to say that "if someone really thinks it's their calling and they'll be good at it and they're willing to work hard it'll all work out", but that's not true. Everyone thinks this, everyone thinks they're special and even though it didn't work out for other people they'll succeed. It's hubris.
And even if you are one of the people who is good and lucky and get a job? First of all you have no idea what the practice of law is like prior to going into law school. You also don't really have any idea what it's like coming OUT of law school, you just have entirely new misconceptions - so you have no idea if you're going to enjoy it. The workload burns out most people; attrition in this job is incredible. But yeah, I know - "I don't care if other people burn out, I'm a hard worker! I can hack it!"
Congrats, your reward is sitting in an office from early in the morning until... early in the morning. I haven't left before 11pm in the past week other than once when I was on the verge of passing out. It's currently 10:39 MST and this post has comprised 5 minutes of my 20 minute break. Time to get back to work....
JAHpowThis
Or go to a trade school, become a certified electrician and make bank.
But go after what YOU want to do. If you want to try law, go for it.
BumblesteezeNo, Newschoolers is mostly composed of doctors and medical students.
Peter.med student here reporting for duty
J.D.Congrats, your reward is sitting in an office from early in the morning until... early in the morning. I haven't left before 11pm in the past week other than once when I was on the verge of passing out. It's currently 10:39 MST and this post has comprised 5 minutes of my 20 minute break. Time to get back to work....
californiagrownyou dont make bank as a certified electrician. you do make decent money though and have arthritic hands and wrists by 35.
Trades are a great idea for young people, but beat the shit out of your body prematurely, and injuries from your dangerous hobbies force you to become a parasite of the system or go into the poor house. A broken leg or arm doesnt stop you from working a desk job.
Trade school isnt a bad idea, but the low ceiling pay isnt the biggest negative like most people think.
FunkadelicIf you're interested in law school my advice would be to go with an economics major. Sure you could major in philosophy (I knew someone that did that because they supposedly score higher on the LSAT's), but if you decide not to go to law school your senior year, or simply don't go to law school you're stuck with a fucking philosophy degree. Economics is very relevant to studying law, and there are a lot more opportunities for you if you graduate with an economics degree and don't end up in law school. My .02.
Sources: I have a friend at U Chicago law school that did economics as an undergrad.
yelselI've worked at a law firm for a while now and would not recommend going into law, at all. The field is so saturated it's nearly impossible to get a job. In that regard, I agree with JD.
nocturnalIs it? I have a friend who just a job in Washington DC, I have about five other friends who graduated or are graduating law school and none of them had issues getting jobs lined up.
eazy.good luck getting a job
ghosthoplaw school is an outrageous investment and the job market is over saturated
unless you are truly passionate I would look elsewhere.
cool_nameto me a career where making over 100k is normal, isnt over saturated
ghosthopIf you're not going to at least a regionally big name school don't expect those six figures. Lawyer is not the high demand occupation that it once was.
ghosthopDon't confuse expected earnings with job market saturation.
normal for the ones that put in the leg work, were perfect through undergrad, got into the big name school, and managed to land that cush job after putting in a ton of hours right out of school.
its the same mentality with degrees like engineering, there are a ton of people that have been very successful so everyone and their brother think that they too will be on the fast track to the gravy train.
If you're not going to at least a regionally big name school don't expect those six figures. Lawyer is not the high demand occupation that it once was.
cool_nameThat isn't expected earnings, that is average earnings of actual lawyers.
J.D.lo fucking l.
For every lawyer making six figures, there are ten who aren't.
J.D.Are you in law school yet? I can assure you that you have a horribly skewed sense of the job market in BC.
cool_nameI really don't get what point you are trying to make, are you saying it isn't normal for a lawyer to make over 100k in Bc, because the stats seem to show quite conclusively that it is quite normal.
i wouldn't at all say I have a skewed sense of the market, i know plenty of people who have gone through the process in Bc. I have also fully admitted that just going to law school doesn't mean you have what it takes to be a lawyer.
if you are trying to imply I have a skewed sense of the market due to quoting average and median salaries, please note that not once did I say I except to earn that upon graduating. It is an average salary, expecting to earn it right of law school would be riduclous, seeing that it takes in account lawyers in all stages of their career.
All im saying is that I don't think the job market is over saturated. there are just lots of people looking for law jobs who just don't have what it takes and therefore shouldn't be included in the job market.
J.D.I went to UBC law. Most of my lawyer friends work in BC. I practice in my firm's BC office when I'm home in Van. The fact is, if you have a job at a top firm, you'll make under 50k articling (when I graduated it was 44k; part of the reason I left), then about 90k the next year and 100k in year 3. If you work anywhere else, it's not like that. And you're not working in house without working at a top firm for about 4-5 years first.
That group of people are the ones who are skewing the averages upward and giving you that "100k average". Many of them are making 7 figures or near there. Then you have a much larger number of lawyers who do not work in that environment and make a decent living, but nothing like the money you think is there. Think of the sheer volume of government lawyers who are earning in the 60k range. And to earn that decent living, they have to absolutely work their butts off. Frankly, being really smart isn't necessarily what results in having a good career in law - sure, you have to be smart, but more than that you have to be willing to work a ton. There are far easier ways to make a living.
And yeah, it's pretty saturated. Getting the jobs people want is very competitive. Maybe the demand will have picked up in a few years when the economy turns around, but it's a pretty terrible market at the moment for anything business-related which drives a lot of law jobs. The job placement rates for law schools show basically any job you get after graduating - whether it's a job as a lawyer or not. A ton of people who go to law school are not working in the law field by 5 years after they leave. I don't have your statistical sources, but I'd suspect it's about half.
I take it you haven't started yet but yeah, don't go in with unrealistic expectations. I don't want to sound like too much of a downer, just more of a dose of reality, because a lot of people seem to have this "I got into law school, boom, set for life" notion. That attitude baffles me. Sure, it's a great career for the person who really enjoys doing it (which you don't know if you are until you've finished articling basically), but it's not a gold-paved road to success and fortune the way some people make it seem. It's a lot of hard work, and arguably even more it's luck - landing in the right place, and being in a spot that you enjoy working in.
