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At one time you could expect to work your tail off for a decade or two, then make full partner and start benefiting from the work of others. No longer; the existing partners have the whole thing all locked up.
The one subset that may be different is patent lawyering. I have been told that to rise high in that field basically requires you to be located in DC but am not sure whether that's still the case.
Whether it's a good investment depends greatly on which law school you attend, how much you borrow to go there, and where you decide to live afterwards.
The lawyers I know who went to top-tier schools like Stanford, Yale, and Harvard, are doing quite well -- one working for a prestigious non-profit, one for a big law firm, one for the federal government. The first two are only a few years out of law school, the third about a decade out. You really have to be a total screw-up not to do well if your degree is from one of the top schools.
OTOH, I also know a lawyer who went to a middle-tier state law school. He worked a while for city government, and then branched out into his own specialized practice. He's doing well too, and only graduated a few years ago.
All of them had loans to repay and are doing so. The thing is that law school can be a very good investment for those who have a strong clear well-delineated career plan after law school, even if they don't attend a Harvard or Chicago or Virginia. But as turf3 said, the days of easy partnerships at big firms are gone -- if hanging out for seven years and working 12 hour days was ever easy to begin with. Nobody should go to law school without a really good idea of what they want to do when they leave, and whether they have a realistic shot of achieving their goal given the "brand" of the school, how much they'll owe in loans, and where they'll settle to practice.
Whether it's a good investment depends greatly on which law school you attend, how much you borrow to go there, and where you decide to live afterwards.
The lawyers I know who went to top-tier schools like Stanford, Yale, and Harvard, are doing quite well -- one working for a prestigious non-profit, one for a big law firm, one for the federal government. The first two are only a few years out of law school, the third about a decade out. You really have to be a total screw-up not to do well if your degree is from one of the top schools.
OTOH, I also know a lawyer who went to a middle-tier state law school. He worked a while for city government, and then branched out into his own specialized practice. He's doing well too, and only graduated a few years ago.
All of them had loans to repay and are doing so. The thing is that law school can be a very good investment for those who have a strong clear well-delineated career plan after law school, even if they don't attend a Harvard or Chicago or Virginia. But as turf3 said, the days of easy partnerships at big firms are gone -- if hanging out for seven years and working 12 hour days was ever easy to begin with. Nobody should go to law school without a really good idea of what they want to do when they leave, and whether they have a realistic shot of achieving their goal given the "brand" of the school, how much they'll owe in loans, and where they'll settle to practice.
It also depends a LOT on how good a student you are! If you do well, chances are you'll find a job somewhere in your field. If you're a mediocre student, chances are you'll struggle to find employment, and to stay employed, once you find a job. Eventually, some start their own independent practice. Some do well at that, some don't. What I've seen really pay off is creating a new niche in an independent practice.
Some law grads end up not working in the law at all, but head up non-profit work of one sort or another.
But if you want your investment to pay off, OP, you'd better be among the top in your class. It could turn out to be be money down the drain, otherwise.
Last edited by Ruth4Truth; 06-11-2018 at 02:03 PM..
If I could do it over, I would go to law school. Can't think of a quicker path to the corridor of power. Start out as an ADA. Kiss the right butt. Spend some money for political contributions. And in no time you are appointed to the bench.
It depends on how smart you are, what school you can get into and how willing you are to put in extra hours at work after you graduate. If you can graduate near the top of a top-tier school, you can probably get a good job starting at 6 figures. However, you will work a lot of hours for that salary.
If you're a mediocre student and/or go to a lower ranked school, I'd say probably not unless it's what you're passionate about and you can get a scholarship or have your tuition paid for. I definitely would not take on a lot of debt to get a law degree.
06-11-2018, 06:45 PM
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Are you attending a T14 school?
Are you getting a substantial scholarship that covers all or nearly all of the tuition?
The answer to at least one of those should be yes.
The ABA required disclosures will tell you a lot about whether a particular school is worth it. You can see what sorts of firms students wind up at, what the typical salaries are, how many get clerkships, etc.
At one time you could expect to work your tail off for a decade or two, then make full partner and start benefiting from the work of others. No longer; the existing partners have the whole thing all locked up.
The one subset that may be different is patent lawyering. I have been told that to rise high in that field basically requires you to be located in DC but am not sure whether that's still the case.
I agree. I almost applied to law school ten years ago but decided not too after much analysis of the foreseeable job market. It looked awful. Just google "unemployed lawyers" and "law school debt". It's very obvious the field is generally saturated with few options.
The niche of patent law is lucrative but requires a PhD. But at that point one can just build a career with the PhD itself without having to go to law school. For example, a PhD in computer science with a dissertation on cybersecurity or data mining would go far alone. To be fair, if combined with a JD, a PhD like computer science, genetics, biomedical engineering, etc. would be very lucrative. They do fine as I understand it in the midst of the great depression of job loss for the rest of the legal field.
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