Is it worth becoming a lawyer?

california_love8
Fri, 29 Dec 2006 23:25:21 +0000

Most lawyers in the U.S. did not go to T14 law schools and they still manage to be lawyers making a living for themselves.

Here is the reality check. Law school is expensive – even the law schools that are not in the T14. In fact, tuition at the law schools in the bottom tier is typically about as expensive as tuition the very top law schools. So, no matter where you go to law school, absent a scholarship or someone giving you the tuition money (plus books, room, board, bills, health insurance, etc.), you are most likely going to graduate from law school with a significant amount of student loans (in many cases, over $100,000 of loans). How do you make your not insignificant loan payments every month? Well, one good way is to get a job that pays well. The best paying jobs for lawyers are typically at big law firms. Big law firms do the vast majority of their hiring from T14 law schools (plus a few others, depending on region, particular loyalties, etc.). So, if you plan to graduate from law school with student loans, and you want to have a good chance of being able to pay off those student loans from your well-paying job, then your best bet is to go to a top law school in order to get a well-paying job. Is going to a top law school a necessity? No. Does it help a lot? Yes.

That’s why the folks who frequent this board (attorneys included) often emphasize the importance of attending the best possible law school.



See that proves my point. Most schools outside of the top 14 (maybe 20) do not pay that well straight out of law school as compared to medicine after residency. Hell, even some residents make more $$ than lawyers straight out of law school which is down-right pathetic if you ask me. And you still haven’t commented on the hours. The average hours:compensation ratio for lawyers do not even come close to doctors’ and dentists’. Don’t agree with me, check out a ton of other boards in which people concur that lawyers work worse hours than most physicians, and also, check out how many disgruntled lawyers there are. But all this aside, people still want to pursue law; but why? What are the benefits of law not just monetarily, but overall, because from what I’m hearing, neither of those requirements are being fullfilled.