Law school in my 50s

sallyawp
Fri, 10 Oct 2008 10:45:00 +0000

I think that the biggest challenge that a new lawyer in his or her 50’s may face is indeed finding that first employer willing to hire and train you. There is no doubt in my mind that a law student of any age may be successful in law school, in fact, my experience has been that more mature law students often do better overall in law school than their younger classmates.

Typically, in house legal positions are filled by lawyers with significant work experience. The OP’s experience in insurance may help land him (?) a position in the law department of an insurance company, but typically, to be hired as a lawyer even in industry in which you have significant experience you would need to have significant legal experience. Most in house legal departments are way too leanly staffed to be able to train new attorneys, so therefore, they hire experienced attorneys who can hit the ground running as soon as they step in the door.

The way that most new attorneys gain legal experience is by working for other attorneys, whether in a small firm or large firm envirnoment. Many new attorneys also work for the government or in public interest work. There are several difficulties that many law firms may consider when hiring an older new attorney. First, will the older new attorney take direction from more senior attorneys that may be younger (even significantly younger) than the older new attorney? Second, will the law firm would be able to fire the older new attorney if his or her work is not satisfactory without placing themselves at risk of some kind of age discrimination claim (always a factor with employees over 50 years old)? Finally, is it worth the time, money and effort to train an attorney who may not work for that law firm for a long career? Of course, these factors absolutely do not mean that no one will hire an older new attorney, but they may provide some clarity as to why law firms may hesitate to do so.

Perhaps you might find employment with a state insurance regulatory agency?