Regret Attending Law School?

AssociateX
Sun, 03 Feb 2013 16:49:15 +0000

I dont regret going to law school - I am fortunate that I knew very early on about my desire to practice law (in HS) and deliberately chose a state university for undergrad to minimize my overall student loan debt. I graduated from a Tier 2 NYC law school in 2001 (I turned down higher ranked law schools out of state to stay at home and save money) and was very fortunate to land an entry level attorney job right away (2 months post-grad) and now earn 6 figures as staff counsel (worked my way up through different firms). I paid off all my student loans a few months ago. No regrets but I do know that the situation is very different now. The same firms that hired me after law school with crappy grades will not even interview students from my law school and now prefers new attorneys from Fordham, BC, BU, NYU, etc. I see many new lawyers working for free, or working for very low wages (under $40K/year) while carrying 6 figure student loan debt.

This is a problem, and new law students should think carefully about how much they want to practice law. A law degree should not be viewed as just an extension of a 4 year college degree or as a “flexible” degree to have in case the practice of law doesnt “work out”. Unless you want to be an academic, or have the credentials to attend a Top 5 law school where your options are slightly better for using the JD to launch into consulting, politics, business, etc - a JD is really meant for people who choose to actually work as attorneys. I know many classmates from my BLS graduating class who came out with $100K debt, took on jobs at small firms paying $45-65K/year only to realize after a few years they hated it and decided to switch into other careers (in fact, another friend of mine who is a Hofstra Law 2003 grad is now entering a Nursing program at NCCC/Stony Brook because she just could not find a stable legal job in 2 years after being downsized from a mid sized real estate law firm).

As long you have a way to minimize that student loan burden and are prepared to understand all the pros/cons of practicing law - you should be ok. Too many students go into law school never knowing what a real attorney does day in and day out, or not understanding that even taking on a dream job at the ACLU that pays $45K/year is not feasible if they must service $100K+ in debt.