Don't Go To Law School

Someone just found my blog with the Google query: "don't go to law school." Hmmmm. Whoever you are, you're probably wise to be thinking hard about whether to do it or not. I don't know whether Google will have the answer. I certainly don't have the answer. But here are some things to think about.

Don't go to law school right out of college because you're smart and you've been encouraged to by various history professors or relatives or because you like debating or arguing and you vaguely think you might want to get into politics someday. Don't go to law school because you're not sure what else to do, or because your parents really want you to. Or, at least, don't go to a really expensive law school for those reasons, unless you have the means to do so without incurring big big debt. Don't go to law school, in other words, to avoid making a decision about your life as an adult and what you want it to be like. Because if you incur big debt and make your peer group an extremely competitive and perhaps atypically unhappy group of people you will limit your ability to make that decision, clearly and well and for the right reasons.

Law school is fun. I worked harder and learned to think better than I did when I was at Yale. Partly that's because of the nature of law school, but a lot of that was because I wasn't mature enough to be particularly focused on my classes while I was an undergraduate. And when I got done with my undergraduate degree I wanted nothing to do with smart, highly critical and highly articulate people for a while. I went off to the woods and fell in love with a schooner captain and worked in a library and learned about computers and started a nonprofit and hung out with organic gardeners and carpenters and boat riggers. And I learned a lot about how to manage on a very little amount of money, and how to cook interesting dishes and how to get my laundry done before it became a crisis and how to make sure there was enough money in my checking account when rent was due and how to be a professional colleague with people who were much older than me and different in style and background and aspirations. I learned what made me happy and what made me frustrated and what I needed in my daily life to feel like I'd had a good day that day. And I began to learn that part of what I need in my daily life to be happy is contact with smart, articulate people, and some connection to a world where ideas are being pursued. I don't need highfalutin' intellectual stimulation the way some people need it, and I need a LOT of other things too (friends, fresh air, and fun) or I get restless and depressed. But I like to play with words and ideas, to engage with smart people, each day. And when I went back to law school knowing this, and knowing how to keep balance in my life, I had a fantastic time.

I really think if you go to law school before you've done that -- figured out, not just how to live as an adult, but what the elements are for you of a happy life, it's a lot harder to do it afterwards, when you're encumbered with an enormous debt, a status-crazy profession, and a whole lot of friends and family and peers who have a particular view about you and your ambitions. Suddenly you have to reject something, rather than assemble something. And I think that's usually harder to do.

UPDATE: Michigan Law student Carey discusses the dangers of getting onto the conveyor belt of law school prestige very well, here.

Comments

[Mr. X]

This description fits me quite well. I enrolled in law school directly out of college because I hadn't the foggiest idea what to do with my bachelor's in English and Political Science, I was good at writing and arguing, and so forth. Unlike many of these posters, the decision was not at all at the behest of my parents--in fact, both of them tried to talk me out of it! Despite a low SAT and a so-so GPA, I was able to attend a fairly prestigious (if not Top Ten) law school because my undergraduate degree came from an Ivy League university.

Almost from the start, I loathed law school. It was tortuously boring; the classes were mostly about grandstanding and intimidation, and my classmates were the usual hypercompetitive, humorless dweebs who populate law schools. I was in my early twenties and didn't really understand what kind of person I really was--I had convinced myself that I was the lawyer type, and as a result I couldn't figure out why I hated it all so much. In the first semester's exams, the overall results were a disaster (see below), and right afterwards, as my grades hovered just above academic-probation levels, I quit. But six months later I lost my nerve and returned, and of course everyone praised me for not being a Quitter, à la Dick Nixon.

Throughout the rest of my time at law school, I remained a gigantic nervous wreck, increasingly hostile and bored stiff. In three years, I gained forty pounds (I'm male, BTW--it afflicts both sexes). I never "got it"--consequently, my grades never "clustered" and instead roamed all over the place. I was probably the only person who came close to an AmJur in some classes (Jurisprudence and Advanced Constitutional Law) and attained near-honors level in Contracts and Wills, while almost flunking others, such as Civil Procedure, Bankruptcy and Sales (which is very similar to Contracts). Criminal Procedure (Miranda, etc.) was my favorite class; I put in loads of time, yet barely passed it. In short, I never got over the panic and anxiety of First Years, and every exam was like tossing stuff into a mysterious black box--I could never figure out why I did well or poorly.

Somehow, I managed to pass the bar exam on the first try but it did me little good. I found law practice even more anxiety- provoking than school had been. My class standing was so low (right between third and fourth quartile) that a firm job was out of the question. I tried to go solo but couldn't make head or tail of it. I finally gave it up about four years later.

Every undergraduate, and everyone contemplating law school, ought to spend a minimum of 40 hours per week for 50 straight weeks in a genuine law firm environment. It doesn't matter whether one is doing paralegal work, fetching coffee or just tagging along. You need to know and understand precisely what lawyers do on a daily basis. If, after that, it still appeals to you, then go ahead. I would bet that if this kind of practicum were made a mandatory prerequisite, law school applications would drop by over fifty percent and we would no longer be speaking of a "glut" of attorneys. Remember, one attends "law school," not "lawyer school." People majoring in literature, political science, history or even business opt for law school while under the delusion that they will spend their days making brilliantly crafted arguments in court and discussing the pros and cons of upcoming legislation and public policy while eating 4-star dinners in penthouse restaurants overlooking the skyline. In reality, they'll be spending 65-90 hours per week in a cubicle under fluorescent lighting, gulping warm Diet Pepsi and poring over 7-point print on debentures while licking a maniacal senior partner's boots (or stilettos). Or they'll be haggling with insurance adjusters and doing half of the "clerical" work themselves while putting up with vicious, greedy, deceitful and vengeance-obsessed clients who won't pay up, as well as resentful, sullen court clerks and incompetent, corrupt judges who resent having to do any work at all and therefore begrudge the attorney his very existence.

Yes, you may, may earn lots of money, but chances are you will have no time or opportunity to enjoy it, and whenever you do sneak off for a bit, the Blackberry, email and cell phone won't be far away. Time and Litigation wait for no one. A lawyer I know, under forty, has already endured three heart attacks and has a permanent prescription for Lipitor. And he's one of the lucky ones--he actually likes his job!

In the years following, I have had all manner of strange experiences, including Navy Boot Camp and riding in a small ship in 20-foot swells with 60-mph winds, standing by a terminally ill man as he passed on, and even a root canal, and none of it has been remotely as frightening or revolting.

As Sammy Davis, Jr. said on "Baretta," DON'T DO IT!

[Gwen Mizner]

Law school is a veryyyyy good idea during times of recession. Ride out the poor economy and gain an education, so when things improve you'll be able to obtain a solid job. Law school is certainly more tolerable these days, Outlines.com has single-handedly kept me sane, and helped me get a top 10% GPA in the process : )

[William]

You're right, law school is tough and makes college look like elementary school. But there are ways to make it easier to survive, has anyone else enjoyed using http://www.outlines.com/ as much as I have? What a savior!

[Alpha]

Yeah Gwen, great thinking. Go to law school, ride out the recession and pray the good lord all the law jobs that have been cut, somehow magically reappear. And if you do not want to practice law then there are plenty of other options out there as non-legal employers are hungry to hire newly minted lawyers. The skills are oh so transferable. You'll see.

Let us see here, divorce, suicide, drug addiction, alcoholism, prostitution, and mental breakdowns, the stories of my tier 1 peers. And they have only been out of law school for 2 years. Law is a great profession and great education? Yeah, the ones who have no idea what they are talking about. As Mr. X brilliantly and truthfully states: "In reality, they'll be spending 65-90 hours per week in a cubicle under fluorescent lighting, gulping warm Diet Pepsi and poring over 7-point print on debentures while licking a maniacal senior partner's boots (or stilettos)."

And that's if they're "lucky" enough to land a firm job. Case closed.