law school depression

[buggy]

Wow.

Has anyone else out there read the Vanderbilt Law Review article referenced by T. Durden??

Thank you for putting the link on this site.  I haven't thought too much about the rigors of working for a "Big Firm" but I now certainly have a lot of food for thought.  On a more generalized basis, I am sure not many of us still in law school (or waiting to begin!) have given much thought to ethics and job satisfaction, but I can already see how jumping into an entirely new culture fresh out of law school can lead to habits never thought to be in one's behavior pattern. 

Again I say...wow.  Curious to see if any others have an opinion/reaction to the piece...

[Grubesac]

I've been hearing these things for the past four months and I've begun to take them very, very seriously. My girlfriend who recently interned for Governor Tim Pawlenty relayed his words of wisdom to me, an individual already in a state of uncertainty.
At a thank you reception for a number of interns who worked for him, he asked, out of the blue, "So are any of you thinking about going to law school?" No one spoke. He said, "Good" and nodded slightly. "My only advice to you all is DON'T GO TO LAW SCHOOL. Do whatever it is that interests you, and run with it. If you are at all outgoing, law school will suck the life and personality out of you."

So yeah, I've thought about it. I'm accepted to UC Hastings and I may not go. Maybe I'll reapply in two years, maybe I'll do something else. Maybe I'll take some time to really figure out what the hell makes up this thing I call me. Wanting to be successful and saying "What else would I do" is not a very good reason. I'm not so sure "getting into politics" is a very good reason either. Being a government lawyer would be alright, maybe, I don't know, but if I want to be a government lawyer I won't make much more than I make right now and so there really isn't a rush to get into right this instant then is there?

Food for thought.

[BIG H2001]

If you are at all outgoing, law school will suck the life and personality out of you.

That's a bit of a ridiculous statement.  Are you implying that if you're not outgoing then you have no personality or "life" and that law school will be a sound decision since there is nothing else to be excited about anyway?  Also, if you are outgoing and law school starts to drag you down, you manage it and find other outlets to express your creativity, sociability, whatever it is that makes you "outgoing." You don't say "I'm outgoing, screw law school that's for people who have no personality." 

[maney]

Do whatever it is that interests you, and run with it. If you are at all outgoing, law school will suck the life and personality out of you."

Actually most of the people who actually go to law school do not have a life or personality!

[buggy]

Grubsac...I hear where you are coming from!  Way too many people are in law school for not just the wrong reasons...but for lack of a reason.  Law: the default career.  Anyway, this may sound cheezy, but I hope anyone out there who is examining life after law school by using intangible variables look into getting a great book by Po Bronson..."What Should I Do With My Life"...it is NOT self help, but rather great stories of folks who have made career changes (for better or worse)...I have recommended it to may friends who are in their 'mid-twenties crisis' and examining future career options.  Seriously, a great read.

On another note...after discovering that my true desire is the law...it is still frustrating to think of the wide disparity in salaries based on the type of law being practiced.  For me, the thought of sacrificing years of free time and lots of money in order to make substantially less money (public interest law) sucks the life right out of me.

[frame of mind]

In actuality, they say that if you don't know what profession to choose, it may just be a good idea to go to law school to become a lawyer.

[Grubesac]

Thats interesting. I don't think I've ever heard anything other than the exact opposite. I assume you are being facetious.

[alb]

law school will suck the life and personality out of you.

That explains a lot about Governor Pawlenty (J.D. University of Minnesota 1986).

[Grubesac]

Funny, I just said hello to him today. I ran into him on my walk to work as he was ducking into WCCO radio to do his show.

I really love his no tax pledge that has shifted the source of education funding regressively towards local property taxes. He needs to wake up. I think I'm going to charge him a fee for being an idiot.

[Noelle]

Thats interesting. I don't think I've ever heard anything other than the exact opposite. [...]

Which means that in the lawyers' way of speaking you've heard exactly what the poster said!