If you contemplate joining the legal profession to have fun and to be happy, keep in mind that there's a higher percentage of depression and mental illness among lawyers than other professionals. Attorneys are 4 times more likely to be depressed than the public at large. They have the highest depression rate of any occupational group, and about 20% of them have a substance abuse problem, twice the rate of Americans in general. It is also estimated that 20-40% of law students -- even those entering with the same psychological profile of the public generally -- leave law school with some psychological dysfunction such as depression, substance abuse, or various stress-related disorders. She notes that this percentage is not only unusually high, but is not matched by medical students, for example, who are usually thought to undergo probably the most stressful form of professional training possible. The percentages are lower among medical students.
Now you may say, I'm going to law school for the intellectual challenge. Well, you're likely to be disappointed if you do litigation. You can look forward to endless cycles of scut work ... relentlessly repetitive and strangely unconnected to a dimly recollected purpose in choosing law. And if you go to law school to be loved and respected, forget it! The public perceives lawyers as greedy, arrogant and dishonest.
If you go to law school to get rich, there's some hope that you can achieve that goal, but you will be miserable even when you are rich. Most lawyers are so unhappy with what they're doing, whether they go to work for that big firm that's offering them the big bucks or pursue a career in public interest law.