For Those of You Asking "Should I Go to Law School"...

[the white rabbit]

I didn't say it doesn't make sense. I just meant it was kind of messed up that the associates wanted to help their colleagues, but the higher ups did not respect it. However, the higher ups are running a business and it makes sense that they would want to pay one person 160,000 that was really productive and then keep 128,00 for themselves by laying off a guy that wasn't worth the money. It's business and why keep someone around that isn't pulling their weight and the answer is you shouldn't.

A lay off just means you are not worth keeping around. It is not like you did some horrible thing, but if you cost more to keep around than you are making you get laid off. So it makes perfect sense that this firm let people go that were not meeting the billable hour requirements.

I see.  So what you mean is:

1. It makes sense from a business perspective, but
2. It's still kind of messed up.

So we're on the same page I guess.

[john4040]

Posted updated link.

[danny900]

The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation - A law and economics blog from the Harvard Law School Program on Corporate Governance that gathers the latest news, opinion and research pertaining to corporate governance and financial .
http://www.glitzwedding.com/

[REALITY]

lawschool is always a good decision.

Anyone who cries about the debt is an idiot. Obama helped pass student loan reforms where it is now income based if you need it to be for repayment and after 20 years All of it it forgiven.

Caveat, even if you end up in a job that even an AAS could get, you still will have the education and not feel the weight of the debt any harder than someone who went to a more "prestigous" BA. Hell, you could be the biggest duesh on the planet and work at BK and still be ok with an LLM worth of loans over your head.


The only real excuse not to do it is now dead. So stop crying about "what if I fail" (cowards will fail in life in general so dont be a coward) and just apply, if you get in try your best to graduate, if you graduate get a job, if you fail out get a job, work for 20 years, be debt free either way, find a way to retire for another 20 years or so, then die. It's that easy. That's all.

[john4040]

lawschool is always a good decision.

Anyone who cries about the debt is an idiot. Obama helped pass student loan reforms where it is now income based if you need it to be for repayment and after 20 years All of it it forgiven.

Horrible advice.  Have you actually read the terms for IBR?  Would you like to live in abject poverty for 20 years before your loans are forgiven?  You also fail to consider the fact that private loans will not be forgiven.

[bigs5068]

Yea you should be somewhat cautious about the loans. $100,000 or so in debt is not something you should take lightly and not to mention you will lose 3 years of substantial income if you go to law school. Even if you had some pencil pusher job making 30,000 or so a year that is 90,000 over 3 years in lost income and instead of keeping that income you go 100,000 in debt. At the same time if law school is something you really want to do then go for it, but don't just go because you saw an episode of law & order. It is a huge decision and 3 years plus 100k is not something you should just shrug off.

I do agree with the other guy that people have way to many excuses.  Honestly, no matter what you do there is going to be some risk and if you decide to go to law school then be accountable for your decision. Instead of blaming everybody and everything like some of those b.s. websites where the people bi**h and moan about everything.  They blame their school, their professors, the ABA, whatever they can point their finger at, but they never take one ounce of accountability.

Bottom line if you really want to be a lawyer then go to law school, but be cautious about your debt and as a general rule  go to a school in a location you want to live in.

[REALITY]

Damn you must have failed economics.

If you make more, you pay more. No duh, but then you can afford it.

As for the poverty issue, if you are that pathetic to live in poverty with a JD, you'd be at least that bad off without it huh? Yeah, you would .

lawschool is always a good decision.

Anyone who cries about the debt is an idiot. Obama helped pass student loan reforms where it is now income based if you need it to be for repayment and after 20 years All of it it forgiven.

Horrible advice.  Have you actually read the terms for IBR?  Would you like to live in abject poverty for 20 years before your loans are forgiven?  You also fail to consider the fact that private loans will not be forgiven.

[the white rabbit]

Damn you must have failed economics.

If you make more, you pay more. No duh, but then you can afford it.

As for the poverty issue, if you are that pathetic to live in poverty with a JD, you'd be at least that bad off without it huh? Yeah, you would .

A lot of noise in this post, but not much substance.  Basically, you assume that it's easy to make money.

I don't understand why anyone would think that carrying an enormous amount of debt is no big deal, especially when it's not backed by anything that can be exchanged for value.

[REALITY]

Basicly not at all what I said, I said IF you make a lot then you don't have to worry about the debt since you'll have the money, but IF you end up making pennies then the income based payments and the 20 year forgivness step in and make it ok for you and if you suck bad with a JD you'd suck worse without it.

Thats why the "debt" is "no big deal" the "value" you get is a better job that allows you to pay it off, and if not then the debt hardly even applies, and to the near nill amount that it does, still gets you better off than a BA would. Even if you only a few grand more a year, thats what your income based payments would be(so financially worse case scenario you break even) but at least are more likely to be eligable to the more respected positions and respect of others along the way.

"but I was scared, so I work at a hotdog stand......" is less impressive with the ladies than "Yeah I got stuck as general manager at Kmart for awhile, but I have a JD".........who's sausage would you rather swallow? There you go.

Damn you must have failed economics.

If you make more, you pay more. No duh, but then you can afford it.

As for the poverty issue, if you are that pathetic to live in poverty with a JD, you'd be at least that bad off without it huh? Yeah, you would .

A lot of noise in this post, but not much substance.  Basically, you assume that it's easy to make money.

I don't understand why anyone would think that carrying an enormous amount of debt is no big deal, especially when it's not backed by anything that can be exchanged for value.

[the white rabbit]

Basicly not at all what I said, I said IF you make a lot then you don't have to worry about the debt since you'll have the money, but IF you end up making pennies then the income based payments and the 20 year forgivness step in and make it ok for you and if you suck bad with a JD you'd suck worse without it.

Thats why the "debt" is "no big deal" the "value" you get is a better job that allows you to pay it off, and if not then the debt hardly even applies, and to the near nill amount that it does, still gets you better off than a BA would. Even if you only a few grand more a year, thats what your income based payments would be(so financially worse case scenario you break even) but at least are more likely to be eligable to the more respected positions and respect of others along the way.

"but I was scared, so I work at a hotdog stand......" is less impressive with the ladies than "Yeah I got stuck as general manager at Kmart for awhile, but I have a JD".........who's sausage would you rather swallow? There you go.

Damn you must have failed economics.

If you make more, you pay more. No duh, but then you can afford it.

As for the poverty issue, if you are that pathetic to live in poverty with a JD, you'd be at least that bad off without it huh? Yeah, you would .

A lot of noise in this post, but not much substance.  Basically, you assume that it's easy to make money.

I don't understand why anyone would think that carrying an enormous amount of debt is no big deal, especially when it's not backed by anything that can be exchanged for value.

Say you end up making the same amount of money you did without the JD, but now you need to pay a percentage for the next 20 years to pay off your debt.  Was law school still the right answer in that situation?

Your expected response: "That never happens because everybody knows that you make more money with a JD." 

And if you think "...but I have a JD" is going to impress anybody, you may have bigger problems than I can help you with.