Do NOT go to law school (a sincere warning)

[CJScalia]

Yeah, unlike law students, people with Mongolian Lit degrees are making millions right now. They're the new investment bankers, just wait and see!

Also, if your friends at a T14 school has problems finding any job right now, they are in fact idiots. They might not be able to find the job they are looking for, but they can sure as hell find some job.

[CJScalia]

Yeah, unlike law students, people with Mongolian Lit degrees are making millions right now. They're the new investment bankers, just wait and see!

Also, if your friends at a T14 school has problems finding any job right now, they are in fact idiots. They might not be able to find the job they are looking for, but they can sure as hell find some job.

[IAmMultipleBooks]

I have done it for Simon & Schuster reading every single book contract they ever had in a basement with 15 other people making $20.00 an hour for a temp agency and yea it sucked! I am not arguing that DOC review is what people want to do, but you have to make a living that is life. I was happy with $20.00 an hour and making 28.00 is even better. Believe or not right now a lot of people are making 0 an hour and there is a lot of people making near minimum wage and 28.00/hr is nowhere near that.  

You are not special for a getting a J.D. and if you think you are then you are going to be disappointed. A law degree, M.D., MBA, whatever does not make you special. School is NOTHING like the real world that is my point, that is all I am trying to say and I think a lot of people maybe you are in this group went straight from undergrad to law school and did not realize there are a million other people with degrees. Any job that is really cool is really competitive and they don't hand them out and you have pay your dues. Even if you pay your dues, do well in school and do everything right you might not end up in your ideal situation. Go walk outside your house and ask 100 people if they are completely satisfied with their job or if they even have one.

To half the people on this board wake the f*ck up life is hard, believe or not you still have to pay bills deal with landlords pay for meals even if you don't go to law school. The real world affects everybody not just those with a J.D.

Yes law school is a massive investment and it might not work out it is something to consider. Honestly, if your main goal is to have money and not bust your ass as you stated go work as a waiter right out of high school, or be a bank teller, or cashier at a hardware store and you will incur no educational debt and you won't have to work that hard.  You will have a steady paycheck and if you work at a bank for 5 or 6 years out of high high school you probably get promoted and at 24 have a decent job and no debt. I know plenty of people that did that or worked in construction and are doing well.   

Education is something you do if you want to do it. Nobody has a gun to your head saying go to law school it is a choice and you should do it if you WANT to be a lawyer, nobody is forcing you to go. So stop female dog*ng about your choice.

You're right. It doesn't make you special. It probably won't even get you a salary. It might not get you a job. Hell, it might even look BAD on your resume (especially if you go to Cooley, Cardozo, Brooklyn, NYLS, or other TTTs). That's my point. Think hard.

[IAmMultipleBooks]

Also, if your friends at a T14 school has problems finding any job right now, they are in fact idiots. They might not be able to find the job they are looking for, but they can sure as hell find some job.

Some job, yeah sure. As research assistants or in toilet law.

Also, I don't think that you should be calling anyone an "idiot" after admitting on a public forum that you used cocaine with a professor.

[cooleylawstudent]

Your still dumb enough to think that a "bad" school on a resume make you  look worse than no school, even when it gets you a license?  Retard. Mind to explain how?

[/quote]

You're right. It doesn't make you special. It probably won't even get you a salary. It might not get you a job. Hell, it might even look BAD on your resume (especially if you go to Cooley, Cardozo, Brooklyn, NYLS, or other TTTs). That's my point. Think hard.
[/quote]

[CJScalia]

Some job, yeah sure. As research assistants or in toilet law.

bull. Granted, if you're at the bottom of the ranking, you'll probably be *&^% out of luck, but anyone with half a brain can get a decent job out of a T14 school. If your only definition of a decent job is Wachtell or Cravath, then yeah, you're *&^% out of luck.

Also, I don't think that you should be calling anyone an "idiot" after admitting on a public forum that you used cocaine with a professor.

So what? There isn't a single person on this forum that has any idea 1) who I am 2) what school I go to and 3) that would give a @#!* even if they did know.

[cooleylawstudent]

and if you go to community college before transfering to a 4year univeristy in undergrad, or take a few online classes, the devil himself will rape your soul.......

[Jemma]

I do not even start to school until August and I already have a job waiting for me and other offers and I didn't even apply for any.  Maybe you just aren't impressive enough.  My offers come from just placing myself in the right circles.  And I'm a poor country girl, so it was my networking that paid off.  It didn't come from being related to the right people or from my parents friends.  Network more.  There are jobs.

[IAmMultipleBooks]

I do not even start to school until August and I already have a job waiting for me and other offers and I didn't even apply for any.  Maybe you just aren't impressive enough.  My offers come from just placing myself in the right circles.  And I'm a poor country girl, so it was my networking that paid off.  It didn't come from being related to the right people or from my parents friends.  Network more.  There are jobs.

You have permanent job offers to work as an attorney even though you have yet to "start to school?" Congratulations if true, but I am very skeptical. Part-time and summer employment is not what we are talking about in this thread.

[PSUDSL08]

A common theme in threads like these are for prospective and current students to attack any 3L/recent graduate who somehow posts negative or pessimistic viewpoints about entering the field of law. It's possible that a good chunk of the "don't go to law school" crowd did not distinguish themselves amongst the rest of job seekers as great students and effective networkers. That being said, it might be worthwhile for some prospective and current students to take in some of the criticism without being so defensive about their chosen career paths.

I am not your typical disgruntled graduate, as I am currently working in my dream job. I started off at a T4 school and graduated in 2008 from a T2 school. I'm currently a prosecutor in a mid-sized city that is over-saturated with lawyers (top ten in nation for lawyers per capita). I make $40K per year, have $115K in student loan debt with the opportunity to have that debt forgiven in nine years. I was fully prepared for this reality as my dad is a prosecutor who had to pay his dues before seeing a significant salary increase. Many of the people I went to school with were not.

The prospects for employment in my city are atrocious across the board. Big firms have drastically reduced their summer associate programs. A majority of Biglaw 3L's from 2009 who were offered positions are now having their start dates delayed, and have been urged by their hiring firms to seek out other positions.  Back in October of 2009, one large firm cut its document review staff from 140 attorneys down to approximately 30. The small and mid-sized firms who have openings are seeking attorneys with a minimum of three to five years of experience. Who would you hire - the top 10% 3L with law review who is a work in progress or the top 10% guy with five years of experience who can hit the ground running?

Low paying government positions are increasingly hard to come by. There is little to no turnover in the DA's/PD's office. It's hard to bolt for greener pastures when there's nothing but scorched earth in sight. When a position does open up, either office can pick and choose amongst a multitude of candidates with impressive qualifications (top 5-10%, law review, courtroom experience). Judicial law clerks who would normally leave after one year of service are now staying aboard for their second and third years.
I have a good number of friends who are doing quite well, but they either had great qualifications or had a job lined up through family/close friends. Many are riding it out in clerkships or have sought out non-legal work they could have obtained without wasting three years of their lives and over $100K (event planner, insurance salesman, etc).

The JD does not open up as many doors as it did for the WWII and baby boomer generations. The older attorneys who started their own firms have attorney numbers in the 15000-40000 range. The attorney numbers for my graduating class is well into the 210,000 range. Nonetheless, when you tell the average person you're going to law school, it's common for them to "ooh and ahh" and otherwise stroke your ego...all the while assuming you're going to be rich and successful. The numbers tell a vastly different story.

It's very easy to sit back as a prospective student and say "I won't let this happen to me" or "things will be fine once the economy rebounds." And I'm sure many of you will do just fine. But there are a good number of people who will end up regretting their decision in 2013. Just do your homework before you decide to take the plunge.