These discussions are killing me....

[nealric]

Personally, I too find most of the information on this website extremely negative.  I was very excited about my decision to go to law school until I came upon this site.  Yet, here I am still.  Reading away.

Lol- this one of the more positive websites. Try xoxohth.com or jdunderground.com if you want negative.

[bigs5068]

Yea JDUnderground is ridiculous. I  am always amazed that these people who are "allegedly" looking so hard to find a job manage to compile websites and write about how miserable they are.

[kenpostudent]

I suppose there might be difficulty when trying to break into some sectors of the legal job market. Big Law is suffering, and only some of the smaller regional firms are starting to hire again. Yet, I got a ticket a few months ago. I found an attorney here in Las Vegas that does nothing but tickets and DUIs. When I went to his office, he was chillin in jeans and a t-shirt, and he looked like Eddie Vedder with hair down to his mid-back. He said he makes well over $100k a year just handling traffic stuff. He goes to court a few times a week, but chills the rest of the time. While all my classmates are fighting over the big law jobs that pay $105k, he's laughing all the way to the bank. He has no a$$ to kiss, and no drama. If he can do, so can many others. So, I suppose that your career is what you make of it.

I also know of a few small attorneys in town who are struggling. I'm not saying that it's easy street for the sole practitioner. However, for those who are smart and motivated, there are opportunities.

[smartandunique]

A lot of people go to law school for the wrong reason.Trust, I would be pissed if I took out a mortgage size loan for school, graduated and couldn't find a job. However I'd give the market a chance first.Some people skip being frustrated and go straight to anger because they think they are entitled to a job or a certain kind of job.(salary,field..)
Don't lose ur perspective or enthusiam, just be realistic.

[bigs5068]

Yea it is competitive a degree does not guarantee you anything. Passing the bar is a test for MINIMAL COMPETENCE. Most people are not looking to hire someone that just got by. I mean there are people in my school that I know will be writing on those websites. They are online all class and screwing around. They were shocked that since they did not fail out the first year and were in the bottom 50% that people were not lined out the door to interview them. The world is competitive and nothing is guaranteed. If you want to be a lawyer there is only one way to do it and that is to go to law school. Don't write a bunch of bullsh** after you make that decision that it is hard. You should realize that if you want to be a lawyer it is going to be HARD. School in any field gives you BASIC COMPETENCE. There are plenty of people that are far more than minimally competent and you need to be one of them to have someone pay you. Even if you know what you are doing someone somewhere will probably be better than you. Real life is hard you need to get used to it and not bit** and moan.

[Thane Messinger]

Personally, I too find most of the information on this website extremely negative.  I was very excited about my decision to go to law school until I came upon this site.  Yet, here I am still.  Reading away.

Lol- this one of the more positive websites. Try xoxohth.com or jdunderground.com if you want negative.

Miguel & All

Indeed so.  There seems also a reflective resistance to negativity--perhaps because it seems so, well, negative. 

Raw negativity can be good, if expressed for the right reasons and interpreted in the right ways.  Anyone who signs up for mortgage-size student debt and finds the job market disappearing is going to be upset, at best.  Add a dollop of disillusionment and a pinch of a law school system that is marginally randomized (especially given how most students approach it), and you've a recipe for some serious (and all-too-real) negativity. 

The lesson for everyone should be the same as it should have been all along:  Do you belong in law school?  If yes, don't look back.  Figure out the right path, sure, but take the atmosphere negativity with a grain of your favorite seasoning.  If you're not sure, soak up this negativity and ask whether it deters you.  If yes, stop.  Don't go.  Law school is too much, too expensive, and a prelude to a jealous career.  Not good if that's not the one you want.

Thane.

PS:  The atmosphere at Top Law Schools was almost comical in its reactions--at least for the short time I had fun there.