About a year ago, I made a post listing off 9 Reasons Not to Attend Law School which is still making periodic rounds across the blogosphere.
The thread has brought tons of interesting comments from both law students and practitioners, but one stood out (if for no reason other than the fact that it may have been longer than the post itself).
I have excerpted a small portion of “Jane Doe’s” comment below. Feel free to check out the original thread for the entire post.
For me, I realized within the first two weeks of school that I would not be in the top of my class. I’m a single mom with a tough life prior to and during school (my son is special needs), and I simply could not (cannot) compete with the other students that can spend 20 hours a day in the library, or the ones who grew up in a family of lawyers or any other multitude of seemingly advantageous factors, including economics and/or the innate ‘knack’ for legal academia (which is VERY different the knack for legal practice) that some possess, which I admittedly do not.
I mitigated.
Here’s what works for me, and perhaps I am one of the few, but as a student halfway finished with my 2L year, I am still both grateful and pleased to be a law student, as well as very excited – and NOT disillusioned – about the possibilities after law school.
If you read the entire comment, it’s overall positive about the idea of law school in general, which was good juxtaposition to the overall joking dismal tone of the original post.
I get emails whenever anyone comments on the blog (and I read every single one of them) and I saw that Ms. Doe posted a follow-up recently. The full excerpt is below.
Well, I’m back. For all the talking about law school I’ve done: I will sound the warning bells loud and clear. Don’t go. And if you go, don’t be afraid to quit.
I made it half way.
And I quit.
I never met so many sociopaths in one place, I never witnessed so much categorical unfairness and never fell victim to so much intentional ill will all at once.
In a stroke of irony, and despite criticism received from a previous poster, I now edit and write essays for those of you who want to take the plunge and apply to grad school.
I’m moving to Costa Rica in a few months, and I no longer feel like having a heart attack every other day.
Life’s full of choices, and Law School is not a good one for physical or emotional health. But if you must go, I sure can help you write one heck of an essay for it. ;-)
The way I see it, two lessons are to be had here. The first is: a lot can change in a year. The second: it’s never too late to get out.
So how about it LGers? Still glad you went to law school?
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{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
As someone with the JD, but who is not a practicing attorney, I can understand both the stress of attending school and the difficult choice you’re presented with around the half-way mark when you realize that “the law” is vastly different from whatever you thought it might be.
In my own case, it was about a week into the second semester of my 2L year when I knew that I wasn’t ever going to practice law. My motivation even to finish the program was gone. I saw the sociopathic tendencies Ms. Doe witnessed. And while I didn’t have the stress of a special needs child to attend to, I had my own stuff that was (at the time, and to me) apparently equally challenging.
At the end of the day, I decided to finish. I reasoned that I didn’t want to feel like I wasted the last 1.5 years (or have the debt w/o the degree). And, looking back 10 years later, I’m glad I finished. But it’s interesting. Prospective law students never actually ask whether it’s a good idea to go.
They’re not interested in YOUR opinion – they’ve already made up their own minds as to whether they’re going. What they want to know is the level of “game” they’re going to have to bring. They want to know whether you LIKED it. They want validation for their choice.
If they get that validation, great. If not, they dismiss YOUR experience as an abnormality. Which is why, IMHO, you have a lot of dissatisfied law students.
But it’s endemic to the nature of law students. So writing posts that suggest law school isn’t the best thing for everyone (or isn’t the best thing for anyone) – doesn’t actually get through to the folks who really want to go. It simply strengthens the resolve of those individuals who believe that the rules don’t apply to them or their situation.
In other words, the people who are already going to go to law school will become exactly the type of people who Ms. Doe and I met during our respective tenures.
Wow. Clearly I’m going to the wrong law school. Sure, there were a few people who couldn’t get help during finals, but they’d worked very hard at alienating everyone else throughout the semester. The faculty wants to produce productive lawyers, and (for the most part- there are always exceptions) aren’t out to beat us down. Most of the students are all in the “Well, we’re all in the mess together!” I could not have gotten through finals without my study group. The fact that there’s a Dunkin Donuts and a Starbucks across the street totes helps.
(That is not to say that we don’t have a pool on who won’t be back next semester and next year, of course- we totally do.)
But I love my school, and with the exception contracts, I love my classes. One semester in, I don’t regret this decision. A scholarship would help, though.
I can really relate to what Blackacre wrote. I’m now halfway through my third year at a top tier school and I’m 100% sure that I do not want to practice law. I am also in complete agreement about the sociopaths comment. Law school really is a strange bubble. I am thankful that my live-in significant other and our friends are not law students, so that I get a healthy dose of reality whenever I’m off campus.
I went into law school with the simple idea that I was building a career for myself; I never had delusions of working my life away at a top law firm in NYC, or clerking for the Supreme Court. I was fine not being part of the super competitive “cream of the crop.” But about halfway through, I lost all desire to even continue. While some of my classmates truly have a passion for the law and the opportunities it offers, I realized that I had no passion for it whatsoever, developing interests in other fields instead. I feel like I’ve been dragging my feet for the past two years. It’s too bad I came to this realization so late. I also went to law school straight out of college, so if anything, I would suggest prospective law students take a year off in between undergrad and law school, to see what else is out there. It’s only a year, and you’re still so young, there really isn’t that much to lose.
Regardless, even though continuing has sometimes been unbearable, and at times has felt like a complete waste of my time, I plan to finish. I guess I feel the same way; I’m already in so deep, I might as well finish and get the degree.
I started clipping sections of this comment that I particularly agree with, and then I kept adding more until I basically had the entire comment. I don’t know that truer statements were ever made on Legal Geekery.
Thanks for your thoughts, Blackacre.
@Anonymous 3L, What I really find deplorable is that law schools do such a crappy job at educating students as to other careers where your legal education can become invaluable. But career offices are measured on the number of students who go into practice. Non-practicers are non-starters for the career services folks. You’re a non-entity to them.
If you’ve already made the decision to complete your education, I would start looking at ways to maximize your career options using the JD as an added bonus. You’ll face a lot of incredulous interviewers (they all want to know why you’re not practicing law – and are doubtful that you’ll stick around). So practice your answer to the question.
But know that there ARE good jobs out here for folks with a JD who don’t want to practice law.
Good luck!
Well as someone who just finished their first semester of their first year, I can honestly say that I think I’ve experienced every emotion possible and am happy that I didn’t quit when I wanted to. I loved my classes and just had to learn to look past all the crazy, competitive people and remember why I was really there. Maybe I still am naive to reality but right now I am completly happy with my decision to go to law school. And for someone who entered a top 10 law school absolutely terrified of finals, I will say they weren’t as bad as everyone says. But, then again I won’t get grades for another month so I may change my mind when that happens.
Another 1L who just finished their first semester. I think I found a happy medium between the super-intense people and those who could have used a little more intensity. No meltdowns or anything, though I did get quite punchy before the torts exam. Hopefully these were all good strategies for the future…
I think that 1L might be a little too early to claim complete happiness, but not too early to recognize you’ve made a mistake.
Last year I felt happy as a clam, and so lucky to be in school. Now, being halfway through 2L, I think that I’ve dealt with my disillusionment pretty well thus far. I very much questioned my choice all through this past semester, but I think I’ve realized that I really enjoy moots and our legal aid clinic, so I just chalked it up to being unimpressed with law school, not with being a lawyer overall.
I agree with the above posters- I think law schools do a horrible job of explaining the options that aren’t ‘big law’. There are so many options out there, you’re not limited to big law, and if that had been made more clear, perhaps some people would have finished and stuck it out.
I’ve taken to telling people that they should REALLY do their research before deciding upon going to law school.
Currently a 1L. Thus far law school has been more stimulating, more challenging, less boring, and most of the time still less stressful than the daily grind in office jobs. I need to feel like I’m moving forward pretty much all the time, and thus far I’ve felt that each day (and we’ll check back once grades come in).
I go to a T2 school with a crazy-steep curve, but people are friendly nonetheless. Definitely dig it here.
M is being too kind to the sweet, naive 1L’s posting that they “dig it here” and “love their classes”.
Folks… come back in 2 years and tell us what you think. The bloom is still on the rose in the middle of your first year. You still think that you’re going to save the world. You believe that you can make $100K working as a civil rights attorney. You find it funny when the person next to you doesn’t know the facts of the current case your professor just called them on.
Next semester is about to tarnish things a little. You’re going to find the professors a little less charming, a little less amusing… and a lot more demanding. The pace is going to pick up a bit and when you don’t know what’s going on in class in some schools, you are advised to simply stay home that day – because instead of giving you the ability to say “Pass” when you aren’t prepared, the profs will simply sit on you the whole period and make you look like an idiot.
Your fellow classmates will have received their first set of benchmarks – grades. They will know whether they’re in the top 10% of the class (and, mathematically speaking, only 10% can BE in the top 10%, so 90% of the class is headed for a letdown). Those that make it above the line will work harder to stay there. Many that are below the line will either transfer at the end of the first year or will become absolutely rabid trying to make it above.
At some schools, those in the bottom 25% will actually be “counseled” to seek a different career. Why? Because the school has to keep their graduation numbers up with respects to reporting… so they’d rather you drop out or transfer before you get to the 3L year.
So congrats on finishing the first 5 months. Check back when you’ve got 25 under your belt and you’re staring at graduation.
I don’t recommend going to law school unless you are absolutely sure what you are getting yourself into. I left 1.5 years through law school. It was not all that it was cracked up to be. The stress was insurmountable. If you enjoy feeling sick to your stomach daily and feeling like there are never any right answers and only grey areas, go to law school. Otherwise, save your money. No matter what, do not go to law school immediately after undergrad. You think you know what you are doing and you are afraid to loose one year. I would suggest going and working in the law as a paralegal or legal secretary or doing some volunteer work at the prosecuting attorney’s office before investing money in this. It’s just not worth it unless you really know what you are about to spend thousands of dollars on!!!!
I just did a search for motivation to finish law school and this thread was the first link. Not exactly what I was looking for but to be a little honest, hearing that I’m not the only 2L to want to drop out (or just drop) has made me feel a little less crazy. I have been sitting here staring down the stacks of readings I am behind on, seriously debating whether I need to see a shrink because I am sooooo miserable. Not that I am glad that other people are miserable, I’m just glad that I’m not crazy. I don’t know if I’ll be able to finish, but I got to a T-14 with 0 scholarship- I need to at least try to finish or my grandchildren will still be in debt.
They should run law schools like the military academies- you get to go half way through and then if you drop out then you have half a degree and an embarrassing story. If you go more than half way then you owe the full cost of your education. That might incentivize them to make law school less like hell and to make more realistic promises to incoming 1Ls.
@Twisted 2L, I can tell you very few things definitively, but I can tell you for sure that you’re not the only one with those feelings. At this point, I say stop stressing. You have two primary options: get the $160k biglaw job and pay off your debt, or pay down your debt over the course of 20 years and then have it forgiven.
Option #2 is great because even if you decide that you don’t want to practice law, the result is the same. You make small payments for what seems like a lifetime, get boned on a forgiveness tax one day in the future, and try to forget that you dropped $150k to get a law license.
If you do get the $160k job though, keep in mind that Legal Geekery is always accepting donations :P
You 2L’s that are questioning whether you should continue after investing major $ and 1 1/2 years are NOT alone and NOT freaks! I am a non-trad student, thought about attending law school for 5 years, and took the plunge in 2010. I have a BS in Dental Hygiene and a minor in allied health sciences, which I haven’t used in years because I got involved in politics. It seemed logical that a law degree would help me solve the world’s problems. The 1st year was as stressful as everyone says, but my grades were good and I thought the second year would be better, so I went back for more. Honestly, I am bored, stressed, and frustrated with NO absolutes in law. I also question if 3 years of out-of-state tuition is worth it when I don’t want to work as a lawyer.
If your school allows it, I would recommend a leave of absence to examine the pros and cons of quitting. So far, I have had no regrets taking a leave this semester and am allowed stress-free time to make a good decision.
T