Some thoughts on going to law school

A few thoughts for those of you thinking about law school this fall. Somebody else can talk about strategy and how great it is to be a lawyer. I'm going to make a few observations about the realities of taking that path. I'm not saying "don't go." I am saying "be sure you know what you and 40,000+ people per year are getting into."

DISCLAIMER: What follows are some observations about the daily life of a lawyer.
IT IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE AND IT IS NOT ACADEMIC ADVICE. [can you tell I went to law school?]

1. Assuming you will get rich is dangerous. A few lawyers make a lot of money (more than a million dollars a year); a greater proportion make a fair amount of money (somewhere between 100,000 and a million), some others make a bit less, and many lawyers earn around the median income. Unless you are a very good lawyer or entrepreneur, chances are you aren't going to make that much money. Some law school graduates find themselves unable to pay off their law school loans. "But what about those 150k starting salary jobs", you may be thinking. The truth is that there aren't that many of those, and there are many many lawyers graduating from law schools each year. It's a numbers game: Unless you are attending a first tier law school or do well (top third of the class, for example) you probably are not going to get one of those jobs. You may not even get interviews for those jobs. So law school is not necessarily a great investment, at least as a moneymaking strategy.

2. Law school is not a good general education. The subject matter is of no use to you outside of law. Nobody besides other lawyers will care about your knowledge of civil procedure. Skills? Law school teaches—and rewards—a very narrow set of skills: reading comprehension, technical writing, and legal advocacy. Because of the peculiarities of law teaching, none of these skills are taught in a way that has much utility outside the field of law. There are some non-lawyer jobs where a JD might be useful, or even required, but generally speaking it's not necessary. If you want to go into business, do so and hire a lawyer to tell you what the rules are.

3. Being a lawyer is, usually, not particularly exciting. This observation is the one you may have encountered before. It needs to be repeated, over and over. Much legal work is clerical, detail work, and this is true of both litigation and non-litigation work. If you do non-litigation work, you will be endlessly redrafting documents for other people. If you do litigation, you will be drafting documents for courts, wading through mountains of paper and your adversary's incomprehensible papers. The vast majority of cases settle so there is precious little opportunity for actual courtroom work. Even then, good courtroom work is the product of months of painstaking attention to detail. Don't do it unless you love detail work.

4. Lawyers don't change the world. An unfortunate misconception to the contrary apparently arose in the 1970s at the high water mark of public interest litigation. That notion--that lawyers do change the world--has stubbornly and unfortunately resisted dying. Law is a deeply conservative practice. It's difficult to argue with that proposition; after all, if law was unstable, an orderly society would be much more difficult to maintain. Lawyers may, sometimes, address or alleviate a grievance or injustice, but that is a world away from changing society. Ask someone who works in public interest law--not a law teacher--about this.

5. The law is a jealous mistress. The phrase is useful, if a bit dated and sexist. All it means is that law is time-consuming and not conducive to doing other things. A full-time legal job will usually require more hours than another full-time job that may pay equally. Do not assume you can do other things in your off hours, because you may not have any off hours. Also, if you practice law, ethics rules may preclude involvement in other activities, moneymaking or otherwise.

Now, if you've looked at these observations and still want to go, more power to you. I STRONGLY encourage you to talk to a lawyer in whichever field you are interested in. There are many great legal jobs, and many people who practice law are quite happy doing just that. Make sure you're one of them. Good luck!