Again, one needs to do their due diligence, not all undergrad college programs are the same. For example, friend’s kid is at Cal Poly SLO and they have a deep “pre-law” concentration program with classes like “Foundation of Mock Trials”; she is on their college Mock Trial team competing regionally and nationally, and taking classes in “Environmental law”, “Land Use Law”, and “Water Policy”.
This is no “marketing gimmick” as she will have a solid foundation in some of the skill sets that will help her in her ultimate career goal of being an environmental lawyer.
@merc81 : Great list. But the reality is that what law schools really seek is an above median LSAT score. Then an above median GPA score. The only other primary factor is whether or not one is a URM.
Legal employers, however, want writing skills as do judges hiring for clerkship positions.
The skills that help one achieve a high LSAT score & a high GPA are analytical thought & hard work.
The average student loan debt load of attorneys rival doctors. Unfortunately they only make a fraction of what doctors make. This means you need to find an undergraduate school you can afford. Prestige isn’t a golden ticket to getting into law school. It’s going to be your grades and LSAT scores. If you graduate law school with $250k in combined student debt, you’re going to be in a world of hurt one way or another.
@socaldad2002 Back in the old days, environmental litigators had none of that undergrad coursework, and that includes all the older attorneys currently practicing in that area. While those undergrad courses may be interesting for an undergrad to take, undergrad coursework is truly not important for that particular area of practice (speaking from direct experience). Undergrad courses may provide basic context, but the skill set is still litigation (learned in law school and on the job). The practice isn’t as specialized as, say, IP.
Again, it depends on where you want to work. The average salary for new associate at big law firms is close to 200K a year plus bonus and even if these lawyers never make partner and ultimately leave the lirm after 4 or 5 years, they will have been in a position to pay down or eliminated their law school debt. As with everything, it really depends on what your ultimate career goals are and how diligent you are in paying down your professional school debt.