<p>So I've been told from many sources that with a law degree you can do practically anything you want to do for a career (short of the obvious doctor, astronaut, auto mechanic, etc.). What I'd like to know is what are a few of the more practical routes you can take with a law degree that people find interesting and enjoyable? And I'm referring to careers outside of trial law. Thanks.</p>
<p>Oh and also don’t shy away from mentioning non-6 figure jobs… I know some folks on this site tend to see these jobs as undesirable, but I’m strictly searching for interesting and enjoyable, then I’ll worry about pay.</p>
<p>You can still do anything you want, of course, but the law degree won’t really be useful for anything outside of law, besides maybe as a prestige-bump, if you go from, say, a TTT undergrad to HYS law school. Actually, it will probably limit you considerably, because of debt.</p>
<p>I actually am confused when people say you can do anything with a law degree, because from what I’ve heard when you graduate law school the only thing you can really do is practice law. I mean obviously there are many facets of law (legal advisor, corporate law, entertainment law, whatever), but the idea of law school is to graduate and practice law.</p>
<p>At the top level of law school, there’s always politics (and the associated work) and the business side of corporate work. As an example of the business side, a few lucky lawyers end up as agents, either in Hollywood or pro sports. Some sports GM’s and commissioners are JD’s, as well.</p>
<p>But those are very, very rare. They just happen to be relatively prominent cases. In some cases, it’s not at all obvious that the JD helped them get the job, either. Crichton and Gerritson probably would have been very good writers even without their MD’s, for example, just as a lot of current JD’s might not have needed their JD’s for their current jobs.</p>
<p>Law degrees open up opportunities for very few things, other than practicing law. As a legal recruiter, if I had a dime for every time someone came to me asking about all those other things they were told they could do with a law degree, I wouldn’t have to work. There are plenty of lawyers doing other things but the degree usually had nothing to do with getting those other jobs. If you don’t want to practice law, don’t go to law school. Getting a law degree doesn’t even prepare you to practice law. It will do an even worse job of preparing you for other careers. What it may do that leads to good things is give an immature person 3 more years to grow up, force an undisciplined person to change his/her ways, or introduce someone to well-connected people. Paying for a law degree to accomplish those things does not make sense to me, however.</p>
<p>Above the Law has a running article on Career Alternatives for Attorneys. Check out their site.</p>
<p>I think a lot of people forget about the option of being a law professor. You’re obviously not going to make as much money as if you practice law at a firm, but as far as “funness” goes, I think it seems like it’s pretty near the top. You basically get paid to read, teach, write, travel, and give your opinion, most of which seem like things that people going to law school love to do anyway.</p>
<p>The only downside is I hear you pretty much have to graduate from a T10 law school to even stand a chance.</p>
<p>I do believe that there are many opportunities outside of the law for attorneys (and I have certainly have had my fair share of offers), but, in my experience, those opportunities often come to those who have had at least some experience practicing law post-law school. </p>
<p>Not every career that some with JDs choose would have required the JD to get the job. Some jobs opportunities would probably never have opened up without the JD and some great experience as an attorney. Among my classmates from law school, for example, there are a good number of writers (novels, magazine articles/columns and screenwriters) and people in publishing (editors, etc.), there are quite a number of investment bankers, consultants and others who work in finance (PE, VC, hedge funds, etc.), there are businessmen and women who work in fields other than finance (I can think of a couple in marketing and a couple in sales, for example), there are five or six doctors, there are a few actors and musicians, and, yes, there are a lot of attorneys.</p>
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<p>I was browsing my school’s faculty. There were a large number from Yale, and a large number from Harvard. Of the remainder, there were more without a law degree at all than there were from every other law school in the country combined.</p>
<p>That prompted me to look at the faculty at my law school. I only looked at full time faculty and Yale is the leader, with a smattering of Harvard, Stanford, Chicago, UVA, Duke, Boalt. There is one from North Dakota and the librarian got his JD from San Diego.</p>