<p>I am considering going to law school for environmental law, since my undergrad degree is in environmental studies. I will be graduating this spring, and have not started applying anywhere, and have not taken the LSAT, so nothing is set in stone at all. </p>
<p>I have been going back and fourth between criminal law and environmental law. I know they are totally different.... but anyone want to shine some light on either of them? Also... is a cumulative 3.65 a decent GPA for applying to law school, or will I be pretty limited in where I can go? I go to the University of Washington currently, if that matters.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>I did environmental law for a while, not by choice. Well, the choice was to work for a law firm in New Jersey. There are a lot of messes in New Jersey.</p>
<p>Anyway, I found it to be very boring. Basically my firm would represent polluters. Actually, they weren’t exactly polluters. They were usually companies which lawfully disposed of toxic waste many years ago by giving that waste to a waste disposal company which then dumped the waste somewhere, either legally or illegally. Later when the government started cracking down on this stuff, deep pockets were needed to fund all the cleanups. So enforcement agencies would go after our clients.</p>
<p>As I recall, my job would be to research the minutae of environmental laws, regulations, and case law to find the best arguments that our clients’ liability should be limited. Then there would usually be a settlement because the reality is that’s usually the best option when you are up against the government.</p>
<hr>
<p>When you are choosing which area of law to go into, try to keep in mind the scope of the work. For example, I did commercial litigation which is interesting in principle, but as a practical matter a commercial litigation associate ends up working on a small boring piece of a big puzzle. </p>
<p>So criminal law has the potential to be a lot more interesting. The problems I see with criminal law is that there is not a lot of money to be made in it unless you are a fairly elite criminal defense attorney. Also, some people (including me) would not want to be constantly defending criminals.</p>
<p>Most prosecutors don’t make much money. Federal prosecutors do okay, but it’s extremely competitive to get a job as an assistant US attorney.</p>
<p>Although “Environmental Law” sounds very glamorous (coined in the 1970’s in the Earth Day awakening), it’s basicly toxic waste dump justification law. Watch out for counsin Vinny in the dump!</p>
<p>Criminal law is nice, but consider that you will either putting people in jail for a long time, or keeping them out of jail, all because someone was killed, maimed or hurt in some way. Can you sleep at night doing this? In civil law, it’s all only about money.</p>