I wanna go to Law School But I don't wanna be a Lawyer...

Graduate School Law School
1

<p>I just wanna go to Law School for the hell of it!, I think it'd be interesting/fun...and wanna experience the challenge.</p>

<p>somebody i know told me he wants to take the LSAT for kicks...even though he doesn't wanna be a lawyer, just wants to experience the law school itself. haha i totally agree w/him..</p>

<p>Do I wanna be a lawyer? HELLZ NO! Yeah right I have to cater to everybody else's needs and go through a brutal schedule with clients bitchin at me....no thank you!</p>

<p>has anyone ever thought about this....</p>

<p>that they'd like to go to law school, but like they don't wanna be a lawyer just yet..</p>

<p>dude there are soooooo many lawyers out there that in a couple of years there is gonna be an overflow and decrease in wage...</p>

<p>I can see it foreshadowed right now...yep...too many lawyers = too many problems...</p>

2

<p>Go to LS for the right reasons. There's no such thing as going to LS just for the heck of it. It's too much of a life commitment to embark down this road simply to experience it.</p>

3

<p>I totally agree with emsibdn...I mean you're wasting not only time and money, but putting stress on yourself. No offense, but I think your decision is a poor one...</p>

4

<p>If you really tihnk you'll enjoy law school, and you can get a free ride at a decent school based on your grades and scores, why not? You may be able to do other things with the degree, in terms of going into business, teaching, etc. </p>

<p>However, to pay $150K, just for the fun of it, would be pretty insane.</p>

5

<p>There are a number of successful people who go to law school with no intention of practising law... A law degree is impressive, and helps you in a variety of areas, namely, business... It is also pretty important if you want to go into politics/public service...</p>

<p>But I would go to law school with a goal and an open mind---not just, "for the hell of it." If you really enjoy the academic aspects of the law, yet don't want the lifestyle of a lawyer, you can always become a law professor...</p>

<p>As to your point on there being an overflow of lawyers, this has happened before, but now the "Bar" regulates the number of lawyers who "pass the bar" each year, with the projected economy, demand, etc in mind...</p>

6

<p>I believe only 1 in 12 people who try to become law professors even get the preliminary teaching position. </p>

<p>Personally, I would NOT go to law school for the hell of it, even if someone did foot the bill. There are other ways to learn how to think (such as a masters in philosophy) while prolonging childhood. As professions, law and medicine have the highest rates of alcoholism, and, after a semester, I think I can safely guess why. I go to a happy, laid-back law school; I'm quite driven, but not competitive. Yet, in the middle of finals, I craved alcohol for the first time in my life. Many people around me felt the same way - the drinking is one thing that One L (Turow's book) nailed. I did engineering undergrad (the hardest engin. that my school had, then went ahead and took the hardest possible courseload within that major), so I'm used to the stress and pressure, but finals was like nothing I had ever felt before - if it were that or taking six college courses, one of which was added to my schedule in Nov., hobbling around on crutches, and having a breast tumor - or l.s. finals - give me the six engin courses, crutches, and impending surgery. Any freakin day! Long story short - as someone used to stress, pressure, and huge workload, I was fried after a semester. Hell, I'm still fried and slowly decompressing over vacation. </p>

<p>Granted, you could not care about your grades, be content with graduating at the bottom of your class, just do the reading and go to class - but there is still the pressure around you. Your classmates will be actively searching for legal jobs. Many schools have third-year clinics set up to get students exposure to the profession. You would be very much out of synch with your classmates. If you are good with that, and can really ignore pressure (and not pressure yourself to succeed), it might be worth it. But - I personally would find some other way of getting the education. Most law students agree that it makes undergrad look like a cakewalk. Benefit - legal education. Burden - three long, hard years, in which you really won't have much of a life, everyone around you will live and breathe law, and $150k of someone's money.</p>

7

<p>To get back to the OP, I would say that law is a vast field, and you don't have to take a traditional law-firm job where you have to endure, as you put it, "...go through a brutal schedule with clients bitchin at me...". You can go work as a prosecutor putting criminals away. You can work for the DoJ or the SEC or some other branch of government. You can work in public-interest, pursuing a cause that you find meaningful. Many of these fields report higher career satisfaction among lawyers than do traditional law-firm work does. Granted, they don't pay very well, but on the bright side, many law schools offer loan-forgiveness programs to those who take these jobs. And besides, if the purpose of going to law school really is because you enjoy it, then you shouldn't really care if you end up with a low-paying (but possibly quite satisfying) job when you graduate.</p>

8

<p>Why would you want to take away a Law school spot that could go to someone who ACTUALLY wants the spot? That's just rude.</p>

9

<p>Actually, I don't think I can agree with the last post. The fact is, nobody's entitled to an admissions spot. If a guy isn't good enough to get an admissions spot, then that's his/her own fault. So if you go to law school, you shouldn't feel obligated to become a lawyer just because you 'took' a spot away from somebody else. That somebody else should have worked harder so that he/she wouldn't have lost that spot to you in the first place.</p>

10

<p>No. You're wrong. Yale Law website says each class has 185 students. So, let's say that baller4lyfe applied and then got in. Someone else, probably just as deserving who actually wants to be a lawyer (in my opinion one of the most noble professions) is kept out because baller4lyfe is there.</p>

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<p>The cynic in me says "balla4lyfe" wouldn't be offered admission to YLS.</p>

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<p>That's funny, but you know what I meant. YLS was just an example.</p>

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<p>I know, but far be it from me to pass up an opportunity to put someone down!</p>

<p>Actually, I'm just kidding. He probably has a better chance than I do.</p>

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<p>Like I said, hey, if you're not good enough to beat out baller4lyfe for that spot at YLS, that's not baller4lyfe's fault. </p>

<p>The point is this. Just because baller4lyfe, you, me, or anybody else takes a spot in law school does not obligate that person to practice law. If that person chooses not to practice law, that's his right. Keep in mind that that spot at YLS belongs to nobody. It is given out to whoever YLS deems worthy of having it, and if that person decides not to practice very little law, or none at all, then so be it. If you don't want to be beaten out by baller4lyfe, fair enough, then work harder than him.</p>

<p>Let me put it to you this way. Bill Clinton has a law degree from Yale, but he never really worked as a practicing lawyer 'as such'. He taught law at the University of Arkansas Law School for a couple of years and then was elected AG for the state of Arkansas, and served in that position for a couple of years, and then after that was elected governor, and then we know what happened after that. However, the point is that except for maybe those 4 years of teaching law and of serving as state AG, he never really did anything that formally required a law degree. So does that mean that because Clinton never really worked as a formal lawyer, and really only served in a 'law capacity' for only 4 years, that he somehow 'stole' somebody's seat at YLS?</p>

<p>Let me give you another example. Former President Gerald Ford graduated from Yale law and worked as a lawyer for a grand total of 6 months, upon which WW2 broke out, and he joined the navy, and after the war. he was then elected to Congress, etc. So, really, he was a lawyer for only a tiny period of time. So does that mean that Gerald Ford should not have been admitted to YLS, because he evidently 'stole' a seat that should have gone to somebody else?</p>

<p>Similarly, I could point to the examples of Ted Kennedy, who worked as an ADA for only 3 years before become US Senator. I could point to a bunch of other people who worked as lawyers for only brief periods of time before doing something else. Are you accusing all these people of taking up spots that should have gone to others?</p>

<p>Now, I know what you might say now. You might first say, yeah, well, at least these people formally worked as lawyers for some period of time, if ever so briefly. OK, then how long does baller4lyfe have to formally work as a lawyer before he is not to be accused of stealing somebody's spot? Is 6 months enough? No? Yet 6 months is what Gerald Ford did. </p>

<p>You might also say, yeah, maybe these guys weren't lawyers for very long, but they still parlayed their law degrees into something similar to it (like politics). Yeah, but that's the whole point I've been trying to make. If somebody like baller4lyfe wants to parlay a law degree into some other career that may or may not have any relation with the law, then that's his right. For example, if guys like John Grisham and Scott Turow find more success writing about lawyers than actually being lawyers, then who are we to criticize them? Similarly, I know we weren't talking about doctors, but if somebody like Michael Crichton (yes, THAT Michael Crichton) wants to get his MD from Harvard Medical School, which he did, but never actually practice medicine and instead became an author, then are we to criticize him? </p>

<p>Look, at law school, you're going to find people at law school who have no intention to practice law for a very long time, or in some cases, to not ever practice law at all. This is particularly true for a law school like YLS, which turns out a disproportionate number of graduates who go on to be politicians, businessmen, or other positions that have at best only a peripheral relationship with law. Administrators at YLS have even said informally that their real goal is not to generate a class of lawyers, but to generate a class of society leaders. YLS knows full well that many of its graduates will not practice law for very long, and some may never practice it at all. So really, you can't say that baller4lyfe or anybody else is 'stealing' your seat at YLS if that person chooses never to practice law.</p>

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<p>I know a couple guys who are higher ups in local police departments (Chief, Lt, head Detective) who have law degrees. But, if you were not going to do something in the legal area, a JD would be totally pointless. That's like going to medical school to become a hotel manager, just doesn't make sense.</p>

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<p>joev, your view of the vaule of a lawyer degree is just too narrow. There are many professionals in other walks of life, like real estate, insurance, tax, that find it very useful to have a law degree in their respective professions. For some, it is a stepping stone to promotion, for others it gives them peace of mind to stand in equal footing with lawyers they have to deal with day-in and day-out at work.</p>

17

<p>yeah i guess so. I know law school is a pain...but I wanna take the LSAT.</p>

<p>HEY, I am currently a 2nd year student at a JC. I will be transfering to University for Fall of 05 most likely.</p>

<p>How do you prepare for the lsat?</p>

18

<p>Just to add - I would say there are already far too many lawyers for the market to really absorb. That's why many are basically scrambling just to get by. (I don't believe the bar really tries to regulate this in any meaningful way.)</p>

<p>And to add to Sakky's post -- you could certainly agree that it's up to the OP what his ultimate purpose in attending law school is. However, you could also argue that, to some extent, ethically he should be up-front with the schools in question about the fact he has no desire to practice. At that point, they can decide whether or not they want him. (I also doubt he will be attending Yale, for the simple reason that almost no one does, so that's probably not a realistic example.)</p>

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<p>Susan: I not sure I would agree with you that there is any ethical issues at all involved with wanting to go to law school, but not practice law afterwards. I do not recall anything on any of my law school apps. that asked what I planned to do with my degree after passing the bar. Is it different now? Do law schools as what you want do with the degree after graduation? Also, do you think that law schools are only interested in turning out "practicing” lawyers? I have never really seen any law school stated that, although I know many who – as I indicated in my earlier post – went to law school to further their careers in other fields., which IMHO is just a valid a reason to seek a law degree as wanting to practice.</p>

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<p>Hi, CD. </p>

<p>I don't think there are any formal ethical issues with not stating your aversion to legal practice up front. However, I do think there may be an informal ethical issue beneath the question of attending law school "for the heck of it". </p>

<p>I also don't think all law schools are solely concerned with just turning out practicing attorneys. I'm sure Yale, for example, isn't that concerned (though Yale is, of course, unique in many respects). My point is simply that, if there is an issue, it really depends on the school and their priorities, and any such ethical issue could be addressed by full disclosure at time of admission. This would give the school in question a chance to decide if they really want a student who is just going through it for the intellectual exercise, or whether they'd rather give the slots to someone who is committed to the profession. </p>

<p>(Obviously, there's also probably a distinction between attending law school just for fun, and doing so to further a related carreer, even if you don't plan to practice.) </p>

<p>Again, I have no idea if most schools would care. However, I would think even critics of the OP's plan would have to concede that he's ethically clean if he makes such disclosure up front.</p>