<p>Can anyone here give me some insight into the downside of being a lawyer? I will only be entering my first year of undergrad this fall, so I have a lot of time to think about what I want to do, but becoming a lawyer sounds like something I might enjoy. I know the hours are long and the cost of going to law school is insane, but is it worth it? Any advice is appreciated!</p>
<p>Well if youre not in a T14 school than finding a job after graduation becomes pretty hard.</p>
<p>The above is extremely over the top. </p>
<p>But to break it down in a way that is much more reasonable. </p>
<p>Law school is very expensive. Most people take out 120k+ in loans in the three years they are in law school. Because of this and the lost income from the extra three years spent in school, people tend to not think it’s worth it unless they can get a certain type of job. This job is either biglaw (type of law where people make 125K+ directly out of law school with a chance at making MUCH more) or a very prestigious public interest job like DOJ or SEC honors. Most of the top 14 schools have about a 50% chance of putting you into these types of jobs. With the higher ranked school you go to the better your chance. But outside of the top 14 these chances drop off severly. You hear horror stories as well of t14 graduates not getting employed at all, but this is ALMOST ALWAYS due to unwillingness to move to a smaller market and take a low paying legal job. Then people tend to freak out if they go to a lower ranked school because of the lack of ability to get high paying jobs. But MOST kids in schools ranked outside the top 14 to say 40 or 50 will get a legal job. And a small percent will get biglaw jobs. But outside of the biglaw jobs most of the entry level legal jobs start around 40 or 50k, which to most people, is not worth it considering the time and money sunk into law school. Now outside of the top 50 the farther down you go, the harder it is to get a legal job. </p>
<p>Also, the vast majority of legal work can be tedious and boring. Some of it is interesting but it is usuallly the top students from top schools getting the interesting jobs. </p>
<p>So to answer your question it is really up to you. Unless you get into a great school are you willing to take a job that pays the same amount as one you could get out of undergrad? Is the law worth it to you? Do you really want to be a lawyer? These are all personal questions.</p>
<p>Thank you! I dont think I would be bothered by “boring” legal work, just as long as I’m in some type of work that can pay the bills. </p>
<p>I’m more interested in family law than anything else, and I know its not a top-paying position, but do you think its worth all that debt? I will already have a large amount from undergrad (I’m attending NYU) and thats my biggest concern. </p>
<p>I want a graduate education because I think it will help me secure a job, and I think that tedious paper work and other “boring” aspects of being laywer is something I can handle and feel accomplished with.</p>
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<p>For what it may be worth, I thought the same thing when I went to law school. But BIGLAW was kinda like water torture. Eventually the drudgery and lack of autonomy started to drive me nuts.</p>
<p>Part of the problem is that at age 21, having been a student your whole life, it’s easy to not realize just how interesting your work is and how much autonomy you have. </p>
<p>Another part of the problem is that it’s hard to get good information about life as a law firm associate. Associates have a tendency to exaggerate the level of responsibility and interesting work they have.</p>