A family member recently asked me that life-changing of all questions, “Should I go to law school?” I wanted to shout, “No, are you crazy? Why would you do that to yourself?” I caught myself though and tried to answer the question calmly. I am sure that most lawyers have heard this question multiple times. On average, I probably answer some variation of this question a few times a month.
With few exceptions, there are only two groups of people that should attend law school. The first group is the largest group and comprised of those individuals that want to be a legal professional. So if you want to be a corporate lawyer, a prosecutor, a judge, a law professor, etc…you pretty much need to go to law school. The second group is much smaller and consists of those that want to go into public service or politics at some point. Obviously, attending law school and becoming a lawyer is not a prerequisite to running for office or serving in government. That said, it certainly does not hurt and in some situations a legal background can make the path easier.
So the first question to ask when trying to determine if law school is for you is to figure out if you fall into the first group or the second group above. If you don’t fall into either group, then you should save three years of your life and tuition and go do something interesting.
Some of the common responses I hear from people that don’t know if they fall into group one or two but are still thinking about law school are: 1) I’m not sure what I can do with my humanities/social science degree so I’ll figure it out in law school; 2) I want to continue my liberal arts education; and 3) my all-time favorite, you can do so many things with a law degree.
Regarding point 1): Given that law school is three years long and tuition at a private law school now runs around $50,000 a year, it just doesn’t make sense to spend that much time and money hoping to figure your life out. For most people, perhaps the only thing you’ll figure out in law school is that you don’t want to be a lawyer. There are much better ways to spend your time and money.
Regarding point 2): Yes, there are law schools, particularly the good law schools, that allow you take classes like Literary Perspectives, Leadership, or Human Dignity. It is important to remember, however, that law school is a professional school and if your main intention of attending law school is to continue your liberal arts education, be a super senior and stay an extra year in college. Though it’s debatable if law schools do a good job of preparing students for legal practice, their main mission is to train lawyers, not to ensure you properly understand Meditations by Marcus Aurelius.
Regarding point 3): I think the idea that a JD is a flexible degree was probably true up until fifteen or twenty years ago. Since then law has become much more complex/specialized and there has also been a proliferation of MBA programs and other professional master’s programs. Now, most lawyers never become competent generalists that have been exposed to a variety of different situations that are easily transferred over to non-law settings. Additionally, the proliferation of MBA programs as a stepping-stone to corporate jobs or financial service firms has made it more difficult for JDs to make that transition. So if you already know you want to do something else besides law before going to law school, it probably makes sense to pursue that goal instead of taking a three year detour in law school. It is obviously still possible to transition out of law to finance, consulting, etc…I know I’ve done it myself. That said, I was able to make those transitions despite my JD, not because of it.
So why did I go to law school? I knew early on that I fell into Group 2. I admit it, I’m one of those idealistic types that wants to make the world a better place. I felt attending law school would help me achieve my goals of doing so and I think it has. Most of my classmates were interested in going to a law firm or clerking for a judge, I never was. Knowing that allowed me to walk my own path and create opportunities for myself by leveraging the resources of the law school and the parent university I attended. As such, I never regretted attending law school because it gave me the foundation I needed to pursue those idealistic goals that originally drew me to a legal education in the first place.
Comments are open. I’d love to hear your thoughts or questions.
Authors bio is coming up shortly. 
