Career switch – law school?

I'll keep this short, but like many of you I'm growing sick of my newspaper job and am looking to get into something else before the next round of job cuts. Was reading through the "Getting out of the business" thread on here and am interested in hearing from some people that have gone the law school route. Anyone interested in answering a few questions/giving some advice? I'd prefer to talk via IM, but I'm in a situation where I've got a lot of student loans to pay off so I'm obviously not in a position where i can just drop everything and go to law school.

 

You'd have to drop everything at some point, especially if you want to go the three-year route instead of night school. If you have a good enough LSAT score, you can get scholarships at lower tier schools, but be careful of schools that cut most scholarships after the first year. If you're looking to go to law school, now is the time as it's not getting cheaper.

Jim Carty made the transition from sportswriter to lawyer. You should drop a line.

 

I don't think the world needs more sports writers or lawyers.

 

Be aware that law school is highly, highly competitive, and that the J.D. isn't a ticket to steady employment. I have several friends who are either in law school or just out of law school, and they (A) work their tails off and (B) have to deal with a lot of, for lack of better word, politics (the relationship kind moreso than the red state/blue state kind).

That said, hanging out with the law school types has opened the door to the whole grad school experience, be it law school, med school or straight up graduate work, should I ever decide to go that route. So, before you leap, try to network with some folks who are doing the grad school thing so you can get a taste for what it's all about.

 

You're not in debt enough as a sportswriter?