The (perhaps running) quitting journalism and going to law school thread

Yep. It adds up quick. About $15k towards tuition and $15k to live on per year for three years, plus student loan interest rates that are absurdly high right now (8.5%) = $100k plus. If you go full time it's impossible to do any serious amount of work the first year, and no one should try it. The summer job paid just enough to pay the bills and fill up my tank, and I felt lucky to have a paying job at all.

I've worked part-time as a law clerk this year and freelanced some football games so that has helped, but $3.75/gallon gas (until recently), two roomate situations falling through, and an unexpected car breakdown stung.

 

On a purely economic analysis, law school is a losing proposition unless (a) you have a full ride somewhere, (b) you go to a state school that costs less than 12K per year in tuition or (c) you land the big firm job starting at 120K and have the discipline to use that salary to pay down the loans. Most starting lawyers make between 40 to 80K. Government lawyers are generally on the lower end, private practice is on the higher end. It is better-paying than journalism, but it also requires an incredible investment of time and money.

I had a steady freelance gig all through law school with a very understanding editor who let me skip games if they interfered with my schoolwork. If you full-time, that is the extent to which you can work without the grades taking a complete nosedive.

 

If you're interested in doing government work, look for somewhere that has a solid LARP deal. Where I work, after working there for 24 months, they began matching my student loan payments, up to $600 per month.

 

Not a bad deal. I wouldn't mind working in government if I was making a decent living and felt like what I was doing was meaningful.

Is LARP separate from the deal where if you work in government for 10 years and make all your loan payments on time the balance of your loans will be forgiven? I have a friend in the DA's office who thinks that will save him upwards of $50k.

Thanks for the info. I'll check it out.

 

I just wanted to bump this in case some of you might be able to help...

I resigned from my paper today. I'm considering going to law school. My question, though, is that I don't want to be a lawyer. Is it worth going, anyway?

(Note: Please don't crucify me. I understand that it is stupid to go around quitting my job -- especially in journalism, considering the state of the industry. I've made my decision based on a number of factors, and I'm going to be moving to another state in a month or so. If something works out, I may try and stay in journalism, because I do love it, but I'm most-likely going to find something else. Hence, I'm considering law school. Any, yes, I know that law school's not something you just pick up and attend in a matter of days, weeks or even months. )

I appreciate any responses, thoughts, etc. on this...

 

Recent, too bad nobody ever answered your question.

I resurrected this thread because I just started my law school journey last week. This week will be my first week of classes. So I'll field any questions I'm capable of at this point, though there are certainly plenty of other people on here who have law degrees or have been in school longer than I have. But I'm fresh into it, and a little older (32), so perhaps that will yield some sort of unique perspective. My school is pretty well regarded, too, which is actually important in this business. Too important.

I guess my answer for you would be not to go if you wouldn't at least entertain the idea of being an attorney. Otherwise, an MBA might be the better option.

I certainly would consider not practicing, if there were other opportunities. I'm definitely interested in the academia route, be it as a law professor or journalism or perhaps some combination thereof. And if my freelance journalism career starts bringing in money, particularly through books, I would certainly consider doing that as a full-time gig.

But I'm fully prepared to practice law, and comfortable with that. Otherwise, I think you're setting yourself up for disappointment. To me, going to law school knowing you don't want to practice is like going to a school in the hopes of transferring or else. You have to pick one you'd be happy graduating from, if worst came to worst.

 

I'll second this. I went to law school not sure whether I wanted to practice law or even sit for the bar when I finished. I went because I felt it would provide a great education and possibly open doors to possible non-legal corporate positions, public policy work, and might lead me into practicing law. If this is how you feel, fine, do it.

If you are almost completely closed off to the idea of being an attorney I wouldn't do it. The curriculum is so focused on being a practicing attorney that if you have no interest in doing so you might not get everything you should out of the experience. I quickly realized I would love to practice law and my job search is 95% focused on law practice.

I just finished my second year at a not-yet-prestigious law school. What Waylon said about the importance of your school's prestige (primarily the USNWR ranking) is absolutely correct. If your school is not a top-tier school you will have to work your ass off to be at/near the top of your class, hustle for good summer work experience, and get some academic accomplishments under your belt. Then you will still need some good fortune to get the job you want. At least that's been my experience and that of many friends.

In sum, if you absolutely "don't want to be a lawyer" then don't go to law school. If you could live with being a lawyer, but have something else in mind then go. All else being equal, I think law school offers a much better education than an MBA (this is from someone who has experienced both - got a 1-year master's in marketing; half of our classes were with MBAs). Then again, that's to be expected when a MBA is 2 years, law school is 3.

Waylon,
Good luck to you, man. I'm pretty sure you will enjoy and also get a kick out of the straight-from-undergad kids who have no life experience. What's the deal with starting in June?

 

They start one of the sections here in late May/June. Seems to be mostly returning students. We have a guy in his 60s - Vietnam vet. Another guy who was a chemical engineer and was inspired to go to law school by his son, who is currently a 2L at another school. Really cool mix of ages, ethnicities, life experiences, etc.

 

Thanks guys, I appreciate the feedback. I've kind of checked into it, and found, like you said, that it's probably not the best idea if I'm definitely set on not being an attorney. I'm thinking I'm going to either go the MBA route or even get my teaching certificate.

Good luck to you both, as well.

 

Interesting. If I can ever be of assistance feel free to PM me.