Don't go to law school, you will (probably) die alone and poor

[Corporate Thug]

Doesn't this thread resurrect itself every few months here?

Is this just some kind of elaborate trap for us ATOT lawyers to crawl out of our lairs and identify ourselves?

D'oh!

- Jeeebus, esq.

Correct. This topic is a ATOT theme.

 

[JMapleton]

That's not totally true, the AMA and medical schools restrict the supply of Doctors and that's why their salaries are high and why they don't face the same unemployment that law school grads face... Law schools are being built all the damn time and i've never heard of law schools being 'encouraged' to restrict the number of law students.

I'm talking about society and it's glorification of attorneys as a "prestigious" profession, when it's not any different than most professions, IMO. It was lumped into the "elite and impressive" category.

 

[thepd7]

Doesn't this thread resurrect itself every few months here?

Is this just some kind of elaborate trap for us ATOT lawyers to crawl out of our lairs and identify ourselves?

D'oh!

- Jeeebus, esq.

haha yes.

thepd7, EE

 

[shopbruin]

Depends on a number of factors, but I would probably dissuade 99% of anyone that asked me whether they should go.

- sjwaste, esq.

Indeed.

- freesia, attorney's wife
(not as prestigious as anyone may think, unless your husband is a rainmaking partner. Then you are the one being gawked at by the young summers GFs at firm events... not like I had any experience in that... doot do do...)

 

[Train]

Shit so it's not just healthcare that's insanely expensive over there. Why is your education so expensive? Doesn't it get subsidised by the government?

The problem is the retarded way the US subsidizes things like education and medicine

Gov: "We'll pick up 60% of the cost of X"
Uni: "hmm, the bigger X, the bigger the 60% check from teh gov!, genius!"

And people wonder why the price of everything the govt subsidizes goes up by double digit rates every year.

 

[borisvodofsky]

The problem is the retarded way the US subsidizes things like education and medicine

Gov: "We'll pick up 60% of the cost of X"
Uni: "hmm, the bigger X, the bigger the 60% check from teh gov!, genius!"

And people wonder why the price of everything the govt subsidizes goes up by double digit rates every year.

Oh dame it,, overgeneralize be damededed.

 

[Anubis]

my sister went to law school, shes married with 2 kids and very happy also has lots of money

 

[RKS]

I really hate timing. I wanted to go to law school when my kid graduated for my 'entire' life. I put it on hold long ago. I doubt I could get into a top tier school. I just wanted to do well, not be rich - and I love what lawyers do. I wanted to be a family law lawyer.

Is it really that hard to pass the bar and then just hang your own sign? That is what I'd want to do - work for myself.

Sigh.

That was my main motivation,

/s/ RKS esq.

 

[ichy]

That's not totally true, the AMA and medical schools restrict the supply of Doctors and that's why their salaries are high and why they don't face the same unemployment that law school grads face...

Not true. The number of physicians in the US is actually restricted by the number of residency spots, not the number of med school spots. A foreign med school graduate who passes the USMLE can come to the US, however to practice here you have to complete an American residency. Resident training is largely funded by money that hospitals get from CMS (Medicare/Medicaid) so that's where the bottleneck is.

Also, physician salaries don't follow the normal rules of supply and demand. That's why there's a shortage of primary care doctors, yet salaries for primary care have been dropping.

 

[amdhunter]

Here he is, sitting one afternoon at a restaurant on the Upper East Side of Manhattan...

Maybe instead of spending his afternoons eating out and crying about not getting a lawyer job, he should go work at a retail store or something.

 

[Texashiker]

Looks like they overspent on an overhyped niche.

I have seen a few articles about this kind of stuff lately, like people spending $100,000 on a fine arts degree. With how much a teaching job pays, they will not be able to pay the loan back in 20 years.

People that went into massive debt for their education will probably spend 1/4 - 1/2 of their working career paying off their college debt.

Go to a local community college, its a lot cheaper.

 

[Blackjack200]

I, myself, briefly entertained the thought of going to law school a few years back. But thanks to the SA forum, i basically said hell no.

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3301274&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=1 <-- required reading for anyone even thinking of doing law.

Heh, I badly wanted to go to law school too. Read the SA thread, and said 'fuck no'.

 

[ichy]

Law school is still worth it if you have an engineering undergrad degree because patent law remains pretty lucrative.

 

[sjwaste]

Law school is still worth it if you have an engineering undergrad degree because patent law remains pretty lucrative.

You still need to get good grades and go to a good school. Hiring is still primarily on the school's rank, then your rank within it. The standards may be relaxed a little bit, but even if you go to a #51-100 school, you can't expect to finish barely in the top half and be handed a job. I know a couple of exceptions to that rule, but these guys were PhDs in their fields and already doing patent agent work at the firms that hired them on as associates.

There are a couple of ATOT patent attorneys, so I won't speak for them. Hopefully they'll chime in.

 

[Aharami]

Law school is still worth it if you have an engineering undergrad degree because patent law remains pretty lucrative.

hmm i was under the impression that the patent law market is over saturated as well

 

[ElFenix]

Law school is still worth it if you have an engineering undergrad degree because patent law remains pretty lucrative.

a friend of mine was a patent lawyer. not enough business so now he does traffic tickets. he married a doctor before going to law school though, so no money probs for him.

 

[sjwaste]

a friend of mine was a patent lawyer. not enough business so now he does traffic tickets. he married a doctor before going to law school though, so no money probs for him.

Traffic tickets, DUI, slip and fall, etc can be good money. It's very low on the prestige factor, but it's low because most attorneys don't know how to run a business, nor how to hustle. I've known a few who live better than most biglaw partners, entirely working the small shit that the latter would never touch.

Do some tickets, DUI, small PI to keep the lights on. One big case a year and you're set. That's what everyone has told me.

I'd do it if I were cut out for it, but for now I'm getting my experience in the government.

 

[ElFenix]

Traffic tickets, DUI, slip and fall, etc can be good money. It's very low on the prestige factor, but it's low because most attorneys don't know how to run a business, nor how to hustle. I've known a few who live better than most biglaw partners, entirely working the small shit that the latter would never touch.

Do some tickets, DUI, small PI to keep the lights on. One big case a year and you're set. That's what everyone has told me.

I'd do it if I were cut out for it, but for now I'm getting my experience in the government.

these guys know how to run a business. virtual office space and all. the money aspect i was referring to was he didn't have to take out any loans to go.

 

[silverpig]

You still need to get good grades and go to a good school. Hiring is still primarily on the school's rank, then your rank within it. The standards may be relaxed a little bit, but even if you go to a #51-100 school, you can't expect to finish barely in the top half and be handed a job. I know a couple of exceptions to that rule, but these guys were PhDs in their fields and already doing patent agent work at the firms that hired them on as associates.

There are a couple of ATOT patent attorneys, so I won't speak for them. Hopefully they'll chime in.

A lawyer I know on another forum said that an engineering degree alone isn't a huge benefit to becoming a patent lawyer. They will however jump at you if you have an engineering degree, a master's in engineering, and a few years of experience in the field.

 

[Sho'Nuff]

Depends on a number of factors, but I would probably dissuade 99% of anyone that asked me whether they should go.

- sjwaste, esq.

Ditto. Soxfan, Esq.

 

[Sho'Nuff]

I really hate timing. I wanted to go to law school when my kid graduated for my 'entire' life. I put it on hold long ago. I doubt I could get into a top tier school. I just wanted to do well, not be rich - and I love what lawyers do. I wanted to be a family law lawyer.

Is it really that hard to pass the bar and then just hang your own sign? That is what I'd want to do - work for myself.

Sigh.

No, it isn;t that hard. The only really tough part is getting paying clients.

Out of curiosity, how would you describe what it is that lawyers "do?"

 

[Sho'Nuff]

For $160k it's definitely not worth that, are you sure it's that low? I heard that it's more near $250k ...

160k doesn't include R&B for many schools.

Personally I cannot complain. I got my JD from a Tier 1 school for just under $30k (total).

 

[Sho'Nuff]

Law school is still worth it if you have an engineering undergrad degree because patent law remains pretty lucrative.

The market for patent lawyers was pretty insulated for a while. But lately, even IP law is getting oversaturated. All the PH.D's who couldn;t find decent paying work are infiltrating into that market, and causing problems for existing practitioners.

It has come to the point where if you don't have any IP experience, you are SOL. Best to hang your own shingle or flip burgers for a few years and then try to get in.

<-------------- patent lawyer (wishing he was doing something else, but that is another story).