# Any Law Students or Lawyers?



## skifree86 (Aug 22, 2007)

Hi guys. I noticed no one on here posted about going to law school or what it would be like for an SAer in the practice of law. Before people pull out the WHAT ARE YOU CRAZY arguments I will take some time to explain the differences between areas of practice in the field primarily litigation or transactional law.

In litigation you are usually faced against an opponent with whom you try to negotiate and settle a claim before heading to court. Depending on the area of litigation you may go to court a lot, be on trial and have to think on your feet very quickly. This area of legal practice to me I find intense, conflict-oriented/anxiety-provoking, and frankly too fast for me to be able to focus. Why so many law students want to be litigators I have no idea. I would never wish the job in my worst nightmares.

In transactional law, you perform legal research, advise clients on problems and issues, are sometimes involved in some negotiations or written dispute resolution with other individuals or governing bodies like the IRS, and are removed from the fray and focus on battle. I am interested particularly in the fields of tax law and estate planning, complex non-emotional topics that involve writing, my business/accounting background, and a good deal of demand in the future from an aging population.

Law school for me though is torture. I can read and brief the cases, learn stuff like that, you feel like you never have the holding just right but its a grind initially for everyone. Sitting in class is tense and if I got called on I would be very tense too. It seems to me that if I get called on or even probably in an exam setting I will forget what I learned even though I did pretty well in undergrad.

I just don't want to spend $150,000 on a legal education and then not be readily employment. I'm going to a decent school in the Southeast, an area with a lot of jobs, and I'm specializing in an area of law that people consider more dull/non-glamorous and is consequently not as competitive or people-person oriented as something like criminal defense or personal injury law. Socially I'm isolated from everyone and don't feel a part of them at least yet. I'm from the North originally but I didn't fit in there either. It's not the place I've realized which I consider more beautiful and relaxing than living up North or the people. It's my anxiety and the first year law school grind.

I know I can handle the academics. But I don't want to be miserable for 40/50 years of my life doing tense, anxiety-provoking stuff, ekeing out a living because I'm not friends with anyone, and not being able to cope. Is law a good field for people with social anxiety? Or does it depend as I say on what kind of law you want to go into? What I desire most in life is probably love, financial security, and peace of mind.


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## Johnny1234 (Nov 16, 2006)

skifree86 said:


> Hi guys. I noticed no one on here posted about going to law school or what it would be like for an SAer in the practice of law. Before people pull out the WHAT ARE YOU CRAZY arguments I will take some time to explain the differences between areas of practice in the field primarily litigation or transactional law.
> 
> In litigation you are usually faced against an opponent with whom you try to negotiate and settle a claim before heading to court. Depending on the area of litigation you may go to court a lot, be on trial and have to think on your feet very quickly. This area of legal practice to me I find intense, conflict-oriented/anxiety-provoking, and frankly too fast for me to be able to focus. Why so many law students want to be litigators I have no idea. I would never wish the job in my worst nightmares.
> 
> ...


I am in my last year of high school, and I am also interested of going into law. I think you can do it. When you have a law degree, you can open your own business and make well over $200,000 a year or you can do great in school and get into a top law firm and start out making over 100K a year, which is more then 85% of the population will ever make. And its only 3 years of school, as compared to 4 in medical school plus 3-7 year residence and 1 year internship.

And there are a lot of other things you can do with your law degree, like work for a company and take care of the legal issues for them. Opportunities are endless. And if you were already accepted into law school, I would definitely go through with it.


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## Ed_Norton (Apr 26, 2007)

Not many lawyers get into those top firms and pull down over 100K a year. Those who do, last no more than 5 years.

DO NOT GO TO LAW SCHOOL THINKING ABOUT MAKING MONEY. Only attend law school if your passion in life is churning reams and reams of paper around and if you love to be around miserable, vindictive people.


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## Johnny1234 (Nov 16, 2006)

Ed_Norton said:


> Not many lawyers get into those top firms and pull down over 100K a year. Those who do, last no more than 5 years.
> 
> DO NOT GO TO LAW SCHOOL THINKING ABOUT MAKING MONEY. Only attend law school if your passion in life is churning reams and reams of paper around and if you love to be around miserable, vindictive people.


Funny thing, because everyone goes to law school for the money, otherwise there would be no lawyers. If you are passionate about something, say medicine, then you can do that, although the money will still be awesome. In law however, you mostly do it for the money and status.


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## johnysmith1234 (Dec 2, 2006)

Well, I'm majoring in Criminal Justice. I'm not sure what exact field I want to go into yet but I've always wanted to be a police officer.


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## island (Aug 9, 2005)

I'm in my last year of law school, so I feel for you, skifree86. 1st year is the toughest year, so it's great that you feel like you can handle the academic side of law school. 
I'd definitely agree that going to law school solely for the money is a mistake. That was my motivation and now all I can think about is passing the bar and making enough money so I can leave the profession. Another degree like a MBA would be superior for those who are interested in making money, but I think law school has taught me that a person should do what he likes, regardless of what he earns. Anyway, getting one of the big law jobs is usually contingent on succeeding while you are a 1L (I'll say top 10-15% of your class). However, one can become financially secure without one of the big law jobs so long as your idea of financially secure includes jobs that earn less than 165k per year. A JD is versatile degree, and many lawyers do jobs that are not in the courtroom setting. Some lawyers even end up doing jobs that aren't "lawyer" jobs such as compliance. I'd recommend talking to your career counselor about this, assuiming that you've got one at school. 
As for the question of whether or not law is a good career for someone w/ SA, I think the most important factor is whether or not you like the law enough that you can picture yourself happy as a lawyer for the rest of your life. If the answer is yes, then you're in the right field. Transactional law would be easier than litigation but there's still a lot of communication and interaction required in the transactional setting. Even as a transactional lawyer, one would need to interact w/ clients or w/ attorneys for the opposition. I can relate to your worries about the costs of law school and the fear of being unemployable, but if you make it to graduation (and especially if you gain bar admission), chances are that you will reach your goal of financial security. Good luck on your 1st year of school and just try your best. 1L will seem overwhelming at times due to the journal and Moot Court competitions, but those things are not the most important things in the world. I'd recommend that you stick to your primary desires of love, financial security, and peace of mind, mainly because I share those desires, but also because it's easy to get caught up in the 1L mindset.


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## Johnny1234 (Nov 16, 2006)

Sounds good. I ve also decided that law interests me, and its not jus for the money(although a lot of it is lol).


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