Law school necessitates career commitment

Editor’s Note: Michael Lumley is a former Daily Beacon columnist and an alumnus of the University of Tennessee. He is currently a 1L at Harvard Law School and over the next three weeks, he will present his observations on law school and providing advice for the law school application process.

People ask the wrong questions about the law school application process. It’s not really a surprise, I guess, given the way the game is played, but “getting in” seems to monopolize people’s attention; rarely do they ask what they’re “getting in” to. You shouldn’t make the same mistake. There’s plenty of time to worry later about admissions; spend some quality time on the front end making sure you really want to be admitted in the first place. In this first column, I’m going to attempt to persuade you not to go to law school — or at the very least to wait a few years — not because going to law school is a bad idea for everyone, but because without the proper self reflection, it might be a bad idea for you.

Law school is a place to study the practice of law. That’s it. If you want to practice law and you’re sure about it, law school is the place to start. Law school is a bad place to hide from the economy, and it’s an even worse place to hide from a lack of personal direction. Many people come to law school thinking that it’s the ultimate finishing degree — that a JD will prepare them for any job they might want. That’s partially true. A few lawyers make it in business. Some others find success as consultants. But the vast majority practice law, and if you do eventually decide on law school, that’s exactly what you should expect to do too — whether you like it or not.

Even if you’re interested in legal practice, however, a JD will not guarantee you a job. Even in a good economy, many more people will graduate from law school than the legal market can handle, but the recession seems to have been particularly brutal for the legal profession. Although the laying off of experienced attorneys seems to have slowed, most firms, if they make any offers to students at all, are making deferral offers — that is, offers which will only start six months to a year after graduation. Many of my 2 and 3L classmates are having trouble finding jobs, and (without sounding like too much of an elitist jackass, I hope) if there’s a problem here at Harvard, it’s going to be just as bad or worse at any other law school in the country.

To make matters even harder, law school is expensive. Not only will you pay through the nose for tuition, books, fees, food and housing, you’ll give up three years of potential earnings and work experience. In most cases, you’ll pay for all these expenses with borrowing and student loans, which means an interest expense, on top of everything else. It’s one thing to borrow heavily to finance an education when you feel reasonably certain of steady (and lucrative) post-graduation employment, but quite another to fork over anywhere between $50,000 and $150,000 to find yourself unemployed at the end of three years.

But you don’t have to go to law school right now. More than half of my classmates spent at least one year working in between undergrad and law school, and I wish I had too. They’ve done everything from Teach for America, to working for the Federal Reserve, to spending time as a member of the White House Press Corps. Taking a year or two to work in either the private or public sector will not only make you a more competitive applicant, but it will give you the opportunity to save up some money before you leave. It can also be a great chance to experience a field you might find interesting, even if you don’t think you’d want to devote your career to it. Spending an extra year in undergrad, however, is a poor substitute for actual work experience. Not only will you still be paying tuition to the big orange screw, you’ll also have admissions committees questioning what you really gained from another year of undergrad and how serious you were about your studies while you were there.

In the end, your decision should be one you’ve made after reflection and introspection. There are definite advantages to going to law school, but many often downplay the drawbacks. If, in a week, I haven’t managed to deter you from applying, I’ll be back to cover the topic everyone is really interested in — getting yourself accepted. Until then … how ‘bout them Vols?