“Are you sure that you want to go to law school?” The concerned boss/parent/professor/friend inquires.

“Yes.” The applicant confidently responds.

“Why?”

Crickets…

I was asked these questions countless times during the law school application process and I venture to guess that several of you prospective applicants out there are mulling over your answers to these questions daily. I wasn’t exactly sure why I wanted to go to law school when I applied either. I knew I loved politics, international relations, and drama and that I wasn’t in the mood to pursue a PhD, so law school seemed like a logical place for me to combine my interests. (Of course, my personal statement was a little more nuanced.) Very few of my classmates have admitted that they came to law school with an acute desire to practice one particular type of law. In fact, most us of are trying to figure out what we’re really interested in through our class schedules. After all, how is a person supposed to know if she is interested in torts until she has taken a torts class? I don’t know about you all, but at my alma mater there were no undergrad classes offered on civil procedure, contracts, or property. So, unless everyone was reading torts nutshells on the sly during undergrad to decide whether they should attend law school, it would seem that many folks apply based on an interest in some field or issue that is law-related and a leap of faith. While several people still adamantly assert that you should only go to law school if you want to practice law, the reality is that the practice of law is so broad and draws people for so many different reasons that such a generalization is unfair.

While I can’t begin to tell you reasons why you should go to law school since there are so many varied aspects of the law (some of which I’m probably unaware), I can give you three reasons why you should NOT go if you want to save yourself lots of time and money.

1. Don’t go to law school just so you can one day boast that you made partner in a big firm. If you are only after the legal lifestyle, try investment banking instead. You’ll still get a comparable amount of primal competition, sleep, and social prestige without the expensive degree.

2. Don’t go to law school because you majored in 19^th Century British Literature, got a good LSAT score, and don’t know where else to go. It drives students who worked hard to get into law school absolutely crazy when they hear some gifted standardized test taker demean their choice to apply by claiming that law school is their “back-up.” Law school is a dangerous back-up if you’re not sure you want a $150,000 loan debt followed by an almost certain indentured servitude to a firm so you can settle your debt. Take a couple more years to “find yourself” and then approach the decision deliberately.

3. Don’t go to law school to please your parents. You’ll all end up resentful and bitter. Don’t make holidays unpleasant. That’s just good advice for any career choice.

There are some fabulous articles/cautionary tales out there for folks considering law school and for those who are already in law school. This older yet still popular article warns students of the perils of law school for those who aren't sure what they want to do while a Yale Law Journal article takes an even more humorous approach to the whole law school experience. Unfortunately, I cannot provide the link to the JSTOR article due to copyright issues, but I can give you the info to find it since it’s well worth a read. The article is called:  How Not To Succeed in Law School by James D. Gordon, III. Additionally, there are many blogs out there including top-law-schools.com  and Jeremy's  Weblog  (older posts) that discuss reasons to go or not to go to law school. Bottom line: if you think law school might be for you then find your passion and determine if you can build a legal career in a related field.

SPONSOR: So, you've found a good reason to go to law school. Now the only problem is, what kind of lawyer do you want to be? A bankruptcy attorney has the chance to make a lot of money, while being a criminal attorney is exciting. You can even challenge yourself by becoming a fast-paced New York attorney, or go back to your hometown to practice there.