Going to LS and Not Practicing Law Forum

[09042014]

My post JD career is a Used BMW salesman.

[sky7]

This is almost exactly what I'm doing, actually.

I'm working full time, and have the ability to pay for law school out of my wages, so no debt.

Honestly, it just seemed like an interesting thing to do - odds are I'll end up working for a consulting firm or government agency, and will never practice. That's completely fine with me. I'm pretty sure I'll be plenty successful, and I'm positive that my law degree will help.

[sky7]

You want to learn law? Go pick up the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the Federal Rules of Evidence. Read them. Then come back to this forum and tell me you want to pay money to learn law for three years with no intention of practicing.

This isn't particularly accurate. It's the application of principles, the subtle distinction between arguments, etc, that will make a person with a JD stand out. It's why there are many JDs working in the intel analysis field.

[A'nold]

This is almost exactly what I'm doing, actually.

I'm working full time, and have the ability to pay for law school out of my wages, so no debt.

Honestly, it just seemed like an interesting thing to do - odds are I'll end up working for a consulting firm or government agency, and will never practice. That's completely fine with me. I'm pretty sure I'll be plenty successful, and I'm positive that my law degree will help.

I could see this, but I like academia. My thoughts: if you just keep going on your path in life and gaining valuable work experience and not relying on the JD to GET a job, it will probably pay off in the long run with future job opportunities coupled w/ experience, at least it won't hurt. However, if you are pursuing a JD to get a non-law job, I think you will be a VERY sad puppy.

[PigNipple]

Most government, at least SD county where I worked through college, will accept a JD in favor of an MBA or MPA as a prerequisite for administrative positions - and they do pretty well. Also, I took my undergrad Poly Sci class with a professor who's only grad work was a JD. At least it can't be said to be detrimental to your career, crazy.

[sky7]

This is almost exactly what I'm doing, actually.

I'm working full time, and have the ability to pay for law school out of my wages, so no debt.

Honestly, it just seemed like an interesting thing to do - odds are I'll end up working for a consulting firm or government agency, and will never practice. That's completely fine with me. I'm pretty sure I'll be plenty successful, and I'm positive that my law degree will help.

I could see this, but I like academia. My thoughts: if you just keep going on your path in life and gaining valuable work experience and not relying on the JD to GET a job, it will probably pay off in the long run with future job opportunities coupled w/ experience, at least it won't hurt. However, if you are pursuing a JD to get a non-law job, I think you will be a VERY sad puppy.

Eh, I still disagree, though I think it depends on the job. If you were deadset on being an I-Banker, and you decided to get a law degree, I'd mostly agree with you. If you wanted to do miscellaneous government work, work on the Hill, lobby, work as a consultant, etc, I think that a law degree will only help you. Help you as much as 3 years of experience in the field? Probably not. But then again, that's why I'm going part-time

[bigben]

A law degree is extremely versatile. In fact, this is the reason for the not too uncommon MBA/JD.. Understanding the law is helpful in many areas, and especially in business - just ask Mitt Romney, who used his education to make Bain Capital into a money making machine. He never practiced law.

He did not use his education to do this. Especially not his JD.

[bigben]

Has no one here ever studied something out of interest and with no intention of pursuing it as a profession (even though it still may aid you in your career)? This doesn't seem too uncommon. In fact, one of the PS examples on this very website is written by a person who wants to go to law school in order to help him run his business. I would consider that situation a case of going to law school with no intention of practicing law.

I can understand why you would think this. But a JD is not going to help anyone run a business.

Putting your knowledge of the law into practical use requires that you dedicate at least a good portion of your career to developing knowledge and expertise in a specific type of practice. As a business person, you're just not getting any practical value from your knowledge of the law. To do so, you would have to be spending all your time researching legal issues. Then you are not really a business person, you are a lawyer.

The next thing people trot out is the idea that some nebulous critical thinking ability is bestowed upon you when you go to law school. Two points. First, sure, law school helps your critical thinking skills. But if that is your goal, law school must be the least efficient way that you could possibly dream of to achieve it. Second, no, law school does not help you develop critical thinking skills. What it actually does is help you develop a fine tuned analytical ability. I would not call that critical thinking per se. In fact, I wold argue that the type of thinking you learn in law school is actually very ill-suited to running a business. It revolves around dreaming up endless flaws in everything and teasing out obscure minutiae. That and being really good at important things like commas and italicizing things in word documents.

[270910]

The next thing people trot out is the idea that some nebulous critical thinking ability is bestowed upon you when you go to law school. Two points. First, sure, law school helps your critical thinking skills. But if that is your goal, law school must be the least efficient way that you could possibly dream of to achieve it. Second, no, law school does not help you develop critical thinking skills. What it actually does is help you develop a fine tuned analytical ability. I would not call that critical thinking per se. In fact, I wold argue that the type of thinking you learn in law school is actually very ill-suited to running a business. It revolves around dreaming up endless flaws in everything and teasing out obscure minutiae. That and being really good at important things like commas and italicizing things in word documents.

Let's bronze that and put it on a statue out front.

[bigben]

A law degree is extremely versatile. In fact, this is the reason for the not too uncommon MBA/JD.. Understanding the law is helpful in many areas, and especially in business - just ask Mitt Romney, who used his education to make Bain Capital into a money making machine. He never practiced law.

Ugh. These points fucking drive me crazy.

A slim number of extremely capable and connected people get JDs, never practice law, and have lucrative careers. The OVERWHELMING MAJORITY of people who get JDs, even from top law schools, face the tragic choice upon graduation of practicing law, or falling back on a career for which the JD either does not help or is actively detrimental.

The 'versatile' JD is a myth perpetuated by a few compelling anecdotes. As long as it's either practicing law or something you could have done without a JD, a JD will help you do it

Every degree is versatile in a sense. You are always free to do something completely unrelated to it! There is no law against this.

[bigben]

The OVERWHELMING MAJORITY of people who get JDs, even from top law schools, face the tragic choice upon graduation of practicing law, or falling back on a career for which the JD either does not help or is actively detrimental.

False.

Yeah, it's a false dichotomy. JDs don't help for the practice of law either.

Excellent.