Susan Estrich: "Don't Go to Law School"

profile427

http://www.stardem.com/opinion/columns/article_c66025c0-4243-55a0-a74d-e30a47881eee.html

Thoughts?

Even though I don't envision myself going into Big Law, I find this kind of writing extremely discouraging and then start to question my own sanity in this entire process.

I already bill by the minute in my current healthcare profession, and I don't want to be trapped in the same situation going forward. The whole point for me is to get out of this trap and hopefully make some changes with my legal education in hand for the wheel-spinners (i.e., providers) and those who are spinning (i.e., the patients!).

Pacifico

I mean it's good advice to not go to an unaccredited school, though I feel like that's too obvious a concept to bother writing about. There are plenty of things to do besides Big Law so don't worry about it and stop reading articles with stupid titles like that. Sure it's important to know you want to be a lawyer if you're going to have to make a huge investment, but don't let someone else's biases color your perception since you could want drastically different things from such people. This is kind of a pointless article with a lot of not so subtle self-congratulatory garbage in it... Just do your thing and stop worrying about what other people think/say/write...

DumbHollywoodActor

I don’t know. For someone who is so credentialed, the writer is all over the place. The only idea that she puts any effort into supporting is that she is really well-credentialed. First, she announces "don’t go to law school unless you want to be a lawyer,”; In other words, don’t go into law for the money, which has been the complaint du jour since the Great Recession. But she really doesn’t support why she thinks so other than having succeeded herself (again, what I think is the real main idea of the piece.) Then, she focuses on the non-accredited law schools, which, admittedly, are awful. But most unaccredited law schools don’t even require an LSAT. (Maybe I’m making a huge assumption here, but I think that most students on this site will earn an LSAT score that will allow them to go to an accredited law school.) I really wish she’d discuss what happens to lawyers who graduate from accredited but low-ranking California schools like Loyola (LA), Whittier or Southwestern Law School, but alas, it appears there was no way to discuss this and still tie-in that she clerked for Stephen Breyer.

sarkisp23

Yeah screw that article. On the flip side, there are just as many articles out there like this: http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2014/06/why_now_is_a_great_time_to_go_to_law_school_part_2.html

And this one is better written with sort of debunked objections to law school

Matt1234567

I feel like there's too many negative articles such as this about law school. I don't understand why people make the effort or time to write negative articles trying to discourage people from pursuing their goals.

There will always be someone trying to put negative thoughts in your head, if wanting to be a lawyer is your passion and your future goal, ignore what they have to say.

nicole.hopkins

@DumbHollywoodActor I know someone who is now a successful LA trial lawyer who went to Southwestern. He's doing just fine and goes to court on the regular (which is really what you want to do as a trial lawyer).

I think the key point is that we all need to be sure that we want to be attorneys. Not attorneys-so-that-we-run-for-office or any other career suffix like that. And there are a lot of ways to make a lot more money than we likely ever will as attorneys (like CRE brokerage). It's about the call and the can't-do-anything-but-this drive.

Matt1234567

@nicole.hopkins said:
And there are a lot of ways to make a lot more money than we likely ever will as attorneys (like CRE brokerage). It's about the call and the can't-do-anything-but-this drive.

PREACH.

Pacifico

I'm just doing it because a JD is a decent soft for med school...

nicole.hopkins

@Pacifico HAHA ... Literal LOL.