It's good to see so many of you starting young! I will be 38 with 19 years of HR experience- closely related as I handle Labor and Employment. I also will have 2 kids in college and a graduate degree!
I spoke with a lawyer and he says that he wished that he worked as something else before going straight to law school. It helps mitigate that "greener grass on the other side" feeling, or that, "what if I worked as this," thought. That doesn't apply for people who definitely want to be a lawyer, though.
26 with 3 (soon to be 4) years of experience working in private practice (Real Estate Law).
I thought I was the only one!
As far as I'm concerned, the older the better. I'm actually thankful I'm going in with a more mature mindset, especially having some work related experience under my belt. Weird...I'm actually excited for school haha.
41 with experience in medical billing and doing expert witness/lien litigation for the last eight years. But, I've been working since I could get a job.
48 possibly 49 depending on how the LSAT goes. I worked as a paralegal for about 10 years in law firms and with the US Attorney's Office. I'm excited I'm finally doing what I've always wanted to do. Cheers and well wishes to everyone on your pursuit to becoming a successful lawyer.
After seeing so many comments of people who have been working in the legal field for many years already without a JD, I am genuinely curious as what advantages (i.e. salary difference, promotions, nature of work) there will be of going to law school?
Would anyone like to shed some light for me? I am a little confused. Pardon me if this is a dumb question and comes across as nosy, too.
28 hopefully (if I can get a score I want in November), with 4 years of work experience and a master degree in engineering, I wish I had any law background.
Well, my legal experience is in CA worker's comp. In CA, you practice law without going to law school if you study under an attorney for a number of years. RN, my job would earn about $50,000 without school. I know a second year attorney making $110,000. He didn't go to a top 14 school. He had no legal experience. He's just good with schmoozing and works hard. He also took a job in a crummy city in California. His buddies who wanted to stay in LA are making $50-60 ish.
@keepcalmandneuron said:
After seeing so many comments of people who have been working in the legal field for many years already without a JD, I am genuinely curious as what advantages (i.e. salary difference, promotions, nature of work) there will be of going to law school?
Would anyone like to shed some light for me? I am a little confused. Pardon me if this is a dumb question and comes across as nosy, too.
Money. I don’t think any paralegal is going to make more than $100k and that’s with like a decade+ of experience working for a big firm in a big city + luck. After taxes that really doesn’t go too far when you’re paying $2k+/monthly just for a one bedroom apt in said big city. Or one could just do a few years of school and have endless salary potential as an attorney and have the option to be a professor or get into politics. There’s a lot of things one can do with a JD and you can get into any field of law you want.
In the area I live all the paralegal job postings expect at minimum 3+ years of experience in a specific field and the max pay I’ve seen was $60k. I have years of law firm experience but most of those years were in a boutique firm which didn’t really focus on any one particular field so I don’t have a deep experience of any one field. After a few months of my new/recent job working in one field as a legal assistant, I got pretty much stuck in this field and I don’t particularly enjoy it. When I interviewed around for firms that just generally wanted 3+ year of experience, they weren’t too pleased that I didn’t have experience in their particular field. The only job offers I got for a better paralegal position were in the field I worked a few months in as an assistant. If I stay in this field until I’m 40 maybe I’ll make like $75k. Maybe more if I move to a bigger city (where there’s more competition for jobs) and get lucky with a big law firm.
I will be starting next cycle 29 turning 30. I thought I would of started this cycle (28 turning 29) but unfortunately need to improve a little bit more to get to my goal score.
Comments
31 when starting next fall, 9 years out of undergrad.
It's good to see so many of you starting young! I will be 38 with 19 years of HR experience- closely related as I handle Labor and Employment. I also will have 2 kids in college and a graduate degree!
32 with 10 yrs of experience as a foreign lawyer.
25.
I spoke with a lawyer and he says that he wished that he worked as something else before going straight to law school. It helps mitigate that "greener grass on the other side" feeling, or that, "what if I worked as this," thought. That doesn't apply for people who definitely want to be a lawyer, though.
I will be 45 years old, and as all granddads say. "I forgot more than all the young people know"
26 with 3 (soon to be 4) years of experience working in private practice (Real Estate Law).
I thought I was the only one!
As far as I'm concerned, the older the better. I'm actually thankful I'm going in with a more mature mindset, especially having some work related experience under my belt. Weird...I'm actually excited for school haha.
41 with experience in medical billing and doing expert witness/lien litigation for the last eight years. But, I've been working since I could get a job.
48 possibly 49 depending on how the LSAT goes. I worked as a paralegal for about 10 years in law firms and with the US Attorney's Office. I'm excited I'm finally doing what I've always wanted to do. Cheers and well wishes to everyone on your pursuit to becoming a successful lawyer.
After seeing so many comments of people who have been working in the legal field for many years already without a JD, I am genuinely curious as what advantages (i.e. salary difference, promotions, nature of work) there will be of going to law school?
Would anyone like to shed some light for me? I am a little confused. Pardon me if this is a dumb question and comes across as nosy, too.
28 hopefully (if I can get a score I want in November), with 4 years of work experience and a master degree in engineering, I wish I had any law background.
Well, my legal experience is in CA worker's comp. In CA, you practice law without going to law school if you study under an attorney for a number of years. RN, my job would earn about $50,000 without school. I know a second year attorney making $110,000. He didn't go to a top 14 school. He had no legal experience. He's just good with schmoozing and works hard. He also took a job in a crummy city in California. His buddies who wanted to stay in LA are making $50-60 ish.
Money. I don’t think any paralegal is going to make more than $100k and that’s with like a decade+ of experience working for a big firm in a big city + luck. After taxes that really doesn’t go too far when you’re paying $2k+/monthly just for a one bedroom apt in said big city. Or one could just do a few years of school and have endless salary potential as an attorney and have the option to be a professor or get into politics. There’s a lot of things one can do with a JD and you can get into any field of law you want.
In the area I live all the paralegal job postings expect at minimum 3+ years of experience in a specific field and the max pay I’ve seen was $60k. I have years of law firm experience but most of those years were in a boutique firm which didn’t really focus on any one particular field so I don’t have a deep experience of any one field. After a few months of my new/recent job working in one field as a legal assistant, I got pretty much stuck in this field and I don’t particularly enjoy it. When I interviewed around for firms that just generally wanted 3+ year of experience, they weren’t too pleased that I didn’t have experience in their particular field. The only job offers I got for a better paralegal position were in the field I worked a few months in as an assistant. If I stay in this field until I’m 40 maybe I’ll make like $75k. Maybe more if I move to a bigger city (where there’s more competition for jobs) and get lucky with a big law firm.
I will be starting next cycle 29 turning 30. I thought I would of started this cycle (28 turning 29) but unfortunately need to improve a little bit more to get to my goal score.