Is becoming a lawyer a mistake?

Looks like there's a lot of posts here from non-lawyers. As a lawyer, let me say that choosing this profession is the best thing I've ever done.

I would like to become a lawyer. I went to law school, got good grades, took the bar. Now if I could only find a job . . .

Sorry to bump this as it was obviously a few months ago; just thought I'd gather some opinions.

I'm coming up to the end of a combined LLB and Commerce degree (considering doing an MBA) from, what is considered to be here, a top five university with decent-ish grades (not sure how I'm ranking in my year but I'm roughly a 70% average?). I'm also fluent in French as well as English and I've got, I daresay, higher quality work experience then most uni students.

I know a few lawyers who've just graduated, most of them are having trouble finding work but a couple managed to get offered positions straight away. So I'm a bit concerned, but I'm keeping in mind that I'm quite flexible in terms of moving to get a job rather than staying put here.

I've heard mixed things about lawyers with MBA's - but would that, alongside being a French-speaker and willing to move to a bigger city/abroad, put me in better stead to find positions or am I likely to run into the same issues most others are having?

Originally Posted by j7ronaldo

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Sorry to bump this as it was obviously a few months ago; just thought I'd gather some opinions.

I'm coming up to the end of a combined LLB and Commerce degree (considering doing an MBA) from, what is considered to be here, a top five university with decent-ish grades (not sure how I'm ranking in my year but I'm roughly a 70% average?). I'm also fluent in French as well as English and I've got, I daresay, higher quality work experience then most uni students.

I know a few lawyers who've just graduated, most of them are having trouble finding work but a couple managed to get offered positions straight away. So I'm a bit concerned, but I'm keeping in mind that I'm quite flexible in terms of moving to get a job rather than staying put here.

I've heard mixed things about lawyers with MBA's - but would that, alongside being a French-speaker and willing to move to a bigger city/abroad, put me in better stead to find positions or am I likely to run into the same issues most others are having?

Unless you're at a handful of schools, hiring for lawyers is usually pretty regional. So the willingness to "work abroad" probably won't do much for you. Speaking a foreign language always helps and I'm sure you could open some doors with that but you're probably in the same boat as most of your classmates. That doesn't mean you can't land a job, but you'll have to hustle just like everyone else.

Originally Posted by j7ronaldo

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Sorry to bump this as it was obviously a few months ago; just thought I'd gather some opinions.

I'm coming up to the end of a combined LLB and Commerce degree (considering doing an MBA) from, what is considered to be here, a top five university with decent-ish grades (not sure how I'm ranking in my year but I'm roughly a 70% average?). I'm also fluent in French as well as English and I've got, I daresay, higher quality work experience then most uni students.

I know a few lawyers who've just graduated, most of them are having trouble finding work but a couple managed to get offered positions straight away. So I'm a bit concerned, but I'm keeping in mind that I'm quite flexible in terms of moving to get a job rather than staying put here.

I've heard mixed things about lawyers with MBA's - but would that, alongside being a French-speaker and willing to move to a bigger city/abroad, put me in better stead to find positions or am I likely to run into the same issues most others are having?

Finding legal jobs depends on two things:
1) Class Rank/School prestige
2) Connections

If you have neither of these, you are in trouble. Speaking french doesn't really help. The MBA will be a negative unless you have actual work experience (aka, a prior career). An MBA straight out of undergrad is worthless and will be recognized as such.

Bear in mind, there are a lot of people who want to work overseas, particularly in attractive counties such as France.

Originally Posted by DocHolliday

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Bear in mind, there are a lot of people who want to work overseas, particularly in attractive counties such as France.

Originally Posted by IUtoSLU

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Finding legal jobs depends on two things:
1) Class Rank/School prestige
2) Connections

If you have neither of these, you are in trouble. Speaking french doesn't really help. The MBA will be a negative unless you have actual work experience (aka, a prior career). An MBA straight out of undergrad is worthless and will be recognized as such.

In that case, you may need both 1 and 2.

Being a lawyer is a mistake ... therefore becoming a lawyer is also a mistake.

I will just throw this out there. I love my job as an attorney. I put in 3 years at a firm doing litigation. I've been in-house for about 3.5 years---I consult on large electronic discovery issues for an enormous company. It's part IT, part legal, part business, a lot of project management. I love it. In my field I have to hire a bunch of contract attorneys. We get a bunch of dejected folks every couple months. The ones who are awesome, smart and hard-working? We can never keep around because they all end up with permanent jobs elsewhere. The ones who ***** and moan about the plight of the job situation out there? They are always available for a temp gig. And they tend to be idiots.

Look: there's a law school out there for any moron. Morons will get through. They will pass the bar. And they will add their numbers to the list of folks looking for work. And the number of unemployed JDs will look daunting. But believe me: if you can formulate a 5 paragraph essay on what your summer vacation was like and keep it boring instead of offensive---you have a leg up on a majority of them.

The only thing I would do different is that I wouldn't spend so much on law school. Looking back, I would only spend this small fortune if it was going to buy me a nationaly prestigious law school diploma. Top 20 school. Otherwise, what's the point? I could have spent half as much elsewhere and landed my first entry level job. I got my job there because I took on a position with them as a paralegal in my last year of law school. They liked me and they were expanding. Hooray.

I don't accuse anyone here of this, but I've run into way too many people who believe that a law degree entitles them to become a lawyer. They forgot that you should also be smart, presentable, personable, intellectually curious, passionate and hard working. They blame everyone but themselves.

Originally Posted by Verno Inferno

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Look: there's a law school out there for any moron. Morons will get through. They will pass the bar. And they will add their numbers to the list of folks looking for work. And the number of unemployed JDs will look daunting. But believe me: if you can formulate a 5 paragraph essay on what your summer vacation was like and keep it boring instead of offensive---you have a leg up on a majority of them.

The only thing I would do different is that I wouldn't spend so much on law school. Looking back, I would only spend this small fortune if it was going to buy me a nationaly prestigious law school diploma. Top 20 school. Otherwise, what's the point? I could have spent half as much elsewhere and landed my first entry level job. I got my job there because I took on a position with them as a paralegal in my last year of law school. They liked me and they were expanding. Hooray.


As someone who recently graduated (may '10) I highly agree with this. I think it's definitely true that its only worth spending the huge $$$ if you're at a top school. From my experience no one cares about school ranking OR class ranking unless either/both is very good. For example no one seems to care that someone went to the 55th ranked school vs. the 90th ranked one (its top 15-25 and then everyone else). I think this is even more true with class rank - its either you're great or you're everyone else. I've rarely seen job postings specifying a class rank lower than top 33% or so - Everyone else is pretty much the same in their eyes (which I'd say is pretty true - the people I went to school with that were at the 30th percentile were just as competent as people at the 30th percentile.)
I'd also argue that connections far outweigh everything else (at least for the vast majority of people). Grades only matter if they're amazing.

I'm curious to hear the experiences of other people that have graduated in the past few years. The majority of people I know that graduated with me are still unemployed (myself included), and of those that are employed I can't think of a single person that has a particularly "good" job. i.e. most of those that are employed are working 10+ hours a day for **** money.

I graduated in May from a school that is bottom of the top 100. I agree about avoiding spending money unless it is a top 25 (preferably top 14 school). Although, I'd say that it changes somewhat depending on the market. It could be worth it to spend the extra money on a school ranked 75 over a lower ranked one because it may place exceptionally well in a particular market. Obviously the degree won't travel well, but depending on the person it could be worth it. I found that the job market really picked up in January. Not sure why but I suppose that the firms have new budgets. I had three interviews last week and an offer, which equaled the total from June-December (minus the offer).

As far as the question- is law school worth it. When people ask, I recommend that they don't go to law school unless they have a job in mind where they need a JD. None of the the "it is a flexible degree", or "I'll figure out what lawyers actually do later" BS.

If my kid wanted to become a lawyer, I'd tell him not to bother unless he could get into a top 5 law school.

Originally Posted by Kai

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If my kid wanted to become a lawyer, I'd tell him not to bother unless he could get into a top 5 law school.

that's silly if he gets a free ride at a good regional school

Originally Posted by rjakapeanut

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that's silly if he gets a free ride at a good regional school

The law of opportunity costs disagrees, unless he ends up with a rare, awesome, post-grad job.

Originally Posted by deadly7

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The law of opportunity costs disagrees, unless he ends up with a rare, awesome, post-grad job.
what if he wants to be a lawyer and gets a free ride at a good regional school the whole "opportunity costs" thing is bs, btw