Career Advice Request

[bjensen]

heavyd —

I am extremely interested in the law. I took a variety of law classes undergrad and was even pre-law for some time. Heck, I keep up with business law like most guys follow sports. Other than snow skiing I really couldn’t care less.

My desire has always been to go, but I have always feared not being able to support my myself and family, under a heavy debt load. It seems to be what makes many young lawyers unhappy. If I do it, I am going to DO it. No looking back and wondering if I made the right decision. I did that with sales.

While I am very good at what I do, I am miserable. 99% of the work is brainless. 1% of it is great. I love to present and close a big deal, but sorting through the chaff is pure drudgery. Once I have someone with a pulse and the authority to pull the trigger I love to turn it on. I have no illusions that doc review will be pure stimulation, but I don’t think it will be 95% of my day if I can help it… and even if it was, I get into that sort of stuff anyway.

Sorry to give the impression that it was a fleeting thought. At this point I really want to be an attorney, but am looking at it logically before I make a 100k education purchase.

My attempt here was to get a very pragmatic view of of the legal market because there is so much contradictory information out there. My desire has always been there, I just wanted to know if anyone here held the opinion that the legal sky was falling.

I figured there would no better place than among the piggs to get well thought out advice.

I have definitely gotten it! Thanks everyone.

[NotCranky]

I have followed this entire thread and it has made me curious if you can not go into this in a more measured way?
Is that just not a viable option? Is it better to take a big hit to your life and get it over with?
What if you take 5 or 6 years while you continue to make a decent living and end up with less debt and meanwhile enjoy higher quality family life? Maybe you can’t do that at a school to your liking?

If you haven’t bought a home yet maybe you could even do that when they are at the cheapest point while you go to school. Look at building your estate and living life as a whole and not just your job. I knew of a young man who did this at the bottom of the last cycle while he was killing pre-med at UCSD. Needless to say he is set.
26 is very young and most people hit their stride around 35 no matter how hard they try.

[NotCranky]

I have followed this entire thread and it has made me curious if you can not go into this in a more measured way?
Is that just not a viable option? Is it better to take a big hit to your life and get it over with?
What if you take 5 or 6 years while you continue to make a decent living and end up with less debt and meanwhile enjoy higher quality family life? Maybe you can’t do that at a school to your liking?

If you haven’t bought a home yet maybe you could even do that when they are at the cheapest point while you go to school. Look at building your estate and living life as a whole and not just your job. I knew of a young man who did this at the bottom of the last cycle while he was killing pre-med at UCSD. Needless to say he is set.
26 is very young and most people hit their stride around 35 no matter how hard they try.

[NotCranky]

I have followed this entire thread and it has made me curious if you can not go into this in a more measured way?
Is that just not a viable option? Is it better to take a big hit to your life and get it over with?
What if you take 5 or 6 years while you continue to make a decent living and end up with less debt and meanwhile enjoy higher quality family life? Maybe you can’t do that at a school to your liking?

If you haven’t bought a home yet maybe you could even do that when they are at the cheapest point while you go to school. Look at building your estate and living life as a whole and not just your job. I knew of a young man who did this at the bottom of the last cycle while he was killing pre-med at UCSD. Needless to say he is set.
26 is very young and most people hit their stride around 35 no matter how hard they try.

[NotCranky]

I have followed this entire thread and it has made me curious if you can not go into this in a more measured way?
Is that just not a viable option? Is it better to take a big hit to your life and get it over with?
What if you take 5 or 6 years while you continue to make a decent living and end up with less debt and meanwhile enjoy higher quality family life? Maybe you can’t do that at a school to your liking?

If you haven’t bought a home yet maybe you could even do that when they are at the cheapest point while you go to school. Look at building your estate and living life as a whole and not just your job. I knew of a young man who did this at the bottom of the last cycle while he was killing pre-med at UCSD. Needless to say he is set.
26 is very young and most people hit their stride around 35 no matter how hard they try.

[NotCranky]

I have followed this entire thread and it has made me curious if you can not go into this in a more measured way?
Is that just not a viable option? Is it better to take a big hit to your life and get it over with?
What if you take 5 or 6 years while you continue to make a decent living and end up with less debt and meanwhile enjoy higher quality family life? Maybe you can’t do that at a school to your liking?

If you haven’t bought a home yet maybe you could even do that when they are at the cheapest point while you go to school. Look at building your estate and living life as a whole and not just your job. I knew of a young man who did this at the bottom of the last cycle while he was killing pre-med at UCSD. Needless to say he is set.
26 is very young and most people hit their stride around 35 no matter how hard they try.

[bjensen]

Rustico,

I don’t claim to be an expert, but from what I hear there are very few part time law options that are decently ranked.

From what I am told, full time programs limit students to 20 hours per week, and most require no work your first year.

Loyola has a part time program, but they have a reputation of being a pretty good law school surrounded by a lot of really great law schools. Unless in the top of your class your job prospects are pretty slim, or so I hear.

Georgetown has a part time program, and they are in the top 14. I would consider doing that without a doubt. The only thing I have heard, but is completely hearsay, is that the PT grads aren’t taken as seriously as the full time grads by the law firms. I don’t know if it’s true or not…

Anyway, I wish there were more options for a measured approach. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know.

Thanks

[bjensen]

Rustico,

I don’t claim to be an expert, but from what I hear there are very few part time law options that are decently ranked.

From what I am told, full time programs limit students to 20 hours per week, and most require no work your first year.

Loyola has a part time program, but they have a reputation of being a pretty good law school surrounded by a lot of really great law schools. Unless in the top of your class your job prospects are pretty slim, or so I hear.

Georgetown has a part time program, and they are in the top 14. I would consider doing that without a doubt. The only thing I have heard, but is completely hearsay, is that the PT grads aren’t taken as seriously as the full time grads by the law firms. I don’t know if it’s true or not…

Anyway, I wish there were more options for a measured approach. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know.

Thanks

[bjensen]

Rustico,

I don’t claim to be an expert, but from what I hear there are very few part time law options that are decently ranked.

From what I am told, full time programs limit students to 20 hours per week, and most require no work your first year.

Loyola has a part time program, but they have a reputation of being a pretty good law school surrounded by a lot of really great law schools. Unless in the top of your class your job prospects are pretty slim, or so I hear.

Georgetown has a part time program, and they are in the top 14. I would consider doing that without a doubt. The only thing I have heard, but is completely hearsay, is that the PT grads aren’t taken as seriously as the full time grads by the law firms. I don’t know if it’s true or not…

Anyway, I wish there were more options for a measured approach. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know.

Thanks

[bjensen]

Rustico,

I don’t claim to be an expert, but from what I hear there are very few part time law options that are decently ranked.

From what I am told, full time programs limit students to 20 hours per week, and most require no work your first year.

Loyola has a part time program, but they have a reputation of being a pretty good law school surrounded by a lot of really great law schools. Unless in the top of your class your job prospects are pretty slim, or so I hear.

Georgetown has a part time program, and they are in the top 14. I would consider doing that without a doubt. The only thing I have heard, but is completely hearsay, is that the PT grads aren’t taken as seriously as the full time grads by the law firms. I don’t know if it’s true or not…

Anyway, I wish there were more options for a measured approach. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know.

Thanks

[bjensen]

Rustico,

I don’t claim to be an expert, but from what I hear there are very few part time law options that are decently ranked.

From what I am told, full time programs limit students to 20 hours per week, and most require no work your first year.

Loyola has a part time program, but they have a reputation of being a pretty good law school surrounded by a lot of really great law schools. Unless in the top of your class your job prospects are pretty slim, or so I hear.

Georgetown has a part time program, and they are in the top 14. I would consider doing that without a doubt. The only thing I have heard, but is completely hearsay, is that the PT grads aren’t taken as seriously as the full time grads by the law firms. I don’t know if it’s true or not…

Anyway, I wish there were more options for a measured approach. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know.

Thanks

[4826monongahela]

Stay in sales, you can move up to run a sales dept if you want then become CEO, esp if you like start-ups. Nothing limiting a very strong sales rep. You’ll probably make more $. If you’re very good at sales, you’ll likely make more than avereage corporate lawyer. Several folks I’ve worked with and learned from have gone this route, 3 have ultimately become CEO’s of SMB company. As you progress, you’ll learn contracts law a bit anyway.

Don’t recommend learning Chinese unless you are really, really in love with it & committed to working very hard and very long hours for a long time with large sacrifices. Chinese is very hard to learn and it’s not just language – there is culture, way of thinking, living and many years of developing contacts and trusting relationships before you will even come close to an even field with others who were born & brought up 1/2 & 1/2. Northern Asia is much different from doing business in NA, SA or EMEA, and “China” has many different regions each with different languages, cultures, etc which are all in turn much different from JP & KR. You need to really want to “go native” and jump in for a few decades, or forget it. It ain’t like a gringo living in SA for a bunch of yrs, learning language, culture and making contacts and then off you go doing business. It’s harder/takes longer.

[4826monongahela]

Stay in sales, you can move up to run a sales dept if you want then become CEO, esp if you like start-ups. Nothing limiting a very strong sales rep. You’ll probably make more $. If you’re very good at sales, you’ll likely make more than avereage corporate lawyer. Several folks I’ve worked with and learned from have gone this route, 3 have ultimately become CEO’s of SMB company. As you progress, you’ll learn contracts law a bit anyway.

Don’t recommend learning Chinese unless you are really, really in love with it & committed to working very hard and very long hours for a long time with large sacrifices. Chinese is very hard to learn and it’s not just language – there is culture, way of thinking, living and many years of developing contacts and trusting relationships before you will even come close to an even field with others who were born & brought up 1/2 & 1/2. Northern Asia is much different from doing business in NA, SA or EMEA, and “China” has many different regions each with different languages, cultures, etc which are all in turn much different from JP & KR. You need to really want to “go native” and jump in for a few decades, or forget it. It ain’t like a gringo living in SA for a bunch of yrs, learning language, culture and making contacts and then off you go doing business. It’s harder/takes longer.

[4826monongahela]

Stay in sales, you can move up to run a sales dept if you want then become CEO, esp if you like start-ups. Nothing limiting a very strong sales rep. You’ll probably make more $. If you’re very good at sales, you’ll likely make more than avereage corporate lawyer. Several folks I’ve worked with and learned from have gone this route, 3 have ultimately become CEO’s of SMB company. As you progress, you’ll learn contracts law a bit anyway.

Don’t recommend learning Chinese unless you are really, really in love with it & committed to working very hard and very long hours for a long time with large sacrifices. Chinese is very hard to learn and it’s not just language – there is culture, way of thinking, living and many years of developing contacts and trusting relationships before you will even come close to an even field with others who were born & brought up 1/2 & 1/2. Northern Asia is much different from doing business in NA, SA or EMEA, and “China” has many different regions each with different languages, cultures, etc which are all in turn much different from JP & KR. You need to really want to “go native” and jump in for a few decades, or forget it. It ain’t like a gringo living in SA for a bunch of yrs, learning language, culture and making contacts and then off you go doing business. It’s harder/takes longer.

[4826monongahela]

Stay in sales, you can move up to run a sales dept if you want then become CEO, esp if you like start-ups. Nothing limiting a very strong sales rep. You’ll probably make more $. If you’re very good at sales, you’ll likely make more than avereage corporate lawyer. Several folks I’ve worked with and learned from have gone this route, 3 have ultimately become CEO’s of SMB company. As you progress, you’ll learn contracts law a bit anyway.

Don’t recommend learning Chinese unless you are really, really in love with it & committed to working very hard and very long hours for a long time with large sacrifices. Chinese is very hard to learn and it’s not just language – there is culture, way of thinking, living and many years of developing contacts and trusting relationships before you will even come close to an even field with others who were born & brought up 1/2 & 1/2. Northern Asia is much different from doing business in NA, SA or EMEA, and “China” has many different regions each with different languages, cultures, etc which are all in turn much different from JP & KR. You need to really want to “go native” and jump in for a few decades, or forget it. It ain’t like a gringo living in SA for a bunch of yrs, learning language, culture and making contacts and then off you go doing business. It’s harder/takes longer.

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