Just remember, If you become a lawyer everyone will hate you. No matter what!

The first thing I'm doing if the SHTF is going after the lawyers.

Well, I tried....

DON'T DO IT!!!!!!

I have friends that are lawyers and was pre law myself in college.  Lawyers have crappy jobs, especially for the first several years.  Of course it also takes many many years to work off you law school loans as well.  

Plus you must remember that when you are working you need to work 40 BILLABLE hours a week.  My friends were working 60-80 hours a week to make that for the first several years.  It evens out when you have your own pions to order around but that takes a long time.  I had one friend who scored in the top five percent on the LSAT, went to the orientation at the law school he entered and then quit, because they told the students what the job would entail.

Besides you will be walking into the SLIME.  My friends, who I grew up with and know to be good people, say that it is nothing but slime and that they do slimey things.  It is the nature of the beast.  One of my friends finally moved to a small town to open a private practice doing wills and trusts cause he couldn't take it anymore.

There are a lot more honorable things to do with your life.  If you want to make a difference, start a business and hire people.  Personal success is the greatest thing a person can do for society.  Then if you want to do more to protect freedom, run for office.  Get on the water board or school board. Then get on a county seat to protect peoples property from zoning laws.  All these things are better than being a lawyer.

As far as another occupation than being a sweep, I can't tell you or I would be doing it myself.  I wipe the shit out of kid's butts and get kicked and bit for a living.  Maybe lordtrader will have some ideas. [;)]

BTW, don't become a teacher, esp. in CA.  It just ain't worth it.  [spank]

Ratters pretty much covered it.  Getting out, you start small, get paid a pittance and work your butt off.  

Unless you are at the top of your class, you will have a tough job search ahead of you.  My sister was about average for her class, she also obtained a masters in Medical Admin. and she had a tough time finding work.

I won't tell you not to do it, but I will tell you to think VERY hard before you do it.

First, finish your 4 year degree, and see how you feel about more school.  For me, looking at 3 more years of finals really put a damper on things.

This is coming from a law school drop out.  Law school is not that tough, anyone who tells you that is either lazy or stupid (or at a very tough school).  I was at a top 50 law school, and I had the folks practically begging me to stay when I gave them my walking papers.  I think that most schools (the exceptions might be ivy league types) want you to stay in (more money from tuition and future alumni) and will do pretty much anything to keep you there if you are a decent student.  In fact my school had a policy where no one could "flunk out," a C was the lowest grade possible, as long as you did the required work.  

Money was a big issue for me, I was out of state, and you can't work during the first year of school, so think that through very hard.

The main factors in my leaving were because I was in it for the wrong reasons, and I did not like the people.  Don't do it unless you are sure you want to practice (or if you just like learning)!  

As far as the people, it sickened me how competitive they were!  I could see how willing they were to stab each other (or me) in the back just by looking into their eyes.  I was at a liberal school, so their politics also sickened me.  Some of the professors were also very condescending.

So think it through!  If you really have the urge to practice law, and you can afford to go through with it, do it!  It's not that tough.

If you have doubts about whether the profession is for you, or if you want big bucks, or if you will have a hard time affording it and supporting your family, don't do it.

This isn't going to change, the only difference is you'll see a lot more people getting screwed over and some of it will be your fault, because of what you did, or did not do in the trial.

Also, the legal mumbo jumbo gets old VERY fast!  



It not so much what the people think, it's that you are afraid to become like them, and it does happen.

Law school changes you A LOT.  My favorite are the environmental studies tree hugger types.
It starts off as "I want to save the whales!" 3 years later, they are working for the biggest polluting company on the globe...

Good luck to you either way you go.

Go... it will open may doors even if you choose not to practice law.

Do it.

Regardless of whether this applies to you or not: I was reading something last week about how the FBI and CIA like to hire accountants and lawyers.  They are very procedural people, and many make excellent agents.  This is one of the many doors that a law degree would open for you.  Also ,try not to think in context of the huge expense you must face- you're investing in yourself.
P.S. Forget about the history major thing- if law is what you want, then get your undergrad degree ASAP and move on to law.

[b][red]***WARNING...BAD JOKE FOLLOWS*****[/red][/b]


What's the difference between a dead lawyer and a dead skunk?
The dead skunk has skid marks in front of it.

My sister decided to go to law school and get her juris doctorate. It was the absolute sh*ts while she was in school, it was hard work and she had time to do hardly anything else. In order for her to finish her 4yr degree she quit work and attended two different schools full time to get the credits. She was taking almost 30hrs a semester and had to receive special permission from both of the school presidents in order to do this. She slaved at school worse than it was a real job. She was constantly writing this or studying that and she lost many friends along the way that couldn't hack it or just made bad grades. Finally she graduated in the top 5% of her class.

She now works for a good firm practicing family law and the occasional oddball case and is licensed to work in both Texas and Oklahoma. She helps many people who are in bad situations and gets to see many atrocities that go on around us that usually only the perpetrators and police see. Stuff you hear in the papers or from the media is only a fraction of the story, there is always a lot more to it.

She works a lot of hours and goes through many cases and some times it really gets to her, but she makes tons of money and really enjoys helping out some of the people she would otherwise not be able to do anything for. It can however be very nerve racking because some people are trusting you with very important decisions that can affect them for the rest of their lives.

All that being said, she is very happy. She may work a lot at times, but it isnt like she is digging ditches and she gets paid up to several hundreds of dollars an hour to talk to some people. It has also opened many doors for her. Some of the fringe benefits are great, such as trips and tickets to events and so on. If you treat people well and take care of them then many of them will take care of you and she gets many gifts from clients because their case turned out remarkably well in their favor.

I say go for it. It is a totally different world than what most of us live today.

Ive even got to go on a couple of hunting trips with her clients after they found out I am big into that sort of thing. Plus, its much easier to deal with insurance companies if you send them a letter on firm letterhead.

Michael

Oh, and don't decide to be an ambulance chaser. Even most other lawyers can't stand them. Also, criminal law will make you feel like a criminal as well since many of the people you get off of the hook really are guilty and you know it. I probably couldn't cope with that no matter how much I was getting paid.

The previous poster was probably right. Get into an area that you particularly like and go from there. There are lawyers for everything and the more you specialize the more you get paid. You might not do as many cases, but the ones you will do will probably be long and complicated and very expensive.

Michael

Dude go for it!. You should get as educated as you possibly can. You're obviously intelligent to even contemplate this so just do it. Besides the way things are going we're going to need lawyers who understand peoples second amendment views and want to help for reasons ohter than just making a buck.
I am right where you are. About to finish  bachelors and deciding on grad school.
If you really feel you need a career change do it or you will regret it forever.

Lets see.  I've been practising 16 years now.  sometimes rewarding sometimes frustrating.  

The education is very interesting, somewhat time consuming and hard (mostly by the sheer volume of the work load).  

The courts do stuff like you described to lawyers too.  Some judges decide which way they want to rule and then formulate their reasons.  One difference is that when the judge says something like he did to the guy in the paper ("if only ...yadayada") Your client can then sue you.  Not to mention the fact that your clients rarely tell you the whole truth and constantly surprise you with new details at some of the most in-opportune times.  

My brother wanted to do criminal defense.  He did it for awhile until it wore on him, that most of his clients were guilty and his job was to get them off.  OK that is the cynical side... it sure isn't a picnic.  

If that hasn't scared you away enough.  I will go on to the good side.  I have met some really interesting people and it has opened doors I would have never seen.  Working with clients to help solve their problems is very rewarding.  There is ALWAYS opportunity for a good attorney.

I am a patent attorney.  Right now our field is booming.  Starting attorneys are making from about $90K to $140K.  You need a technical under grad (electical engineering seems to be hot right now).  And then of course law school.

You CAN work in your first year of law school (although they recommend not to)  I worked.  Law school is expensive last time I checked somewhere around $400 a credit hour.

Overall it has been a good profession.  Sometimes a lot of hours.  But it has been good at paying the bills.  

Reasons to go include: a good education, lots of opportunities to help people (some pay some don't),  opens new doors, getting involved with lots of interesting situations, and of course the thrill of battle(in the courtrooms etc.).

Reasons not to go include:  Tough long hours studying, tough long hours getting started, tough issues to handle, concern about a malpractice suit even when you have done the best that you can.

And of course you can tell that I am a lawyer... there are no real answers, only questions and arguments, that is what they teach you in law school... how to think like a lawyer (as twisted as that sounds).

Good luck to you.

Phil
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