Confession: I am enjoying a ginger ale while typing this. To justify my soda relapse, I am feeling pretty queasy, and I have a meeting to attend. I'd rather not throw up before it, during it, or after it. Just like the lady with bronchitis says, ain't nobody got time for that. Good news: I know I can live without soda, and I plan to return to my phosphoric acid-free lifestyle once my stomach settles.
Anyway, part 2 of my double-edged advice segment. I toured American's Law School and sat in on a torts class yesterday, and I want to present my case for going to law school, especially when every other day it seems like someone else tells me I'm making a lousy decision
This semester, too many times to count: "You shouldn't go to law school."
A
week or two ago, a random man stopped me in the ICC (building on
campus) asking me about my plans. I told him I'm majoring in American
Studies and plan on going to law school. This was the response I
received: "I hired lawyers for 12 years. We got boxes of resumes for
people who had 0 chance of getting a job. There's too much demand for
lawyers. I would think about that if I were you." I don't mean to
scapegoat this man, whoever he was. He's not the first and probably
won't be the last to tell me not to go to law school. However, who is he to give career advice while wandering the labyrinth that is the ICC? I have never seen him before and know nothing about him short of what he told me in those few minutes. For all I know, he's a retired pizza delivery guy auditing the Jay Z Sociology class. I've
already paid for LSAT prep next semester, attended some law school info
sessions/tours/class visits (and will continue to do so next semester),
and pondered how to weave my budding legal career (read: seedling legal
career, if I can even say that at this point) and my love of
analytical/introspective writing (as opposed to fiction/literary writing
in general. Not my forte.) together into a job that won't feel like
work. Furthermore, the classes I've visited have been really interesting. Yes, even torts is cool! It was the end of the semester, so I had about 0.5% idea of what was going on, but I was intrigued.
Sure, being the US attorney and eventually having my own robe and
chambers would be legit. And these are 2 of my goals in mind. But since
when did law degree mean "Must be a traditional lawyer, or all will be
for nothing"? Pretty sure it's not that way now at least. I am going to law school. I want to go to law school. Maybe I'll prefer Con Law to Civ Pro and Jurisprudence to Tax Law, but ask any doctor (except my mom) if there was a rotation they absolutely hated, and I'm fairly certain they will have one. Professionals don't have to like every single aspect of their field to be successful. AUSAs couldn't care less about estate law within the realm of their jobs, and corporate attorneys aren't preoccupied with criminal justice. They still both went to law school and probably took a class or two about which they were not zealously enthused. So to all my law school detractors, yes, I am aware of the costs, economic and otherwise. Still going. Still plan on using my JD to do something really cool with my life. What exactly? I'll get back to you on that in a few years.
And yes, I am taking accounting before I graduate. Just not this coming semester, because LSAT prep is going to take over my life. My dad is about to bite my head off, but I suppose he wouldn't be fulfilling his fatherly duties if he weren't.
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