| CAREER OVERVIEW |
| CAREER TRACKS |
| DECIDING TO BECOME A LAWYER |
| Deciding |
| The Job Market |
| Is It Right for You? |
| About Law School |
| Reading about the Legal Profession |
| The Utility of a Law Degree |
SOURCE: http://www.class.ewu.edu/class/GOVN/PreLawRoot/Deciding.html
There are many types of lawyers and types of law practice, so seek out a number of different lawyers to talk to. You might also want to find a summer job or an internship in an attorney's office. Internships can be found through the Department of Government, Professor Finegold.
Ultimately, you should pursue a legal career only as a result of a conscious decision to do so. You should not go to law school by default. It is far too expensive and difficult to do simply for lack of something better. There are few experiences in life more miserable than going to law school and being an attorney if your heart is not in it.
"For the first time since the data were first collected, the number of law school graduates finding full-time work in the legal profession has sunk below 70 percent. According to the National Association for Law Placement [NALP] survey of the class of 1994, only 69.6 percent of students who earned J.D. degrees last year had located full-time legal jobs six months after graduation...
"The bad news about full-time legal employment was offset, in part, by an increase in the number of students finding non-legal and part-time employment. Of the 31,753 graduates covered in the survey, 8.1 percent took full-time positions outside the legal profession, up from 7.0 percent in 1993 and 5.9 percent in 1992. Similarly, the percentage of new J.D.s taking jobs as part-time attorneys rose to 5.2 percent, from 4.6 percent in 1993 and 4 percent in 1992...
"As has been the case every year since the NALP survey began in 1974, private law firms were the biggest source of employment for new lawyers. Of law school graduates obtaining employment six months after law school, 55 percent entered private practice. That percentage has declined steadily since 1988, however, when it hit 64.3 percent...Although only 12 percent of the class of 1994 took jobs in business, the number marked an all-time high for that category of employer...
"The median starting salary for attorneys in private practice was $50,000, up $2,000 over 1993. The next most highly paid categories of employers for first-year lawyers were business ($42,000), government ($32,000), academia ($30,000) and public interest ($28,800). Notwithstanding the publicity generated by high first-year salaries at top corporate law firms, only 13.7 percent of law graduates who joined firms earned more than $70,000. A greater number, 38.7 percent, made $40,000 or less..."
Excerpt from: Myers, Ken. 1995. "Law Schools". National Law Journal, July 17, 1995, p. A16.
Practicing law requires substantial amounts of reading, researching, and writing. If these things do not appeal to you, then a legal career is not appropriate to your talents.
As you are deciding whether to pursue a legal career, the best thing you can do is position yourself to make an informed, intelligent decision. Most importantly, be well aware that the portrayals of the legal profession found in movies, books, television, and tabloid journalism are inaccurate, misleading, and unrealistic representations of what the vast majority of lawyers do with the vast majority of their time.
The most accurate information about the legal profession can be gathered from practicing lawyers. You should talk to several attorneys (because there are numerous types of law) about their profession: the nature of daily work, job satisfaction, opportunities for advancement, lifestyle issues (such as amount of spare time), and other matters which concern you.
In terms of "lifestyle issues" in particular, several studies indicate a high level of job dissatisfaction among attorneys. For example, a recent Johns Hopkins study found that among 104 professions, the proportion of those who described themselves as "dissatisfied" was highest among attorneys (see Washington Monthly, September 1993, pp. 9-10).
You may want to consider volunteering or gaining a paid position in a law firm in order to get a sense of the nature of the legal profession (realizing, again, that there are many types of law and therefore many types of law practice).
The law school experience requires substantial amounts of reading, researching, and writing. Again, if these things do not interest you, you will not like law school and you will certainly not like being a lawyer.
Regarding a legal education, the most accurate information comes from those who are currently
enrolled in, or recently graduated from, law school. Of course, each law school will be a bit different in orientation and approach, but the broad parameters of a legal education are fairly consistent across schools.
It would also be useful for you to sit in on a class or two at a Law School here at the. You can call the law school's admissions office to arrange a class visit.
Your education regarding law school and the legal profession can be further supplemented with the following texts:
"Too often, laymen understand the legal profession only in narrow terms. They may be aware that a majority of all lawyers engage in private practice, alone or associated in law firms of two to several hundred lawyers. But a great many lawyers are not in private practice. Rather, they are salaried employees of corporations, labor unions, trade associations, and government. Equally important are the numerous law-trained individuals who apply their skills to other than traditional law practices. Many of these are in corporate management, public administration, or politics. Also, of course, almost all our judges and [law school] teachers are trained in law."
Excerpt from: Careers and the Study of Political Science (published by the American Political Science Association, 1992)
