Calling all lawyers (and other sundry old people)

[Caliga]

Cholera will make a man of you.

Yes it will, provided you survive.

[crazy canuck]

I'd say go for some travel. If you do go into law, you will not be able to do it later, and if you don't, you will regret it. I'm happy I did it.

[Eddie Teach]

I suggest skipping law school and pick up a CDL. 

[MadImmortalMan]

Gups has wisdom. Put me in the take a year off camp.


And damn, law school doesn't look like a good investment these days, does it? 180k in debt before you start working? Don't try to be a prosecutor in Quebec. You'll never get out of that hole. 

[Grey Fox]

Gups has wisdom. Put me in the take a year off camp.


And damn, law school doesn't look like a good investment these days, does it? 180k in debt before you start working? Don't try to be a prosecutor in Quebec. You'll never get out of that hole. 

It doesn't cost that much here. 1800$ a semester plus books.

[Malthus]

Gups has wisdom. Put me in the take a year off camp.


And damn, law school doesn't look like a good investment these days, does it? 180k in debt before you start working? Don't try to be a prosecutor in Quebec. You'll never get out of that hole. 

It doesn't cost that much here. 1800$ a semester plus books.

For English Canadians, a good dodge is to get a legal education at a good school here (comparatively cheap - by orders of magnitude!), then get hired by a US law firm - it is reasonably easy to pass the bar. Then, profit. Lots of people did just that, NY firms were recruiting at U of T.

Quebec lawyers don't have that option as much - civil law system, not as similar.

[Barrister]

Holy shit - when I saw a thread started by Count I assumed it was a necro-thread - but low and behold it wasn't!

First, I have to say it... $200k for law school?!?  That approaches the point of "not being worth it" don't you think?  Can't you attend a state school for a whole lot less tuition or something?

Does anybody like big corporate law work?  No.  Nobody does.  Those who say they do are lying or have deceived themselves through their blackened and charred heart.  Seriously it's dreadful stuff.  I got out after my first year and never looked back.  I guess it can be interesting once you're a senior partner and you're more involved in client management and actually negotiating the deals, but it takes a decade or two to get to that point.

I dunno - I'm kind of neutral on the whole "taking a year off" bit.  Working isn't quite so dreadful as 'you only get 14 days in a child-friendly place' - I get more holidays than that, have gone to some reasonably exciting places, and plus I actually have money to spend and enjoy in those places.  But I don't think waiting one year is life-alteringly bad either.

If you get a job to build your resume, please of please don't let it be a legal job.  Do anything else.  Quite frankly without being in law school you won't be doing anything remotely useful.  In interviews you want to be able to talk about something, anything, that makes you stand out from the pack.  Working in a "legal job" doesn't do that.  I'd dare say bartending, or construction, would be more useful than something legal-oriented.  Something that involves having to deal with people, plus gives you entertaining stories, is what you're after.

Now don't wait several years before replying, hear me?

[jimmy olsen]

Do what I do. Travel and work.

[The Minsky Moment]

and for the lawyers: does anybody actually like the big corporate law firm jobs?

Love it.  But it's not for everybody.

And with that  . . . gotta go!

[Caliga]

I guy I used to hang with in Boston is general counsel for National Grid USA.  He seems to love it.  He just makes left-wing posts on Facebook all day when he ought to be working.

[Jacob]

I'd say go traveling as well, but at the very least go somewhere semi-safe and Asian in addition to Europe - Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

But yeah, do as much adventuring as possible before you plunge into law school.

Good luck

[Barrister]

and for the lawyers: does anybody actually like the big corporate law firm jobs?

Love it.  But it's not for everybody.

And with that  . . . gotta go!

But MInsky - you might be in a big white shoe law firm, but do you practice corporate law?  II thought you were more of a litigator for some reason.

[Berkut]

Count - law school? Really?

Do you really want to be a lawyer? Why not do something interesting, like the state department, or intelligence (NSA or something)?

[Caliga]

As a Jew he doesn't realize that any career other than medicine, banking, or law exists.

[Grey Fox]

As a Jew he doesn't realize that any career other than medicine, banking, or law exists.

Don't forget diamond dealing.