When you start law school it’s not uncommon for the powers that be to look at you and say something like “Look to the person on your left, look to the person on your right, one of you three won’t be here in three years.” They say this to you as they want you to think law school is so hard that many people will get weeded out because they just don’t cut it.
The reality is that 1 of 3 probably won’t be there at the end, but not because they don’t make it. Many people just realize that going to law school isn’t for them since it’s pretty boring and seems to lead to a life or work that you just don’t want to do. Why spend all of that money if you aren’t going to use your degree?
If they were really honest with you they’d tell you to look around the room and guess who won’t be practicing law still at the 10 year reunion. Surprisingly (to me at least) the answer is most of the people in the room.
I think back at all the students that used to suck up to professors or busted their butts to be on law review. Most of them aren’t practicing lawyers any more. Some became stay at home parents, others went in to unrelated fields and still others started their own business. In fact the most successful of my classmates seem to be the ones that fell right in the middle of the rankings (FYI, I went to Chicago-Kent).
The reason most people drop out of law firm practice is because it’s the same mundane thing, day after day after day. Most people aren’t passionate about fighting for insurance companies or helping put together a real estate deal, especially if you work for greedy assholes. It can be exciting at first, but after a while it seems that the only thing that changes is the name on the file.
Don’t get me wrong, having a law degree can open up a lot of doors for you and even if it’s a matter of perception versus reality, many businesses like having a lawyer on staff. There are a whole host of successful people that have a law degree and don’t use it the way that most lawyers do (from the sports world Tony LaRussa, Steve Young, Jay Bilas among others).
So if you are in law school don’t let anyone freak you out. You’ll probably graduate if you want to, you’ll probably pass the bar and eventually you’ll find a job. But don’t be surprised if at some point you realize that being a law firm attorney isn’t for you. And if that’s the conclusion you reach, there is nothing wrong with that.
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