Who should go to law school?

Intelligent, tenacious, adaptable people with a plan, and the interest should go to law school. Read more: Emily Cheah, Advocate & Solicitor. Answered April 4, 2017. Who should go to law school? www.quora.com/Who-should-go-to-law-school.

But mind the finances. Can you get a job after that (assuming this isn’t a merely academic question, for people who, for example, wish to go to law school post-retirement) you qualify? Times are hard. Have you thought it through?

That is what the plan is for.

Anyone with the grade requisites may go to law school, but not everyone should go to law school.

Also remember that not all law schools are created equally. What kind of law do you want to do? Some law schools feed into big money. Others - its more rare. If finances are an issue, make sure you know whether your law school’s fees justify you potential earning expectations in the future. Dollars and cents need to add up, otherwise, for the pain, you’re better off from a rational standpoint (passions on law aside) pursuing a business degree. It may not seem fair, but remember that a first class law degree from a third tier law school may in many circumstances be disadvantaged compared to a barely-scraped third class from a top tier law school.

Passion however nullifies rational considerations. Or perhaps I am a romantic. I don’t know. Are you? Make sure you know the answer to that. Read more: Emily Cheah, Advocate & Solicitor. Answered April 4, 2017. Who should go to law school? www.quora.com/Who-should-go-to-law-school.

Now for what I said at the top:

Intelligence. It requires methodical thinking, and objective reasoning. You’re most likely not going to know what is needed of you until your second year of law school. Sometimes it can be learnt, and sometimes - well. You will get by. But if you can’t do common sense reasoning, life is much, much harder for you. Think 10,000 hours of work. Most people in law are not more clever than anybody else, they just learn to mimic pathways of reasoning. That is my view. It just takes hard work.

Tenacity. Plus sometimes, just don’t take “no” for an answer. It goes the same for excuses you give yourself, to dealing with bursaries, lecturers for whom you may need to fight for more attention from, and jobs. Jobs, particularly. No snowflakes welcome here!

Adaptability. Despite having tenacity, you still have to maintain intellectual manoeuvrability. Learn to let go of the un-winnable things and concepts. Remember how I said something about a plan? Well if Plan A isn’t working (law school, good grades, job in Big Law, partner by 30, etc.), MOVE ON. Your argument isn’t working well with this particular opposing counsel? Move on! Find another tack. Don’t be stubborn.

Plan. This is about having objectives. This is about having a purpose. Once you leave school, or the old safe job you had, you need to know where you’re going with your law degree. Some people can have no plan, but in my experience, having no plan made me deeply unhappy. And all good plans have Plan B, Plan C, Plan D, etc. Take stock of your life, always assess if things are going to plan. Then, if in doubt, go back to (3) above.

Anyone who wants to go to law school has to answer these hard questions. Can I? Sure. Should I? Perhaps, or perhaps not. Just remember that we are in a time of automation. Many legal jobs will be obsolete in the next twenty years or so. If you have a sense of gratitude, and can take the skills you have learnt in a law degree, and are willing to carry on learning throughout your life - then good! Remember that a law degree is just as useful in other fields, not just legal practice. If you know you don’t have these qualities, or are too daunted by what I have said, good, you should be. But also know that if you try, you can stretch yourself to attain anything you want to achieve as long as you work hard, do your homework, temper your expectations and keep chugging. Read more: Emily Cheah, Advocate & Solicitor. Answered April 4, 2017. Who should go to law school? www.quora.com/Who-should-go-to-law-school.