OK - last of the posts on reasons NOT to go to law school.
This one has always puzzled me: people tell me sometimes that they are bored in their current position and want to go to law school because they think being a lawyer is exciting. When I ask why they think it is exciting, I usually get one of two responses: (1) going to trial is exciting or (2) dealing with criminals is exciting.
Let's start with reason 2: dealing with criminals. What these people usually mean is that they want to become criminal defense attorneys (or prosecutors) and they think that dealing with criminals will be exciting (whatever that means).
Look, being a criminal-defense lawyer is only one possible career path to being a lawyer, as is being a prosecutor. Being a lawyer offers a lot of career options. Second, if you want to become a criminal defense attorney because you think it would be "exciting" to work with criminals, then do something else. I have learned over long years of this job, as has every successful criminal defense attorney of which I know, that you need to learn how to deal with people when they are at their lowest and are facing serious penalties for something they may not have done. It is not "exciting" to deal with people when they are at the lowest point in their lives. You have to develop a degree of compassion and understanding of your client because at this point you are the only person capable of helping him. For all intents and purposes, you are the only friend of these people. If you think that being a criminal defense attorney is some Wild-West shoot-em-up like a bad TV/internet program, you have no business being a criminal defense attorney. Do something else.
As for the first reason, as I have explained previously, going to trial occupies a small percentage of a lawyer's time (with the exception of rare circumstances). If you can't do the work leading up to trial, you will never be a good trial lawyer.
OK - we move on to reasons to go to law school next post.
This one has always puzzled me: people tell me sometimes that they are bored in their current position and want to go to law school because they think being a lawyer is exciting. When I ask why they think it is exciting, I usually get one of two responses: (1) going to trial is exciting or (2) dealing with criminals is exciting.
Let's start with reason 2: dealing with criminals. What these people usually mean is that they want to become criminal defense attorneys (or prosecutors) and they think that dealing with criminals will be exciting (whatever that means).
Look, being a criminal-defense lawyer is only one possible career path to being a lawyer, as is being a prosecutor. Being a lawyer offers a lot of career options. Second, if you want to become a criminal defense attorney because you think it would be "exciting" to work with criminals, then do something else. I have learned over long years of this job, as has every successful criminal defense attorney of which I know, that you need to learn how to deal with people when they are at their lowest and are facing serious penalties for something they may not have done. It is not "exciting" to deal with people when they are at the lowest point in their lives. You have to develop a degree of compassion and understanding of your client because at this point you are the only person capable of helping him. For all intents and purposes, you are the only friend of these people. If you think that being a criminal defense attorney is some Wild-West shoot-em-up like a bad TV/internet program, you have no business being a criminal defense attorney. Do something else.
As for the first reason, as I have explained previously, going to trial occupies a small percentage of a lawyer's time (with the exception of rare circumstances). If you can't do the work leading up to trial, you will never be a good trial lawyer.
OK - we move on to reasons to go to law school next post.
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