January 9, 2009, 11:45 pm
Rethinking Law School
The changing of one year to another often prompts thoughts about the future and about goals and about change. For me this is no exception. Most recently I've been thinking about my plans to attend law school.
I have the rare opportunity to live near people who are actually in law school and see the kinds of hours they keep and the stress on their lives. Without attending law school I've been able to see the good, the bad, and the ugly, without actually having to spend any money on tuition or do any reading, or even take any exams.
What I've found is that there's a lot about law school that's good, and that I would enjoy. There's a lot I wouldn't. But the biggest issue comes down to what do I want to do with it?
I've always wanted to go to law school to practice constitutional law. I want to find the defenseless and defend them, and I want to stand on principle for things I think are important. This is probably most lawyer's dreams; I doubt anyone actually gets a thrill from writing contracts. But given the current state of affairs in the economy, and the massive debt I would incur, it would be impossible to attend law school and then do this kind of work, while still maintaining my financial obligations.
The truth is that law school would cost me about $150,000, almost all of which would need to be financed with borrowed money. There are little to no scholarships available for those who want to attend graduate schools, meaning most people who cannot simply get it from their parents or their own bank accounts have to borrow.
FinAid does some of the math for you with their repayment calculator.. According to the FinAid calculator, a $150,000 loan (or series of loans) at a very nice 4.5% interest rate for the typical 10-year repayment schedule would require a monthly payment of $1,154.58 and they suggest an annual salary of $186,549.60.
Compare that with PayScale's average salary for a lawyer:
A lawyer making $56,966.00 a year can expect to take home $40,279.10 (after taxes, excluding student loan interest deductions), according to PaycheckCity.com, for a monthly disposable income (after paying student loans) of $2,202 or a paltry $26,428.00 a year. That's not enough to live on in any major city.
So the short version is that law school doesn't appear to be in the cards for me, and barring some massive idea that makes me lots of money, I won't be able to afford it ever. It's not worth that much debt and that much unhappiness to earn a law degree.
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Comments:
George wrote on January 10, 2009, 11:00 am:
I'm debating the same issues, Brandon. Thanks for the informative post.
brandon wrote on January 10, 2009, 1:32 pm:
It's worth noting that individuals attending top tier law schools, or graduating in the top 5% of the class typically enjoy higher starting salaries.
Also, George, you may enjoy portions of the G.I. bill not available to me, so that's worth exploring.
pianoguy wrote on January 10, 2009, 4:40 pm:
A pity that high aspirations and "good people" like you end up having to opt for less or "other" due simply to economics (and you aren't even interested in the "money", just being able to afford doing it). I have read the there are considerable cutbacks in the "lawyer core", but that doesn't mean in four years it would be so. Still, I think, both for Wall Street and the halls of justice, the "really good times" (of considerable largess and excess) are pretty much over for the foreseeable future...which in a way is healthy for those sectors. I just wish that those most responsible for the current crises would be the only ones paying the price, but, as with many things, Main Street gets drug through the muck along with the perps.