Above the Law, In Defense of Going to Law School, by David Lat:
Regular readers of Above the Law are no doubt familiar with the argument against going to law school. It’s fairly straightforward: given the weak legal job market and the high cost of law school, which often requires students to take on six figures’ worth of debt, getting a J.D. degree is simply a bad investment.
Here are five arguments in defense of going to law school — or, at the very least, five arguments against an extreme anti-law-school stance….
- If a law degree is like a lottery ticket, remember: some people still win
- There are many great career options in law outside of large law firms
- What else are you going to do with yourself?
- Not everyone graduates with debt (or with as much debt as some people think)
- You get to put “Esq.” after your name
This may be our first lengthy pro-law-school post, at least in quite a while, but it won’t be our last. We’ll continue to cast a critical eye on law school and try to get people the information they need to make informed decisions about whether to go to law school (and where). But at the same time, going forward, we will also strive for greater balance.
The law is a learned and a noble profession, and some people truly are meant to be lawyers. In order to become a lawyer, you (generally) need to go to law school. So law school isn’t all bad — or is at least a necessary evil — and fair coverage of the world of legal education should reflect this.
