What happened?
I’ve come to the realization the possibility that at least for me the mystic of the JD is gone. I used to think that I was busting my ass for 4 years of night school to learn a specific professional skill that could put me apart from the general population and worthy of a title as an attorney and advocate. I figured that this is what the purpose of the rigors of law school were intended for, and the bar exam would be a crucial test of legal competency. Instead I have realized that a lot of the method that law is taught is counter-productive, and a total waste of time and effort. I can honestly say now that I’m convinced a relatively bright, motivated undergraduate could be a competent attorney with a few years of additional study and 2 years of clinical training.
This is all pretty depressing coming from someone that had some legal experience before law school, and at least in the beginning was adamant about practicing law. I was not your typical liberal arts college graduate with no idea what to do with my life and decided to go to law school by default. I actually put in the time and effort to take law related courses as an undergrad, and spent time working and interning in legal related fields. As a graduate student I took several seminars at the law school and continued to pursue legal related topics in public policy. On the debt issue, I entered by JD program with $0 debt, decided to use my master’s degree to work full time while attending law school and night, and committed to a lifestyle that would minimize my law school debt to my annual salary. Coming out of law school I still have a significant, but manageable amount of student loans, enough that I could consider taking a public interest attorney position, I’m no where near the median debt level for recent law grads, and neither am I even close to the 6-figures of debt that you hear about in the news lately.
I’m kind of sitting here scratching my head and wondering what happened? I didn’t expect everything to turn out perfectly, but I at least expected to have some modest options to practice, gain some meaningful experience towards a career that was based largely in part due to the training I received in law school. Instead I’m wondering if I am actually more handicapped professionally from working in a legal field now after going to law school. This makes no sense at all, but I’m beginning to wonder if this shitty reality is true.