My girlfriend just finished law school - I tried to talk her out of going. Here are some interesting facts that I came across by doing research before she started:
1. The average attorney in the U.S. makes $80k a year. That sounds about right.
2. Law school will cost well over $100k. Probably closer to $150k if you have to finance living expenses. Doesn't need to be this expensive. I put my wife through U of A on a USAF Capt's salary with no loans whatsover. Didn't seem painful at all. Sure, you can run the tuition bill up at the fancy schools, but there are good values out there.
3. Now your loan payment of $1500/month greatly diminishes the value of your $80k salary. No doubt - finance as little as possible.
4. You can make more than the $80k but in order to do this you will be living in a big city and literaly work 80 hour weeks. Our personal experience is 60-65 hour weeks. She's worked Vegas & Phoenix at big firms. It is a grind--no way around it.
5. Average starting salary for an attorney in Boston is 35k. I would call BS on this. But cities do vary wildly. Dallas, it turns out, is a great paying city for lawyers with a lower cost of living. Do your research here. Try boards like greedyassociates.com
6. On average only top 10% of graduating class will have job upon graduation, the rest will likely have to wait until their BAR results come back, roughly 6-7 months. (hopefully they passed) This really depends on the school. If you are willing to do summer internships and they like you, you have a great shot at a job right after graduation. This 10% figure would have been way low at U of A--it was way over 50%.
7. Some of the highest paying law jobs i.e. tax attorney or corporate law will require an additional masters degree AFTER law school (CPA, MBA etc) True on the tax law, but not on corporate. The key to some sanity in the job is picking a field where the work is routine and repeatable (this means you can bill 2 hours for a boilerplate document that your secretary prepares for you). Patent law and estates & trusts are great gigs. Stay out of litigation.
8. You will hear enough lawyer jokes to make you vomit. (I for one share every lawyer joke that I hear with my girlfriend) No worries--you'll be at work all the time, and lawyers don't tell these jokes to each other.
Make sure that you do your research before starting down this path and that law is something you really want to get into. Agreed. There are a lot of dropouts from this career.
To end on a positive note -
Many believe that there is a pending lawyer shortage because of future baby boomer retirements....You will always be in demand if you can do the job.
