Should You Go to Law School?

I have talked to many people about this question, and there is no easy answer.

First, I would ask yourself do you want to practice law? Practicing law means something like giving legal advice to people, representing people in court and/or drafting legal documents for people. If so, a law degree and the bar is required (except for in Washington, Wisconsin and maybe a few other states that have exceptions). Thus, if you have your heart set on practicing law then I would suggest law school.

Next, there are some other professions like politics and public policy that do not require a JD but in which a JD is helpful. They are often “JD preferred” which basically means that they like JD’s. In the DC area (where I attended law school), a JD might still be a good option for these professions because basically everyone here has an advanced degree. Nevertheless, if you are aiming to do one of these professions, I might hesitate if you are not in an area that demands it. A JD is a significant investment over a long period of time (at least 3 years and the average debt is around 100,000). Therefore, I would seriously consider if a JD is necessary for what you want to do where you want to do it. To identify if a JD is required, I would suggest looking up people who do what you want to do and seeing what background they have (maybe on Linkedin). If you could get these people to chat with you for a few minutes, that would be even better.

One additional thought, if you are entering a profession that requires a masters that will take 2 years, I would seriously consider a JD because you will get a Doctorate by doing one more year.

To summarize, if you want to practice law, there are few ways around a JD. If you want to do a job that does not require a JD, I would seriously consider if you can get the necessary experience elsewhere.