A JD can boost your career prospects and teach you incredibly versatile and in-demand skills. If you're thinking about applying to law school but don't think you want to become a lawyer, you're probably wondering if it's worth spending tens of thousands of dollars and three years of your life. As a general rule, you shouldn't go to law school if you don't want to become a lawyer. Law school is incredibly expensive, time-consuming, and a law degree will reduce your career options in the future.
There are some benefits to attending law school even without the intention of becoming a lawyer, but the costs outweigh them. Law degrees for non-lawyers include the Master of Legal Studies (MLS) and the Master of Dispute Resolution (MDR). The MLS is designed to teach students the general principles of law and how to apply the law to specific factual circumstances. Students must take a core set of classes on fundamentals, but can then specialize based on their areas of interest.
A person who wishes to work at a large university, for example, can take classes focused on labor or education law. Other options include litigation support, tax law, environmental law, and international law. You shouldn't go to law school unless you're pretty sure you want to be a lawyer. And if you don't know what “being a lawyer” really means, you should invest time and energy in figuring out what that means long before you pay an application fee to any of these law schools.
In a nutshell, you go to law school to train as a lawyer. If you don't want to become a lawyer, don't go to law school. As for the second question, it depends on how you answer the first question. Law students, especially second-cycle students, have to manage readings, internships, job applications, extracurricular activities, and journals.
Law school attendance has its costs for any student, including those who intend to become lawyers. And most of your colleagues will have chosen to study law precisely because they want to move in that direction. Keep in mind, too, that most law schools predominantly channel students into business practice or government work. This offers valuable experience and connections to law students before they begin their formal careers.
Law Review writing positions are honorary; students are selected to become editors based on their superior academic performance. You can sit in the kitchen for days on end listening to what lawyers do, how they prepare, what kind of questions they ask them, and what you think is relevant. Law school is an important task and deserves a lot of thought, especially if you don't want to be a practicing lawyer. To better understand the legal topic, people who are not lawyers can seek an education that provides them with extensive exposure to the law, but that does not require taking the bar exam and becoming a practicing attorney.
Internships aren't something you should worry about at the beginning of your law school career, as they aren't available until after you graduate. The bottom line is that if you don't want to be a lawyer, you probably have other interests that you would like to pursue while studying law. Students who enter Law Review get more job interviews, interviews at more prestigious law firms, government offices, and private companies, and get more job offers. The revision of the law is desirable as a status symbol and as a credential that will open up countless employment opportunities.
Day in and day out, they interact with employees, attorneys, and in-house attorneys, and they often discuss issues that are governed by state and federal laws...
