Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Jake E. Lee]

I am looking at several options and I like the idea of studying towards a J.D. degree. Anyone care to share their experiences? Was it really that difficult?

[ninjamonkey]

have you taken the LSAT yet?

[djsmnc]

The LSAT is a killer...I am preparing to apply right now to some schools...gotta keep my fingers crossed.

Go to www.lsac.org for any and all information

[lawyertood]

To sum it up:

First Year--scare you to death
Second Year--work you to death
Third Year--bore you to death!!!

All years--put you deep in debt

But I'd do it all over again.

[Yaya]

The funny thing is, thousands enter law school every year despite many lawyers tell them not to. I know of a few people who do not regret the route they took but I hear from many others that they wish they'd never did it.

A law degree is no longer the magical passport that will land you jobs considering the number of JD holders out there. Any degree decreases in value if too many are going around.

Second, the only way you'll get a half-decent gig at a law firm is if you graduate from a top ten school, and even then, glass ceilings abound. This isn't PC, but I hear from many a lawyer that many firms are Jewish-controlled and are more likely to hire other Jews.

And law school definitely isn't for someone who is simply not sure about what he or she wants to do in life.

[ninjamonkey]

[hellofaniceguy]

Anyone who graduated from law school...and ends up teaching ESL for 24K a year in korea...either did not really graduate and only claim they did or would be really bad lawyers!
Come on folks...common sense tells me....that person is a screw up!
And I did meet two in korea who have law degrees last year and screwed up...both really are! How they graduated...I wonder!
Having traveled around over the years...I have met many many lawyers who hung out their lawyer signs outside their office...one person operation...and have done well..even in small towns.
A lawyer can always start small...one person shop and grow. It just depends on them!

[Gopher]

If you really want to go to law school, then go for it. There is a lot of work out there for a licensed atty, if not always in a nice firm, then reviewing contracts for corps., or working for the public defender, or any other number of possibilities...

[emilyann]

Well, I usually lurk but I couldn't let this go without comment. I graduated from the University of Wisconsin School of Law in 2001 about the middle of my class, as did my two closest friends. One of them worked as a rape crisis counselor (a non-legal position) for a year and a half before landing a job with a law firm in the virgin islands - sounds great but she hates it there; she's just handed in her resignation, is moving back to Michigan and looking for work as a bank teller because of the lack of law openings. The other friend has been working as a staff attorney for the circuit court in Wisconsin - her job is always 'iffy' because it depends on the state budget and she make less then 30,000 a year as far as I know.

As for me, well, I decided in my final year of law school that I wanted to move to the Netherlands having met my boyfriend there while studying abroad. Once I settled in the Netherlands I completed my LLM (a sort of Master's of Law) in International Law and International Organizations. Well, low and behold, no one wants to hire me. Now, that may very well be my own fault. So I have started working on my B.Ed. in English here in the Netherlands and plan on teaching here in public school. As far as I'm concerned, my two law degrees are not worth the paper they are printed on.

All three of us daily lament the decision to go to law school - the debt, the struggle, the endless reading (and I usually love to read), the boredom, the pressure, the stress, and at the end of the day only the very best students from the best schools get the breaks - the federal jobs, the law firm jobs, etc. The rest of the poor bastards try to make it on their own and it's not as easy as someone suggested above.

The three of us can remember, before starting law school, being warned away by law school graduates. WE thought those people simply didn't want new competition. Turns out, we should have listened to them. Don't do it!!! Or, at the very least, don't rush into it.

Good luck,

Emily

[Gopher]

[emilyann]

yeah, in madison...my favorite town in the US!!!

[Derrek]

Interesting topic.

My brother is taking the final day of the bar today. He's one of the top students at a very good private law school, and has a job lined up clerking for the state supreme court, for starters. He says he'll do that for a year and try to make some connections.

[Jake E. Lee]

I am scratching my head to hear that someone with emilyann's credential has not landed a legal job. I would still like to believe in gopher's accessment that jobs are out there - especially in California. My original question was about the level of difficulty of becoming a lawyer. I want to weigh the cost vs. benefit of giving up my present lifestyle (which allows me to save $2K every month) for a more rewarding profession (not just in monetary terms). After three years of teaching English to Korean adults, I have reached a near depletion of my patience and drive to continue. I am still under the impression that a J.D. degree and a license to practice law is a better career option than to continue in the ESL racket in Korea. It would be very distressing indeed if my present job paid more than some attorneys.

[Yaya]

On Emilyann's story, I still say that's not the norm but I have to agree that many lawyers are in debt and not making that much money.

And Jake, it sounds like you're more in search of a challenging job over ESL and if that is the case, don't go to law school. Many a law school dropout finds out the hard and REALLY EXPENSIVE way that they should've taken career assessment tests to find out what they enjoy instead of just jumping into something they would regret later.

I have a friend who got a full ride to law school and is now a claims adjustor at an insurance firm. According to him, a law degree is one of the most marketable degrees out there but like anything else, you need to bust your ass to get jobs.

Another interesting tidbit was shared by Marty Nemko, the author of Cool Careers for Dummies. He wrote that many lawyers are now doing paralegal work because of the glut of lawyers, and that many lawyers make just 40-50K a year as "glorified secretaries" who only change a few words here and there on contracts.

[Jake E. Lee]

Thanks yaya.