Hindsight is 20/20

Looking back, it is amazing to me that I never talked to any lawyers before I made my big decision to go to law school. It would have been nice to know more about how litigation worked – I was surprised at how all-consuming it can be. I thought about my cases and clients all the time.”

From working as a paralegal for four years before I went to law school, I knew civil practice was competitive and time-consuming. I had a billable-hour requirement and I knew that a lot of the people I worked for weren’t people I wanted to be friends with. Basically, I learned what sort of environment I didn’t want to work in, which was invaluable.”

“I took the LSAT and applied to law school just to have it as an option, but then I got into what I considered to be an awesome law school and thought it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. My one regret is that I didn’t talk to a practicing lawyer before I made my decision.”

Law was a second career, after I worked as a non-lawyer professional in a law firm. That experience was so helpful in getting a job and knowing what I was getting into when I got it.”

I didn’t spend much time thinking about whether I could enjoy reading things like cases and statues for hours on end. I should have taken a week and gone down to the local law library to read random cases in the endless stack of books. Then I would have had a clue.”

I went to law school without any plans to practice law. If I could do it again, I’d assess whether and how having a law degree would likely benefit me in a non-legal profession.”

I should have taken more time off before law school. I only took off one year. I wish I had spent a couple of years working in different fields to get some varied experiences.”

I entered law school thinking I wanted to do criminal defense, but once the on-campus interview process got going, I went with the flow, dropped some resumes with a bunch of firms because I didn’t know what else to do, and before I knew it, I was a corporate lawyer. I didn’t know that the firms that interview at school only represent a small slice of the legal work being done out there.”

The biggest obstacles to leaving law were my parents, who paid for school, and my grandma who kept asking why I was giving up. Then I remembered that it was my life.”

I decided to leave legal practice after getting involved in recruiting for my firm and feeling a passion for it. But it took a while to convince myself that I didn’t have to practice, even though I had the degree and a lot of debt. Now I love what I do and wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

I’ve enjoyed aspects of practicing, and intensely disliked other aspects in my previous incarnations. Only now, as an owner/partner of my own firm am I fully happy being a lawyer.”