Why Should You Join A Law School?

The prime intent of this article is to assist potential law students to make a knowledgeable decision whether or not to seek admission to law school. Students pursue legal careers for diverse reasons. Some see the law as a vehicle for social change. Others view law school training as a prerequisite to careers in politics and government. A few choose the law for its intellectual stimulus. Too many pursue the law simply for the money.

This article will help potential students to make a choice, irrespective of whether they want to go through the rigors of law school for purely altruistic reasons or are looking for a fancy career with a big pay packet to take home.


Misconceptions about law school are abundant. Undoubtedly lawyers are the main source of the myth. High fees seem more justifiable if clients believe attorneys have acquired their wisdom only after rigorous study and grueling training. Moreover, the older the lawyer, the less reliable his horror stories about law school tend to be. Perhaps an "old-fashioned" legal education was a less humane process than modern law school training, but it is also true that many older lawyers suffer from the "Battle of the Bulge Syndrome": every time the story is told, the snow gets deeper, the wind gets colder, the Germans become more numerous, and the ammunition is less plentiful. In short, they tend to exaggerate. These stories about law school may be entertaining, but they should be taken with a grain of salt.

The media are another factor adding to the law school mythology. Films and novels such as "The Paper Chase" and "Love Story" have done much to evoke the aura of oppressive workloads, tyrannical professors, and impending neuroses. Discretion should be exercised in deciding whether to watch or read such material, particularly since it offers virtually no useful information about law school.

Those who succumb to the promotional efforts of the movie makers and booksellers should keep two facts in mind. First, the authors of those works have used a great deal of literary license in portraying the subject and hence they may not necessarily be portraying the truth, at least not the absolute truth.

Second, some encouragement can be drawn from the fact that the protagonist of the various fictional accounts always survives the law school obstacle course, picks up a few honors, and has a fairly rewarding social life as well. Any individual who faces law school with imagination and the right perspective will probably enjoy an equally happy ending to his or her own legal education.

Even though there are many misconceptions about law school, it would be inaccurate and erroneous to generalize the entire issue and say for example, that law school is not as hard and difficult as the world would like people to believe, it would perhaps simply be better for the student to know that it does require hard work and total commitment and instead of joining and fearing the worst and agonizing over the future, it would be better if they formed their impressions after they begin classes. There is no point in deciding to join the program and spend considerable time agonizing over their future even before the course has commenced.

Preconceptions about law school formed during this period can cause needless discomfort. Some students will have heard that they must study every waking hour. When they find time to go to a movie or a sporting event, they then believe that something must be wrong. Others, who expect to continue their college practice of "cramming" on the night before an exam, may become distraught when they realize that deadlines are approaching, with much work still undone. Law school is, to be sure, different from college—but that is not to say that it must be harder, or less fun, or more frustrating.

Furthermore, an open-minded approach to law school will help a student make needed changes in his work, study, and thinking habits. He must remember that the whole purpose of legal education," particularly in the first year, is to strip down his previous analytical patterns and install in their place a legal thinking process. The student who only grudgingly revises his perceptions and attitudes will be confused, for example, by cases that come to opposite results on apparently similar facts. He will not find law school rewarding until he gives up many of his fixed ideas and adjusts to the law's flexibility. A major lesson of the first year is that the law is not fixed, rigid, and unbending; rather it is a constantly changing framework that can be applied to all aspects of human conduct.

It would be rather naïve on part of the students to be very optimistic about the post graduate opportunities following law school. Don’t be misled by people who sugar coat the negatives about going to law school while at the same time over-accentuating the benefits. One should be realistic and understand that that there is tremendous competition among highly qualified people who are all looking for the same thing that you are.