Before going to law school, I realize that there must be quite a bit of soul searching done. Law school is an investment of three years (so clearly pointed out by a sister-in-Christ of mine as the prime of our dating years) as well as an investment of anywhere up to $150K. And that is not a small amount of change. Law school will require hours upon hours of studying textbooks in which every other word will more than likely be foreign to me. Law school will also subject me to the Socratic style of teaching, an altogether humbling experience. Lastly, law school will likely put such time constraints on me that having fellowship with brothers and sisters in Christ may be impossible. In addition, it does not get any easier after law school. One look at my bro and fellow core dude EC gives me a pretty good idea of what awaits me after law school. Seventy to eighty hour weeks stuck in an office, reviewing some contract or other or some bit of case law with hardly enough time to interact with friends (except for lunch with me since I'm in downtown, you gotta eat y'know). No walk in the park there. So why the heck would anyone, let alone me, want to go to law school??? Well, let's look at my reasons for going, shall we? The mere desire to go to law school is not nearly sufficient. However, if you look at my career, it makes sense. I'm currently a CPA with two years experience within a Big 5 firm and a year of exposure to the tax field. However, due to my experience (or lack of) and my age, I have been somewhat pigeonholed at my job. The tax department at PG&E is made up of really bright people (tax attorneys and tax accountants); all of them are older than me (yeah, I'm easily the baby in the department... it's not even close) and over 90% of them have advanced degrees. Despite this, however, my reputation in the department is really really positive because apparently, I do good work. But the type of work that I do is very narrow. I'm pretty much given only assignments in tax accounting and and tax compliance. Tax Research is off-limits to me because of my lack of knowledge and expertise. I know that certain people within the department are grooming me for eventual promotion but I feel that this void in my knowledge base is pretty detrimental to my eventual career advancement if I want to stay in tax. To address this void in my skills inventory, law school would be the next logical step in my career as I would be a pretty good tax attorney with not just an understanding of the overall theory behind the tax laws but also their financial underpinnings. Secondly, the timing for law school is right. If I am going to go to law school, now is the time to do it. Yes, I'm aware that I'm giving up my prime dating years (dating is far easier if you have a sustained income which I won't have anymore in law school) but this really is the last opportunity for me to gain knowledge. After these four or five years, I know that I won't be gaining knowledge, I'll be gaining wisdom. Thirdly, I know what it is like to have to work long hours. At Deloitte, I usually put in between 50 and 60 hours a week with the occasional 60 to 70 hour weeks thrown in. So I know how tough it is and how frustrating it can be sometimes and I'm prepared to have to go through it again (although I very much would prefer not to). Lastly, I'm pretty sure that this my calling. I have a tremendous passion for the law. It was evident when I took the CPA exam in business law ( I scored in the 90's) and it was evident when I took the LSAT (I scored in the 94th Percentile). I don't know why I like reading about contracts, principal-agency relationships, bankruptcy law. I just find it all fascinating. So, that's all I have to say on the subject. Now all I have to do is convince a few admissions directors...
