[blindlaw] Career Advice

[Michael Fry]

Ditto on Angie's comments from me, Joe.  In my humble opinion law school
goes an inch deep and a mile long.  Law school will teach you to be a jack
of many legal specialties but a master of none.  Law school alone will
almost certainly not make you more expert at your grant-writing specialty
without coupling that knowledge with hands on experience.  Based on my
experience (which is not much) it's my opinion that in the aggregate over
time there's a 51% chance (i.e. just barely more likely than not) that a law
degree will not pay off monetarily because you already have a strong skill
set that pays you well.
Mike


On Thu, Sep 24, 2009 at 5:21 PM, Angie Matney <angie.matney at gmail.com>wrote:

> Hi Joe,
>
> Hey,  corporate law? Boring? I resemble that remark! *smile*
>
> Given the job prospects for lawyers these days, and given that you are
> happy
> doing what you are doing, I'd consider taking the exam but not applying
> this
> year. Your score is good for five years, after all.
>
> Either way, congrats on dealing with LSAC!
>
> Angie
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of Joe Orozco
> Sent: Thursday, September 24, 2009 6:33 PM
> To: 'NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List'
> Subject: [blindlaw] Career Advice
>
> Hello all,
>
> So I got accepted for accommodations on the LSAT.  If I still drank I would
> have treated myself to a good stiff drink or three for overcoming the
> nonsense that is LSAC.  Now, I'm finally taking the exam in December and
> faced with the very real prospect of applying for law school, so why, after
> all this trouble, am I still on the fence?
>
> I'm currently the development director for a national organization.  On the
> side I've gotten so good at managing grant projects that I've started a
> little company doing freelance writing.  It's not going so great that I'm
> going to quit my day job, but considering I have a good base of customers
> before the website is even finished gives me hope that something will come
> of it.
>
> I think I'd like a law degree because I would like to enhance my skill set.
> I routinely work on state and federal grant proposals and forge national
> partnerships between large nonprofits.  I think a law degree would allow me
> the opportunity to negotiate contracts between businesses, adding another
> good facet to my little business operation, but do I need a law degree to
> excel in this arena?  I want a law degree to genuinely make me better, more
> competitive, but I do not want to dedicate four years to a part-time
> program
> and discover many thousands of dollars in tuition later that I went to law
> school just because it was the cool thing to do.  Sometimes my master's
> degree seems like enough, and then there are times I wonder if I'm not
> selling myself short because I did not jump for the extra hoop.
>
> Anyway, I would appreciate any concrete advice from practicing attorneys as
> to their own satisfaction with their legal education.  I like the prospect
> of being able to represent vulnerable populations if legal representation
> is
> out of reach.  I'd like to be able to occasionally help people with cases
> of
> discrimination and the like, especially with attorneys costing as much as
> they do, but at the end of the day I have to be honest in my feelings that
> if I went to law school it would be to better understand contracts and the
> laws that govern business transactions.  I suppose this is a timid way of
> saying I'm interested in corporate law, but gees, I should hope I have not
> become so boring since my early college days when I thought I wanted to
> defend criminals.  I'm taking the exam, because without it I have no
> choices, but ultimately I want to make sure I'm making a good decision.
>
> Thanks in advance for any and all input.
>
> Joe Orozco
>
> "A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the
> crowd."--Max Lucado
>
>
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