Oh, DON'T go to law school??

here are some ideas to explore: work for a union. work for the FBI or another large law enforcement agency. get into local politics. work as an internal investigator in a law enforcement agency or a correctional system. work as an investigator for a criminal defense organization like legal aid or the federal defenders. become a probation or pretrial services officer (or assistant) for the feds (i would say you might be annoyed or bored doing probation at the state or city level, if you're coming from a DA's office). become an investigative journalist. i am an attorney. i have no debt. still: don't go to law school. i am leaving law forever because i hate working at a desk all day every day. i get antsy even when i stand up at the desk! will be starting work with a federal probation office in three weeks in the realm of 60k entry level pay, where i have been promised fieldwork and interviewing lots of people and thinking on my feet, plus insanely good benefits, and opportunities for raises and advancement ...without having to do the hoop jumping and ass kissing and 90 hour weeks inherent to private law practice.

You honestly sound to me like a good candidate for not regretting law school. Positioning yourself so that you do not need to bill hours or litigate for the rest of your career might be something you want to do, and the two best ways I can think of doing this are to choose a law school that will leave you with as little debt as possible and choose a law school in the area where you think you might want to settle down. It will be a lot easier for you to network and find jobs offering a better quality of life if you go to school in the place where you ultimately want to live. In my view the prestige of a top school is overvalued if you don't want a clerkship, academic career, or Big Law job. So it makes little sense from my perspective for people to leave the place they want to live and take on huge amounts of debt, which makes it more likely that they will be forced into the treadmill of law firm life that people find so disagreeable. So, I disagree with advice that suggests you should only go to law school if you go to a top school. FWIW, I'm a lawyer who has worked a combination of private practice and public sector jobs, and I've never really hated any job I've had, and a few of the jobs I've had (including the one I have now) are downright awesome. I chose to go to a public university on partial scholarship rather than to a top tier school and the consequent lack of huge debt has allowed me more freedom to pursue jobs that I am likely to enjoy. The question of "well what else is there besides law school" is a daunting one for people who don't see themselves as having the skills/inclination for work in medical, scientific, or technical fields and who have always thought they'd want to go to law school but don't have any exposure or interest in other fields. There's always the Coast Guard, I guess.

"I have a good GPA (3.94) and a high LSAT score (173). " With these numbers you can not only get a free ride almost anywhere, but excellent state schools will give you grants on top of it to cover at least some of your living expenses. I don't regret the three years of time I spent going to law school, or the things I learned or the people I met; I regret the student loans.

My first thought was the same as a bunch of other responses above -- law school actually does seem like a good path for you. You've given it a lot of thought, you have experiences in legal settings, it seems like you understand what a legal career would be like for you. Also, the alternate career paths you said you might be interested in do not have good prospects for jobs or money, other than potentially marketing which you don't have a background in. So to help you decide, I'd do the following: (1) Calculate your return on investment. Figure out what salary you can realistically expect with the jobs you're targeting, figure out your law school investment/debt, see if it makes sense financially. (2) Look at your school's employment statistics. Do some googling and asking around to see if those statistics are believable. What do grads of that school typically do? What jobs would be realistic for you right out of school? (3) Talk to lawyers who are doing work you're interested in. Many are happy to have coffee and give advice. See if you can identify at least three different people who have jobs you'd like to have someday. (Source: Happy lawyer; have advised many people not to go to law school.)

You're very well positioned to get a full scholarship to a great school and you know what kind of law you want to practice. You're one of the few people who should actually go to law school. That said, you might consider social work.

You have good "stats" to get into a good school. If you can get into a top-tier law school, you should go. If you only get into fourth-tier, regional private schools; you're signing up for a lot of debt and worse job prospects, even if you finish in the top percentage of your class. It's a simple fact that a really good school with name-recognition opens more doors. It also shows that you've been through a rigorous winnowing process already. If it's always been in the plans to go to law school and you're still interested even after working for firms and on the periphery, you sound like you're cut out for it.

"If you only get into fourth-tier, regional private schools; you're signing up for a lot of debt and worse job prospects, even if you finish in the top percentage of your class." I'll temper this by saying you might only consider this track if you can get guaranteed scholarships from that school--that way you're getting the degree but not the debt load, which will make your job hunting so much less stressful and open you to something other than just whatever makes the most money.

Nthing the idea that you are the rare person to whom I would say, "Go!" After five years, you have a sense of what a legal career can look like and seem to want to actually be a lawyer. That said, consider what you want your career to look like, long-term: attending a top-ranked school will open the most doors while graduating with no debt will make you feel the least chained to a particular job. In my experience, those who offer blanket "don't go to law school!" advice are those who bought into the "you can do anything with a law degree!" myth and/or have a lot of debt and thus less career flexibility. Be thoughtful about where you go, for sure, but...Go! And good luck.

I'm a lawyer who graduated from a T6 school, has done big law, went back to get an MBA, worked in a bank, and am now going back to law again. I have advised many people not to go to law school. You would NOT be one of them, because: 1. You have years of experience working with lawyers, so you know what you're getting into, unlike most people who go to law school (including me). 2. Your stats will allow you to get into a top law school or a slightly lower ranked law school with no debt, making it actually a smart investment. That said, if you're feeling like you want more options after you graduate, look into JD/MBAs. This would significantly expand the careers you'd be qualified for, with not much more incremental cost/time.