During law school, students learn concepts and principles that will help them prepare for their state’s bar examination.
Continuing education beyond college is a difficult decision for a lot of people. Getting an advanced degree can be just as expensive or even more expensive than an undergraduate degree. If you’re going to spend several more years in school, you need to be passionate about the field that you’re pursuing. You also need to be reasonably assured that the investment that you’re making in yourself is going to pay off. Getting a Juris Doctor is one of the best possible avenues to continue your education and enter a knowledge field. You can use this degree to begin a legal career in one of many potential fields. It can also give you the opportunity to do work that you find to be meaningful, gratifying, and lucrative.
Secure Your Financial Future
Graduates who are completing a bachelor’s degree are increasingly wary about the prospect of tacking new student loans onto the obligations that they have already accumulated. To some extent, however, concerns about the ability to manage undergraduate debt are a factor in why people choose to pursue a master’s or doctorate level credential. One advantage of being a full-time student is that it typically facilitates deferral or forbearance of some types of aid. Individuals who have an undergraduate degree that’s left them with a sizable amount of debt and a scarcity of job prospects shouldn’t be too brash about deferring valuable employment experience to stay in school and explore options. Instead, they need a fair degree of commitment and resolve about what they want to do.
A JD gives people a clear career path but also offers the possibility of many different practice areas. Median salaries for attorneys vary considerably based on individual practice areas, and getting employment at a top-tier firm is highly competitive. However, attorneys who find success in their field can manage the cost of their education confidently.
Do Good Work
The legal field can sometimes get unfair labels, and lousy lawyer jokes have plagued the profession for decades. In reality, many people who pursue a legal career use their degrees to help people in need or advance important causes.
here are more ways to commit yourself to public service than becoming a public defender or being part of a legal aid practice. Alternatively, you can work for a nonprofit organization, advance community development projects, and become an advocate for key public policy changes or criminal justice reform. You may also find it rewarding to work in the justice system as a clerk of courts or a magistrate.
Enhance Your Critical Thinking Skills
During law school, students learn concepts and principles that will help them prepare for their state’s bar examination. After three years of law school, this two-day examination is the final step to practicing law. However, most of the substantive legal concepts that people use in their day-to-day practice of law is not acquired during law school.
Rather than teaching you all of the law on the books, law school teaches you how to think like a lawyer. This type of analytical acuity dramatically changes the way that you interpret the world around you. You can approach problem-solving with a more adapted eye, resolve conflicts more efficiently, and express yourself more effectively. Law school also teaches you to be a better writer, so people who are interested in pursuing professional writing can find utility in a JD beyond legal practice.
Ultimately, law school is extremely challenging. The first year is the hardest, and many schools do not permit first-year students to work. In order to succeed both during and after law school, you’ll need to be prepared to fully commit yourself to your studies.
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