Should You Send Your Kid To Law School? [Part 2]
Cliff Ennico
www.creators.com
Is a law degree the right way for a young person to pursue a career in the business world, or indeed anywhere else outside of the law?
The message in last week's column is that law school by and large is not a broadening experience. It is a narrowing one. It is not designed to make you a better person or expand your consciousness. It is designed to train you in the skills necessary to survive as a lawyer. People with law degrees who have succeeded in fields outside the law have mostly done so in spite of, not because of, their legal educations. If you read their biographies, you will find out that in most cases they had developed skills and contacts in fields other than law before they went to law school - skills and contacts they were able to exploit in pursuing other career options (in my case, I was a newspaper reporter between college and law school). In sum, you should not go to law school because "it opens so many doors". You should go to law school because you plan to become a lawyer someday.
What if you are intrigued by the law but want the flexibility to pursue other careers if you find that practicing law is not for you? My advice would be to sign up for a "joint program" where you would get both a law degree and a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) degree in four years. Most graduate schools offer this option.By getting a "JD/MBA", you broaden your options. You will not only be able to think like a lawyer, but you will also know something about accounting, marketing, finance and strategic planning - all essential business skills. You will be comfortable around numbers. You will qualify for a corporate or Wall Street career if you decide - either prior to graduation or two to three years into your career practicing law - that the law just isn't a "fit" for you. And, most importantly, your business clients will see you as something more than "just a lawyer" - they will see you as "one of them", always the first step to a healthy client relationship.
Better yet - don't go to graduate school at all right after college. Take a couple of years off. Backpack around the world. Volunteer for charitable work. Work at a job where you can see just how the business world operates. Do the sorts of things you can only do in your early 20's (without looking awfully foolish). Break a few hearts. Make a few mistakes. Above all, take the time to figure out what it is you were put on this Earth to accomplish. The high school and college "grind" doesn't give you much time to think about that.
I know far too many successful lawyers who are miserable because they now realize - too late - that they should have done something different with their lives. As one of them put it to me recently, "I've spent the past 20 years climbing to the top of the career success ladder, only to discover it's propped up against the wrong building". I know it's hard to feel sorry for someone making almost $1 million a year, but a wasted life cannot be compensated for in dollars alone.
There are two types of unhappy middle-aged people. There are unhappy people who did a lot of wild, crazy things in their youth and are sad because they can no longer do them (such people are prone to the so-called "midlife crisis" or "male menopause").
But far sadder in my opinion are those who never did any wild, crazy things in their youth and are sad because now they can afford to do them but no longer can. Here is some advice I heard not so long ago from the founder of one the country's leading franchises:
in your 20's, do everything;
in your 30's, figure out what it is you do best;
in your 40's, make lots of money doing what you do best;
in your 50's, retire and play golf.
There's always time for law school if you decide you really want it - I have friends who are attending law school in their 40s and 50s. Take the time and do the things you'll never have time for later in life. Your parents probably won't like it, and they may have to bail you out financially once or twice, but any kid who hasn't given his parents at least a few grey hairs is a kid who's probably not going to make much of a "splash" in life anyway. Such kids, in fact, have a depressing tendency to become lawyers.
Cliff Ennico (
cennico@legalcareer.com
) is a syndicated columnist, author and host of the PBS television series 'Money Hunt'. His latest book is 'Small Business Survival Guide' (Adams Media, $12.95). This column is no substitute for legal, tax or financial advice, which can be furnished only by a qualified professional licensed in your state. To find out more about Cliff Ennico and other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit our Web page at
www.creators.com
. COPYRIGHT 2006 CLIFFORD R. ENNICO. DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC. Permission granted for use on DrLaura.com.
