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Don’t Go To Law School: The Army of the Middle Class

Wednesday, June 10th, 2009

Great post on The Stimulist about why you shouldn’t go to law school.

I have a law degree. It’s the one thing I keep in my closet. There is really only one main good reason to go to law school and that’s because you really really want to be a lawyer. Those people do exist. But the only way I think you’ll know if you are one is to work with real lawyers first. it’s very much a question of temperment. And that’s something fancy schools generally don’t teach you about. You can only find out, like you say, on your own. And law school is consuming. And it does reward fearful thinking. And the very process of being there can make it harder to know yourself if you’re giving every waking minute to memorizing the 8 part Lemon Test.

Law school is the army of the middle class. It’s where people go who don’t know where else to go. And it saddles us with a different kind of injury or disability than a war, without having served anyone or anything but our fears.

“Aw but you must find that degree really useful?” I get asked all the time. Well, I did start stand-up in law school. And I’m making a show in which I teach all of law school in 70 minutes.

Here’s the cartoon I drew to get me through the experience.

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