Maybe, if you are passionate about the type of law you can practice at big firms (hint: it doesn't involve a lot of time defending the downtrodden), and you don't mind working long, punishing 14- or 16-hour days as a routine matter. This description actually fits some people, so if you're one of them, have at it.
But do you want to have work that contributes to the public good consistently? Or friends? Hobbies? A pet? Or, God forbid, a spouse and children whom you actually see from time to time? If so, this probably isn't the right path for you.
Here's the other thing about law school. Like Ph.D. programs, law schools are intense socializing experiences, and you should consider the possibility that law school -- particularly a top tier law school -- will change you in some ways you won't like. In my experience, about 75 percent of students enter top law schools saying they plan to pursue public interest careers, and about 75 percent graduate from law school planning to pursue law firm careers. Maybe most of them lied about their ambitions on their admissions essays -- some of them surely did -- but I don't think that's the primary explanation for the shift. Law school changes people.
That's partly a function of that fabled process, "learning to think like a lawyer." But it's also a function of the way most law schools are structured, and the career services they offer. Law schools depend on wealthy alumni to make donations, and those wealthy alumni tend to come from big firms -- which means, you guessed it, that buildings, classrooms, and programs are a lot more apt to be named for big firms and big-firm lawyers than for public defenders. The big firms also have the money to invest in elaborate recruiting programs: They have well-funded summer associate programs, and can afford to send a team of recruiters to participate in on-campus interview programs and host cocktail parties for interested students.
There's a clear and well-trodden path from good law schools to jobs in big firms, and the career advising offices at most such law schools excel in guiding students through the process of getting law firm jobs. Meanwhile, the public defender's office of Southern Kentucky may have the funds to hire only one new lawyer every few years, and they certainly can't afford to send recruiters out to dozens of law schools. The same is true of small, local five-person firms, and of human rights NGOs, and even many federal government employers. Consequently, these jobs (which are also, of course, far less lucrative) are very hard to find: They take initiative and legwork. You may have to finance your own summer internships; you may have to finance your own trips to job interviews. Little wonder that so many graduates of top law schools end up going into firms.
Unless you are one of those rare individuals with the strength of character to avoid following the path of least resistance, you're likely to find yourself, a few years from now, doing something you never much wanted to do, and feeling pretty rotten about it. You'll enter law school full of high ideals: You're going to use law to defend the wrongly accused on death row, or become an advocate for the human rights of oppressed indigenous peoples in China. But odds are high that you'll come out of law school planning to work for Dewey, Cheatham & Howe -- or maybe for Status, Quo & Annual Bonus. "Just for a while," you'll tell yourself. "Just to pay some debts. Just to see if I like it." But eight years later, you'll have a mortgage on a big house, a fancy car, a nanny, and two kids in expensive private schools. You'll have trapped yourself nicely, and you'll be pouring out your sorrows to someone doing a survey on career satisfaction among law firm associates.
I promised some good news at the end. So here's the good news: if you're smart, tough, persistent and a little bit lucky, you can enjoy law school and end up in a meaningful, interesting, reasonably well-compensated job. You don't have to work for Big Law. In fact, you don't even have to be a lawyer at all if you don't want to -- and many law school graduates don't.
Here's what's good about law school. The classes at any decent law school will push you to sharpen your mind: to think rigorously and logically, and express yourself cogently and succinctly. These skills are less common than you might think, and skeptical as I am about law schools and the legal profession, law school does help develop them. At any decent law school, you'll also be pushed to get behind the "rules" and think about how rules are made, how they operate, what social and economic assumptions they reflect, and what behaviors they drive. At any reasonably good law school, you can -- if you're motivated enough -- find faculty and alumni with experience in a diverse range of fields, from criminal law to cyberlaw, and from defense policy to environmental policy.
And some legal jobs do make lawyers happy. Studies suggest that lawyers in government and public interest jobs are, by and large, a pretty contented lot: They make less money, but their work is interesting and meaningful, and their hours generally far less brutal than those in private firms. The small fraction of law school graduates who go into teaching are happier still. (And why not? You have job security, a more than adequate salary, and the great luxury of teaching what you want, writing what you want, and spending your days interacting with bright, curious young people.)
And here's the best news of all: Going to law school doesn't mean you have to become a lawyer. Plenty of non-legal employers also value the skills bright law school graduates bring to the table. If you're interested in foreign policy or national security-related careers, for instance, there are plenty of opportunities outside the State Department Legal Advisor's Office or the DOD General Counsel. When I worked in the Pentagon's policy shop, several of the most impressive action officers I met were young law school graduates (who seemed to regard their avoidance of legal practice as a narrow escape). A J.D. isn't needed for those jobs -- but it sure doesn't hurt. And among the Georgetown Law alumni I know, there are foreign service officers, television journalists, entrepreneurs, CIA analysts, management consultants, human rights advocates, and congressional staffers. These alumni are among the happiest law school graduates I know.
Bottom line? If you want to go to law school, go -- but only if you get into a good law school, expect to be a strong student, have a rational plan for paying all those bills, and consider yourself persistent and tough-minded enough to refrain from tripping down the path of least resistance.
Good luck!
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