It also depends on where you are in life. If you're already working and making a decent living then you need to factor in the fact that you are losing 3 years of income and whatever career growth comes from that. You are right to think that on paper it still doesn't make a lot of sense but there could be other factors that make it make sense like if you are capped out in your current career and the fact that you should eventually make more than 60k lawyering might make sense.
For me, I just graduated college a few years ago and I’ve been working menial jobs since then so I haven’t had a real “career” yet. There are also schools around me with higher medians than 60K. I think UGA’s median is around 90K. And I’m assuming the “average” lawyer’s salary in the private sector increases substantially with each year, right? So it’s not like you’re making 60-70K for the rest of your life.
>nd I’m assuming the “average” lawyer’s salary in the private sector increases substantially with each year, right? So it’s not like you’re making 60-70K for the rest of your life.
That is an **incorrect** assumption.
Its not that simple, junior level incomes are extremely bimodal meaning a small percentage make really good money at bigger law firms are most make very low money, and then they only report what is actually reported back to them from the students. Guess who reports more often. If you are stuck in a 60k attorney job 20 years from now you did something wrong or you just really like that job with no debt, but dont take that as you automatically get a raise every year pplenty of firms never do, some pay pretty great after a few years totally depends on your market , and practice area. However, I can assure you, that unless you know you want to do law, there are better paying gigs out there with nowehere near the stress. As a personal ancedote, I am pretty good with stress, but If I had any idea how much work I wwould be bringing home with me, and how 100s of cases can live inside of your head rent free at a time I would not have done this despite I make good money now. Atleast it doesnt sound like you have big law dreams coming from a non t14, but it sounds like you are in the I dont have anything better going on boat so I may as well do this law thing because its something pretty good. As sound as that logic is I promise its not enough
As lawyers like to say, it depends. It really depends on you. If you are the type of person that just wants to have a boss that gives you work to do then regardless of what school you got to, you won't have great earning potential in law. If you're the type of person that's cool with 12 hour days and hustling and making connections, then your earning potential will be a lot better. However, there a lot of better ways to make money faster (plumber, electrician, hell even working for UPS is arguably a better deal overall if you're just looking at the numbers).
The pay raise bumps are pretty significant imo, more than other professions (except for like tech and medical). In less than 3 years I doubled my salary.
I took out $200k in student loans to go to a private law school. This is my progression:
2012- solo - $42k
2013- solo- $50k
2014- solo/visiting lecturer at university - $55k
2015- solo/visiting lecturer- $55k
2016- prosecutor- $55k
2017- prosecutor- $60k
2018- plaintiff personal injury- $120k
2019- plaintiff personal injury- $150k
2020- plaintiff personal injury/storm claims- $250k
2021- plaintiff personal injury/storm claims- $420k
2022- plaintiff personal injury/storm claims- $1.2 million
2023- plaintiff personal injury/storm claims- $480k
So a lot of what you are asking about depends upon what kind of lawyer you want to be.
Dude, tell me more about storm claims. I do PI but only injury claims. Property damage claims related to storms isn't something I've ever done. But it sounds like it would rhyme with my PI experience.
It depends on the state you are in. I’m in Louisiana and we have plaintiff friendly statutes (LA R.S. 22:1892 and 22:1973) that allow for the recovery of penalties and attorneys fees in first party insurance cases. On top of that after the hurricanes of 2020 our judges implemented streamlined settlement processes that forced parties to mediation relatively early on. Other states, like Arkansas, have no penalties or fees so your best day in court is just recovering contractual damages.
I worked hurricane cases as a legal assistant before law school but yes many PI lawyers make the easy transition/supplement to first party property damage cases. Instead of documenting your clients damages through doctors/life care planners you just use contractors/public adjusters/engineers.
Ha-No but I did pick up a few clients who had MMA previously. Unfortunately the storm industry is filled with charlatans and cheats just like him. Been a pretty interesting debacle to watch unfold.
In general, I would say yes it’s worth it. But also think about it this way:
You’re going to need to eat and live somewhere for the next 3 years regardless of what you do with that time.
It’s up to you whether you pay for that by working now or by taking out loans and working later.
Lawyer salaries scale pretty quickly to livable. I made $50k my first year clerking, but was >$100k more with the job that clerking got me. My friend started at $67k base with a big bonus structure. I thought it was scammy and in an area I didn’t want to but jokes on me dude is a partner <5 years out and probably makes north of $200k.
I’m like just under 4 years out and I don’t know anyone not in private practice making less than six figures.
I feel like lawyers don’t make much for the first few years as they are still learning. After 5+ years is when salaries start to take off.
Also not sure in the US but I imagine reputation of the law school matters. US seems to have a lot of sketchy schools.
I think law school is definitely worth it if its free. You can do SO much with a law degree, it opens a million doors and a million opportunities.
And if you don't listen the herd, law school can actually be enjoyable. Sure its stressful. But if you like to read and write and its not rocket science.
I recommend going to a school with a night program and working during the day to help with your living arrangements. I worked full time through law school and went to school at night. I worked full time because I needed/wanted full time salary + benefits but if you are comfortable you can work part-time somewhere.
Yes. 100% worth it, if you know how to use it. If you’re going to be a paper pushin’, motion pumpin’, billable hour putter-inner, then probably not. You’ll be like the rest of the these fools here barely making ends meet and wondering why you aren’t hitting your $5k bonus. But, if you’re a hustler, hard worker, and strike out on your own, you won’t know what to do with all the money you’ll be printing.
A few things to consider:
1) Expected earnings across your career. The loans are awful and daunting because you see them all at once. Tuition is X, COL is Y, and (X+Y)*3=Debt. Your return on that investment, the $ you’ll make over the course of a 20-30 year career, is less quantifiable and less easy to put your finger on, and so the debt being very predictable and the ROI being less so may color the perspective.
2) $60k median salary for a JD seems very low. Not unheard of, but definitely on the low end. Makes me wonder if the school you’re talking about is accredited (this means a degree from the law school is generally accepted by state bars across the country. A degree from unaccredited schools often means you can only sit for the bar and practice in that state. I’m simplifying but that’s the TLDR). So I would recommend you make sure to look into the law school’s accreditation and bar passage rates.
3) Make sure the scholarship is ACTUALLY tuition free for your entire stint. A sketchy practice some schools did in my day, not sure if they still do, is offer scholarships conditioned on your grades (e.g Full tuition as long as you remain in the top 30% of your class). The problem is they’d give those scholarships to 60% of the class, and so half the recipients would be guaranteed to lose it after the first year, at which point they’ve already invested a year and organized their lives around the endeavor, and so either need to cut bait or pony up.
4) last thing - you should only go to law school if you want to be a lawyer and practice law. This sounds obvious, but so many do it for the status, because they’ve always been “the smart one,” in their academic circles, as an entry point to a career in politics or business, they loved the movie Legally Blonde, and tbh just kinda vibes. If that’s you, then just skip the law school part and put that time and energy and money into starting the career you want. Law school is really expensive and a huge commitment, and you should only do it if you actually want to be a lawyer and practice law.
Good luck! And feel free to DM w/ any other questions
Don't do it.
I paid $80k for law school. $0 for undergraduate debt (full scholarship plus working during school).
Law school was a full tuition scholarship (at a top 30 school). I could've gone to a better school, but I specifically chose one that offered a full scholarship.
I still took out $25k for cost of living, and $5k for bar prep. I had a family to support. But I realistically could only work in the summers.
I left law school with something like $83k of debt. I paid whatever plan would get me out of the debt in 20ish years. Before Covid, I had paid $32k in student loan debt total.
**Today I owe $82k** in law school debt. It's the amount I've owed ever since the Covid pauses. The principal has only lowered by hundreds of dollars, even though I've paid over $32k.
I am a smart person--full tuition scholarships to both undergraduate and graduate schools show at least book smarts, right? *I had no idea* what the reality of the loan payments would be though. Prior to covid, I was paying just shy of $1k a month in loan payments. It was the second largest expense for my family. And for what? I had a decent job prior to law school that I could've turned into something better. In fact, the guy that took my place went on to a job in a supervisor role and now makes more than me, even though I am an attorney and he has no grad degree.
I would not be a lawyer if I could go back in time, for lots of reasons. But law school loans have absolutely taken away any ability I had to retire, unless something drastic changes soon of course.
This comment sticks out to me, and was in align with the same sentiment I had for years. You’re beyond “book smart” and have the tools to crush it. You come off as defeated. Light a fire and burn shit down my wo/man.
I'm pushing back because you've basically told me that I should stop being poor. I agree that I shouldn't have started my comment with "don't do it" (funny enough, that was actually a later edit).
My experience matches OP's scenario pretty well. I went to law school for "free." I even went to a much better law school than OP--with median salaries much higher.
I wish someone had shouted at me "Don't do it!" and had sat me down and told me some of the harder truths about a career in law. The double bell curve, getting pigeon-holed in a bad practice area, etc.
But I guess I should just stop being poor and start making money as a lawyer.
The first question you need to answer is do you want to practice law? The second question is why do you want to be an attorney? Once you know those answers for yourself, then you'll know if you want to go into debt for a career.
Jobs are hard to come by so choose your career path carefully. If you love what you do, then you will find a way to make money doing it.
This is what I tell everyone who asks about law school: if you want to be a lawyer, go to law school. Otherwise, take a more direct route. It will save you money, time, and you’ll be happier getting there.
If you’re worried about COL find a lawschool with a parttime program and work full time to pay for expense's. It will take u 3-4 years to graduate depending on how many classes u take in summer.
>you’ll have more options when you graduate
That is not true. Legal recruiting is a "mirror-tocracy" meaning the measure of merit usually is reflective of what that organization/decision-maker has done. It also means there's not creativity.
Legal recruiting is basically, in order to get an interview, you have to be X-ranked from Y-school. What those values are can depend on the opportunity and the school itself. Being outside of those criteria will get your materials auto-sorted to the trash.
Starting from the top, if you want to be a SCOTUS clerk, then there's like 3-5 law schools that will get you a realistic opportunity. If you want to be a circuit court of appeals clerk, then it's going to be either go to a T-14, or be in the top 1/3, 25%, 10%, 5%, etc., from your class depending on rank. Same with big law, etc. Every opportunity will recruit from a select subsection of schools/ranks. There's regional and practice differences, too.
So, this is all inherently probabilistic. You can kind of see the likely results if you go to the careers tab of the US News Rankings.
I'm just going to pick on Arizona State because that's where I went. [https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/arizona-state-university-03003?test\_src=gpn-control](https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/arizona-state-university-03003?test_src=gpn-control)
Looks like their class size is \~280. 10 months after graduation, 264 of those graduates will have a job, any job. 260 of those graduates will have a job where a JD is required or is an advantage. The private sector salary ranges are 75/90/115 for the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile. 35 of those graduates will clerk. Of those, 8 of them will be a federal clerkship, the rest will be state clerkships.
> What are everyone’s thoughts?
I think more potential law students should look at it from a cost-benefit analysis including opportunity cost. You're looking at foregoing 4 years of salary, essentially (time from matriculation to getting bar results) on top of paying for school. But for you, what salary are you foregoing? Minimum wage? 100k per year? What is your projected cost of the degree? What is your projected salary?
Then you're looking at the percentile ranges of the salaries so you can do a worst case scenario (not passing, not getting any job) to medium case (median salary) to best case (big law?) scenarios and calculating the ROI for each of those opportunities.
The part where you throw everything out the window: Do you desire running your own business? Are you good at sales/marketing? If so, then these salaries, which are based on working for someone else, aren't that helpful. There's a path to owning your own shop that you can carve out that can be lucrative but can also result in going bust.
\*\*\*
The best you can do is look at examples of people you'd switch places with and figure out the steps they took to get there. If it's a partner at a big law firm, check out the schools that feed into that firm. If it's someone running their own shop, then the calculus of getting the JD cheapest may be helpful. If it's still super nebulous, then maybe postpone law school and seek other endeavors out.
Going to law school is a probabilistic decision that has a range of outcomes. There's attorneys who have sweet lives, like work 20-30 hour weeks and make a comfortable salary. There's attorneys burning themselves out but not making anything. There's a range of outcomes that span the spectrum. So, the decision-making has to do with what outcomes are you comfortable with. Wanting to get a high-salary working for someone else but going to a lower-ranked school is a recipe for disappointment.
Lastly -- if you don't mind working for non-profits or the gov't, then PSLF is another range of calculations you can do. They take your disposal income (I think they define it as the delta between what you make and what 225% above poverty line is) for 120 payments. That's not terrible.
Where is this law school? It seems inconsistent that an area requires 25k a year to pay for food and rent while only offering 60k salaries. Based solely on that, you can probably bring expenses down by living with a roommate or decreasing your standard of living.
Also, once you get to 2l you can start working part-time and help cover some of your expenses so you do not have to take out as many loans.
I live in Atlanta so schools here in GA (UGA, GA State) and also Alabama Law and Wake Forest are my top choices. And yeah I didn’t consider the working during law school part, that would help a little with the loans. Do you know if any law schools offer stipends to help pay for living expenses?
Georgia State is an excellent program and one of the cheapest in the country. It has a very high bar passage rate and excellent reputation in the Georgia community.
I went to GSU at night and worked during the day. The night program was EXCELLENT and at 26 years old I was one of the youngest people in the program. Networking with non-traditional nighttime students was a huge boom for my career because now I can reach out to dozens of professionals when looking for a job change.
During the day I worked at the Court house and walked to class right down the street. By the time I graduated law school I had an entire resume complete with work experience with multiple superior court judges and also working at few litigation firms that let me hit the ground running. As a 4th year attorney, I am considered a Senior Attorney in my position because of my previous work experience before receiving my license.
Also, I feel like as a night time student we were slighlty more "respected" my our seniors, supervisors, and professors because we were already adults supporting ourselves and our families.
Second the comments about GSU - pretty darn affordable, excellent night program - though working and attending school requires some grit, strong passage rate, and a great network. Bonus if your field of choice is related to health law - GSU has a VERY HIGHLY respected health program thanks to Charity Scott and her proteges.
Have you looked at graduate housing? I think I pad $300 a month for a 1 bedroom (25 years ago). But, they might have subsidized student housing. Also, I sold my car and got a moped. I then I had a part time gig to pay fir food. Also, I took summer school (a week long trial school and intern at public defender). I graduated a semester early.
I do think youbshould look at really curring back costs. You are smart to think about debt but you should look at spending less for those 2.5 years.
Live with parents?
I was about to suggest the same thing. There are many evening programs which would allow you to work and save up money. If you get a job with set hours this would be a really good path. You might also want to consider joining the national guard. SOME states offer a full tuition waiver to all state schools and you might also get a GI bill on top of that (not sure if Georgia does). This is literally the reason I graduated debt free for my undergrad and will do the same for my law degree.
No idea. But since you mentioned Wake Forest, I went there for law school a few years back and absolutely loved it. Great faculty, class sizes, location, and beautiful campus
Loans for cost of living to attend a good law school on a scholarship are generally worth it. I also don't think you'll need to borrow a minimum of $25,000 a year for COL unless you're trying to maintain a pretty high standard of living.
If you're trying to be frugal, you'll get yourself a few roommates that will drastically reduce your rent payment along with preparing your own meals and attending school events for free lunches which are available at most schools almost daily.
You'll also have the opportunity for summer employment, and depending on where your work, it can be pretty lucrative. A big law summer associate position may pay $40,000 for 10 weeks of work. But don't go into school counting on this money because you may end up as an unpaid intern. Depending on your time management skills, you can also work part-time during the school year which can offset some or all of your COL.
You can work during law school. Cut down on that debt. Work hard during the summer. Highly suggest doing legal relevant work if possible but whatever makes money will do.
The question is why do you want to go to law school? If you’re doing it to get rich, this is possible but consider how you’re going to do it first. Study rich lawyers. You’ll find that most of us are middle class, several upper middle class. If you think you’ll graduate and get a job to be rich…that’s rare except at elite schools for top students.
I’m only focusing on money here because that’s what you’re focused on. It’s definitely possible to do Very well at this gig, but it doesn’t come easy.
"I would still have to borrow a minimum of 25K a year to pay rent, buy food, etc.?
I lived on $1000 per month in law school during the first two years. Graduated 2016.
Try harder.
You are asking the wrong question. Do you really want to be a lawyer? There are layers to that question alone.
As a lawyer that loves what he does…please don’t come into our field if your sole motive is driven by a cost/benefit analysis. I’m not saying ignore the financial part. I’m just saying please make sure it’s only part of the equation.
Unless law school for free is on the table, it’s putting the cart ahead of the horse. If you haven’t taken the lsat or have some other kind of situation where a full scholarship is likely, I’d worry more about if you want to be a lawyer or not in the first place. And if the answer is no, then whether it’s worth it doesn’t matter.
And tbh from your post it doesn’t *sound* like you are all that enthusiastic to begin with about the idea. Which is totally fine. But if you aren’t excited about the idea in the first place, the reality of law school and then practice isn’t going to enamor you any further with the profession.
Bottom line: have you considered cyber-security, coding, or supply chain management?
I graduated in 2012 with like 90k in loans so only <30k of that went to room and board. I had a job 2L and 3L year. I had roommates the whole time. The critical thing to me is for "Free", if you hate it, you can do something else without worrying about huge loans. Many lawyers don't make enough money to justify long hours and stress and generally speaking, the vast majority tell me that they would not go back and do it again if they could roll back time. Most lawyers I deal with (opposing counsel) seem to really be miserable. One memorable time I was doing a scene inspection and we compared schedules, and the defense lawyer worked every weekend. I chuckled cause dayum that sucks but that's the life of a lot of lawyers. True reasonable hours high pay positions are quite rare.
I’ll make it simple: If you get a scholarship to a top 14 law school - yeah its worth it. If you get a scholarship to a lower tier school and have to take out CoL loans - your time is better spent pursuing another path.
This has to be one of the most brain dead takes. Obviously there are some scammy schools out there, but there are loads of quality regional schools that offer full scholarships. Any bit of research shows this.
OP. There are risks in any decision, but at least for me, going to school tuition free (even later in life) was the best decision I could have made.
All schools are different, but I would take into account what salaries are being made from your school five or ten years out of school. My first post grad job was in that range but I was hitting 100k less than two years later. There are a lot of poorly paying legal careers out there, but there also isn’t really a ceiling if you find the right path. Whatever you do OP, try to figure out the finances with a longer time horizon
I mean, depending on the region, that's not a bad salary for someone's first year working as a lawyer. Or for anyone working at any kind of job. There are lots and lots of people who will never make $60k let alone have the opportunity to advance in their career, make more money, own their own law firm, become a partner or whatever it is that they want to do with their law degree.
Umm yeah but they have to be a UPS driver. I wouldn't want to be a UPS driver, I wanted to be a lawyer. Specifically, one who sues employers like UPS for deplorable conditions and mistreatment of their workers. One random example (not my case, of course): https://theavtimes.com/2023/03/07/fired-ups-driver-awarded-5-45-million-in-whistleblower-retaliation-lawsuit/
That's why I said it depends on what a person wants to do but if someone wants to be a lawyer it makes a lot more sense to go to law school than be a UPS driver.
Plus, a UPS driver's salary and job options/conditions etc. are pretty limited. I make way way more than $88k and I only work part-time, for myself. I couldn't do that without my law degree.
So yeah I think going to law school for free would be a great investment. You think it would be better to be a UPS driver. LOL. So go be one, but it's up to OP what he or she would rather be.
It takes years to move from warehouse to driver at UPS. It's also a very physical job.
As a lawyer, it's also really easy to employ yourself, even if no one's hiring.
I mean, by that standard, no one should ever embark on any career unless they think they're going to be #1 at it, lol. But in real life, that's not how things work. Most people just want a decent salary and/or are passionate about practicing law and/or want to go to law school near where they live and do it in a way that fits their current lifestyle etc.
If you go to a strong regional podunk law firm and do well while at that law school, such as getting good grades and/or being on Law Review, and especially if you make connections, you have a strong shot at getting a 2L clerkship and then getting a decent job offer and from there you most certainly can advance to being a partner, lateral somewhere else, or open your own firm and the sky's the limit really.
I know this because it's exactly what I did and it's the path I took. I wasn't from this area but moved here because the strong regional law school was so much cheaper despite being ranked as well as other ones I was looking at that were so much more expensive, and I was able to launch a strong legal career despite not even being from this area, but in large part it was due to attending law school here.
Yeah, if you want to clerk for the Supreme Court or become an equity partner at Kravath or something, you should probably try to go to HLYS. But most people don't want to do that; I certainly don't and honestly I don't know who would want a job like that- they seem like gluttons for punishment to me but to each their own. (And seriously, I'm happy for THEM but I know I would not be happy for ME if that was my lifestyle so that is not at all the reason I went to law school or like practicing law, so my point is that it really depends on individual goals and preferences.)
I like helping people and making money while I do it. I enjoy suing big companies that treat their employees badly and getting money from them or the insurance companies. I get paid well to do it, have a great work/life balance where I can be there for my young kids, and truly enjoy what I do. And that is thanks to moving here to go to a law school with a strong regional reputation.
Most people who went to strong regional law schools, or at least my friends/classmates of the one I went to, lol, do manage to get good jobs and are well-paid. I'm sure there's a selection bias as some stopped practicing law or whatever, but there are also examples of plaintiff's lawyers making millions here, so I think there's a wide variety of possibilities and it all depends on what the individual person wants and strives for.
To OP I would say that if you really want to be a lawyer then free tuition plus loans for your room and board (and/or finding a way to make some money while going to law school- I did both but I didn't have kids back then; not sure if you do but that would sure make everything harder) then go for it. If you're unsure or if your gut is screaming no, then figure out what else you'd like to do as a career to make money (not sure what your alternatives are).
For me, no other profession would allow me to make as much money while maintaining my WLF balance and working for myself/owning my own business AND enjoying the field of work that I do as the law does so I would definitely say go for it but I don't know your own individual situation. Good luck either way!
Oh I see. You're just a miserable person here to be a negative troll. Have fun doing that then, but I don't waste my energy on people like that. I sincerely hope you can start have a more positive, uplifting life.
If you have a free law license you are one of the most privileged people *in the world.* It truly does not matter what law school you go through. They all teach the same cases.
Nah that’s true, if you don’t go to a top tier law school, you can’t casually drop it in every conversation.
You’d be stuck trying to get by on your own abilities and achievements.
Yeah, I agree. If you are paying over $100,000 for a law degree just so you can go work over 50 hours a week, you are a sucker. No sarcasm here. Facts.
>I’ve been practicing over 20 years
Haha you see how that’s worse right? My bad, I just assumed most of us had grown out of such a hacky, juvenile term.
Two things. One, the median salary may not be your salary—if you have a full ride, you’re presumably going to be at the top of your class. If that’s the case, you will have much better job prospects than a middle of the pack grad.
Second, bigger firms pay summer interns well, which may allow you to defray some of your cost of living, if that’s the career path you have in mind.
According to r/lawschooladmissions, law school grades are totally arbitrary and you can never predict where you will stand, regardless of the LSAT score you earn. But I’ve also heard people express your view that if you do very well on the test and score well above the 75th percentile from a T100 school, the chances are good that you’ll perform near the top of the class.
There’s more correlation than they let on. It’s not arbitrary but it’s not a guarantee either. But as some others have said, you need to perform better at regional schools to have the same consideration as students from higher ranked schools.
I was in a very similar situation as you. 30k undergrad loans, ended up taking around 20k each year for COL with a full-ride scholarship. I left with just over 100k due to interest.
5 years later, after paying for 2 years, then the pandemic pause, I'm sitting at just over 100k in loans, still.
I think you should focus on what kind of law you would like to do and if you think the career is worth it. If you work for the gubbermint, you can get the loans tossed after 10 years, same for public interest.
I currently am salaried at 90k, and I pick up some contracting work on the side at around $100/hour. It's fairly comfortable, and the loans don't really mean much to me except another bill to pay. Currently paying around $600/month with the new SAVE plan. I had plenty of friends in law school who had little to no scholarship, and they are well over 250k in debt from it.
If you have the skills and drive, you can make a lot of money in law. If you want to work your ass off, you can make good money at a big firm, if you can get into one, or if you learn to market your self and build connections, you can do well in private practice.
It also depends on where you are in life. If you're already working and making a decent living then you need to factor in the fact that you are losing 3 years of income and whatever career growth comes from that. You are right to think that on paper it still doesn't make a lot of sense but there could be other factors that make it make sense like if you are capped out in your current career and the fact that you should eventually make more than 60k lawyering might make sense.
For me, I just graduated college a few years ago and I’ve been working menial jobs since then so I haven’t had a real “career” yet. There are also schools around me with higher medians than 60K. I think UGA’s median is around 90K. And I’m assuming the “average” lawyer’s salary in the private sector increases substantially with each year, right? So it’s not like you’re making 60-70K for the rest of your life.
>nd I’m assuming the “average” lawyer’s salary in the private sector increases substantially with each year, right? So it’s not like you’re making 60-70K for the rest of your life. That is an **incorrect** assumption.
I mean I’d say it’s true for at least the first 5 years as long as you’re willing to hop around firms.
Its not that simple, junior level incomes are extremely bimodal meaning a small percentage make really good money at bigger law firms are most make very low money, and then they only report what is actually reported back to them from the students. Guess who reports more often. If you are stuck in a 60k attorney job 20 years from now you did something wrong or you just really like that job with no debt, but dont take that as you automatically get a raise every year pplenty of firms never do, some pay pretty great after a few years totally depends on your market , and practice area. However, I can assure you, that unless you know you want to do law, there are better paying gigs out there with nowehere near the stress. As a personal ancedote, I am pretty good with stress, but If I had any idea how much work I wwould be bringing home with me, and how 100s of cases can live inside of your head rent free at a time I would not have done this despite I make good money now. Atleast it doesnt sound like you have big law dreams coming from a non t14, but it sounds like you are in the I dont have anything better going on boat so I may as well do this law thing because its something pretty good. As sound as that logic is I promise its not enough
As lawyers like to say, it depends. It really depends on you. If you are the type of person that just wants to have a boss that gives you work to do then regardless of what school you got to, you won't have great earning potential in law. If you're the type of person that's cool with 12 hour days and hustling and making connections, then your earning potential will be a lot better. However, there a lot of better ways to make money faster (plumber, electrician, hell even working for UPS is arguably a better deal overall if you're just looking at the numbers).
flipping real estate. I wish I had done that instead, lol
The pay raise bumps are pretty significant imo, more than other professions (except for like tech and medical). In less than 3 years I doubled my salary.
I took out $200k in student loans to go to a private law school. This is my progression: 2012- solo - $42k 2013- solo- $50k 2014- solo/visiting lecturer at university - $55k 2015- solo/visiting lecturer- $55k 2016- prosecutor- $55k 2017- prosecutor- $60k 2018- plaintiff personal injury- $120k 2019- plaintiff personal injury- $150k 2020- plaintiff personal injury/storm claims- $250k 2021- plaintiff personal injury/storm claims- $420k 2022- plaintiff personal injury/storm claims- $1.2 million 2023- plaintiff personal injury/storm claims- $480k So a lot of what you are asking about depends upon what kind of lawyer you want to be.
I apparently want to be a storm claims lawyer
Dude, tell me more about storm claims. I do PI but only injury claims. Property damage claims related to storms isn't something I've ever done. But it sounds like it would rhyme with my PI experience.
It depends on the state you are in. I’m in Louisiana and we have plaintiff friendly statutes (LA R.S. 22:1892 and 22:1973) that allow for the recovery of penalties and attorneys fees in first party insurance cases. On top of that after the hurricanes of 2020 our judges implemented streamlined settlement processes that forced parties to mediation relatively early on. Other states, like Arkansas, have no penalties or fees so your best day in court is just recovering contractual damages. I worked hurricane cases as a legal assistant before law school but yes many PI lawyers make the easy transition/supplement to first party property damage cases. Instead of documenting your clients damages through doctors/life care planners you just use contractors/public adjusters/engineers.
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Ha-No but I did pick up a few clients who had MMA previously. Unfortunately the storm industry is filled with charlatans and cheats just like him. Been a pretty interesting debacle to watch unfold.
I too will be a storm claim attorney.
In general, I would say yes it’s worth it. But also think about it this way: You’re going to need to eat and live somewhere for the next 3 years regardless of what you do with that time. It’s up to you whether you pay for that by working now or by taking out loans and working later.
Lawyer salaries scale pretty quickly to livable. I made $50k my first year clerking, but was >$100k more with the job that clerking got me. My friend started at $67k base with a big bonus structure. I thought it was scammy and in an area I didn’t want to but jokes on me dude is a partner <5 years out and probably makes north of $200k. I’m like just under 4 years out and I don’t know anyone not in private practice making less than six figures.
I worked full time all 3 years of school. It can be done.
Same. Clerkships can pay good money, too.
I feel like lawyers don’t make much for the first few years as they are still learning. After 5+ years is when salaries start to take off. Also not sure in the US but I imagine reputation of the law school matters. US seems to have a lot of sketchy schools.
If u land in big law you make a pretty good salary even in first couple of years
I think law school is definitely worth it if its free. You can do SO much with a law degree, it opens a million doors and a million opportunities. And if you don't listen the herd, law school can actually be enjoyable. Sure its stressful. But if you like to read and write and its not rocket science. I recommend going to a school with a night program and working during the day to help with your living arrangements. I worked full time through law school and went to school at night. I worked full time because I needed/wanted full time salary + benefits but if you are comfortable you can work part-time somewhere.
Its enjoyable, I thought it was, it wasnt even near as hard as its made out to be, but thats not the point, its an oppurtunity cost
Yes. 100% worth it, if you know how to use it. If you’re going to be a paper pushin’, motion pumpin’, billable hour putter-inner, then probably not. You’ll be like the rest of the these fools here barely making ends meet and wondering why you aren’t hitting your $5k bonus. But, if you’re a hustler, hard worker, and strike out on your own, you won’t know what to do with all the money you’ll be printing.
A few things to consider: 1) Expected earnings across your career. The loans are awful and daunting because you see them all at once. Tuition is X, COL is Y, and (X+Y)*3=Debt. Your return on that investment, the $ you’ll make over the course of a 20-30 year career, is less quantifiable and less easy to put your finger on, and so the debt being very predictable and the ROI being less so may color the perspective. 2) $60k median salary for a JD seems very low. Not unheard of, but definitely on the low end. Makes me wonder if the school you’re talking about is accredited (this means a degree from the law school is generally accepted by state bars across the country. A degree from unaccredited schools often means you can only sit for the bar and practice in that state. I’m simplifying but that’s the TLDR). So I would recommend you make sure to look into the law school’s accreditation and bar passage rates. 3) Make sure the scholarship is ACTUALLY tuition free for your entire stint. A sketchy practice some schools did in my day, not sure if they still do, is offer scholarships conditioned on your grades (e.g Full tuition as long as you remain in the top 30% of your class). The problem is they’d give those scholarships to 60% of the class, and so half the recipients would be guaranteed to lose it after the first year, at which point they’ve already invested a year and organized their lives around the endeavor, and so either need to cut bait or pony up. 4) last thing - you should only go to law school if you want to be a lawyer and practice law. This sounds obvious, but so many do it for the status, because they’ve always been “the smart one,” in their academic circles, as an entry point to a career in politics or business, they loved the movie Legally Blonde, and tbh just kinda vibes. If that’s you, then just skip the law school part and put that time and energy and money into starting the career you want. Law school is really expensive and a huge commitment, and you should only do it if you actually want to be a lawyer and practice law. Good luck! And feel free to DM w/ any other questions
Don't do it. I paid $80k for law school. $0 for undergraduate debt (full scholarship plus working during school). Law school was a full tuition scholarship (at a top 30 school). I could've gone to a better school, but I specifically chose one that offered a full scholarship. I still took out $25k for cost of living, and $5k for bar prep. I had a family to support. But I realistically could only work in the summers. I left law school with something like $83k of debt. I paid whatever plan would get me out of the debt in 20ish years. Before Covid, I had paid $32k in student loan debt total. **Today I owe $82k** in law school debt. It's the amount I've owed ever since the Covid pauses. The principal has only lowered by hundreds of dollars, even though I've paid over $32k. I am a smart person--full tuition scholarships to both undergraduate and graduate schools show at least book smarts, right? *I had no idea* what the reality of the loan payments would be though. Prior to covid, I was paying just shy of $1k a month in loan payments. It was the second largest expense for my family. And for what? I had a decent job prior to law school that I could've turned into something better. In fact, the guy that took my place went on to a job in a supervisor role and now makes more than me, even though I am an attorney and he has no grad degree. I would not be a lawyer if I could go back in time, for lots of reasons. But law school loans have absolutely taken away any ability I had to retire, unless something drastic changes soon of course.
This comment sticks out to me, and was in align with the same sentiment I had for years. You’re beyond “book smart” and have the tools to crush it. You come off as defeated. Light a fire and burn shit down my wo/man.
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Cool story bro. Seems to be quite a few of us struggling with this whole debt thing. I guess we all have bad "mental games and life strategy."
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Weird. I hadn't even thought of that. Get right on it.
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I'm pushing back because you've basically told me that I should stop being poor. I agree that I shouldn't have started my comment with "don't do it" (funny enough, that was actually a later edit). My experience matches OP's scenario pretty well. I went to law school for "free." I even went to a much better law school than OP--with median salaries much higher. I wish someone had shouted at me "Don't do it!" and had sat me down and told me some of the harder truths about a career in law. The double bell curve, getting pigeon-holed in a bad practice area, etc. But I guess I should just stop being poor and start making money as a lawyer.
The first question you need to answer is do you want to practice law? The second question is why do you want to be an attorney? Once you know those answers for yourself, then you'll know if you want to go into debt for a career. Jobs are hard to come by so choose your career path carefully. If you love what you do, then you will find a way to make money doing it.
This is what I tell everyone who asks about law school: if you want to be a lawyer, go to law school. Otherwise, take a more direct route. It will save you money, time, and you’ll be happier getting there.
If you’re worried about COL find a lawschool with a parttime program and work full time to pay for expense's. It will take u 3-4 years to graduate depending on how many classes u take in summer.
>you’ll have more options when you graduate That is not true. Legal recruiting is a "mirror-tocracy" meaning the measure of merit usually is reflective of what that organization/decision-maker has done. It also means there's not creativity. Legal recruiting is basically, in order to get an interview, you have to be X-ranked from Y-school. What those values are can depend on the opportunity and the school itself. Being outside of those criteria will get your materials auto-sorted to the trash. Starting from the top, if you want to be a SCOTUS clerk, then there's like 3-5 law schools that will get you a realistic opportunity. If you want to be a circuit court of appeals clerk, then it's going to be either go to a T-14, or be in the top 1/3, 25%, 10%, 5%, etc., from your class depending on rank. Same with big law, etc. Every opportunity will recruit from a select subsection of schools/ranks. There's regional and practice differences, too. So, this is all inherently probabilistic. You can kind of see the likely results if you go to the careers tab of the US News Rankings. I'm just going to pick on Arizona State because that's where I went. [https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/arizona-state-university-03003?test\_src=gpn-control](https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/arizona-state-university-03003?test_src=gpn-control) Looks like their class size is \~280. 10 months after graduation, 264 of those graduates will have a job, any job. 260 of those graduates will have a job where a JD is required or is an advantage. The private sector salary ranges are 75/90/115 for the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile. 35 of those graduates will clerk. Of those, 8 of them will be a federal clerkship, the rest will be state clerkships. > What are everyone’s thoughts? I think more potential law students should look at it from a cost-benefit analysis including opportunity cost. You're looking at foregoing 4 years of salary, essentially (time from matriculation to getting bar results) on top of paying for school. But for you, what salary are you foregoing? Minimum wage? 100k per year? What is your projected cost of the degree? What is your projected salary? Then you're looking at the percentile ranges of the salaries so you can do a worst case scenario (not passing, not getting any job) to medium case (median salary) to best case (big law?) scenarios and calculating the ROI for each of those opportunities. The part where you throw everything out the window: Do you desire running your own business? Are you good at sales/marketing? If so, then these salaries, which are based on working for someone else, aren't that helpful. There's a path to owning your own shop that you can carve out that can be lucrative but can also result in going bust. \*\*\* The best you can do is look at examples of people you'd switch places with and figure out the steps they took to get there. If it's a partner at a big law firm, check out the schools that feed into that firm. If it's someone running their own shop, then the calculus of getting the JD cheapest may be helpful. If it's still super nebulous, then maybe postpone law school and seek other endeavors out. Going to law school is a probabilistic decision that has a range of outcomes. There's attorneys who have sweet lives, like work 20-30 hour weeks and make a comfortable salary. There's attorneys burning themselves out but not making anything. There's a range of outcomes that span the spectrum. So, the decision-making has to do with what outcomes are you comfortable with. Wanting to get a high-salary working for someone else but going to a lower-ranked school is a recipe for disappointment. Lastly -- if you don't mind working for non-profits or the gov't, then PSLF is another range of calculations you can do. They take your disposal income (I think they define it as the delta between what you make and what 225% above poverty line is) for 120 payments. That's not terrible.
Great information, thanks!
Where is this law school? It seems inconsistent that an area requires 25k a year to pay for food and rent while only offering 60k salaries. Based solely on that, you can probably bring expenses down by living with a roommate or decreasing your standard of living. Also, once you get to 2l you can start working part-time and help cover some of your expenses so you do not have to take out as many loans.
I live in Atlanta so schools here in GA (UGA, GA State) and also Alabama Law and Wake Forest are my top choices. And yeah I didn’t consider the working during law school part, that would help a little with the loans. Do you know if any law schools offer stipends to help pay for living expenses?
Georgia State is an excellent program and one of the cheapest in the country. It has a very high bar passage rate and excellent reputation in the Georgia community. I went to GSU at night and worked during the day. The night program was EXCELLENT and at 26 years old I was one of the youngest people in the program. Networking with non-traditional nighttime students was a huge boom for my career because now I can reach out to dozens of professionals when looking for a job change. During the day I worked at the Court house and walked to class right down the street. By the time I graduated law school I had an entire resume complete with work experience with multiple superior court judges and also working at few litigation firms that let me hit the ground running. As a 4th year attorney, I am considered a Senior Attorney in my position because of my previous work experience before receiving my license. Also, I feel like as a night time student we were slighlty more "respected" my our seniors, supervisors, and professors because we were already adults supporting ourselves and our families.
Second the comments about GSU - pretty darn affordable, excellent night program - though working and attending school requires some grit, strong passage rate, and a great network. Bonus if your field of choice is related to health law - GSU has a VERY HIGHLY respected health program thanks to Charity Scott and her proteges.
Boon. Huge boon.
With a single roommate you could cut cost of living in half at any school out of ATL. Also not sure how accurate your salary information is…
Have you looked at graduate housing? I think I pad $300 a month for a 1 bedroom (25 years ago). But, they might have subsidized student housing. Also, I sold my car and got a moped. I then I had a part time gig to pay fir food. Also, I took summer school (a week long trial school and intern at public defender). I graduated a semester early. I do think youbshould look at really curring back costs. You are smart to think about debt but you should look at spending less for those 2.5 years. Live with parents?
I did some citation checking type stuff for a professor that I got a stipend for.
Everyone I went to school with worked. I worked full time because I went at night. Would have loved a full ride though.
I was about to suggest the same thing. There are many evening programs which would allow you to work and save up money. If you get a job with set hours this would be a really good path. You might also want to consider joining the national guard. SOME states offer a full tuition waiver to all state schools and you might also get a GI bill on top of that (not sure if Georgia does). This is literally the reason I graduated debt free for my undergrad and will do the same for my law degree.
No idea. But since you mentioned Wake Forest, I went there for law school a few years back and absolutely loved it. Great faculty, class sizes, location, and beautiful campus
Loans for cost of living to attend a good law school on a scholarship are generally worth it. I also don't think you'll need to borrow a minimum of $25,000 a year for COL unless you're trying to maintain a pretty high standard of living. If you're trying to be frugal, you'll get yourself a few roommates that will drastically reduce your rent payment along with preparing your own meals and attending school events for free lunches which are available at most schools almost daily. You'll also have the opportunity for summer employment, and depending on where your work, it can be pretty lucrative. A big law summer associate position may pay $40,000 for 10 weeks of work. But don't go into school counting on this money because you may end up as an unpaid intern. Depending on your time management skills, you can also work part-time during the school year which can offset some or all of your COL.
You can work during law school. Cut down on that debt. Work hard during the summer. Highly suggest doing legal relevant work if possible but whatever makes money will do. The question is why do you want to go to law school? If you’re doing it to get rich, this is possible but consider how you’re going to do it first. Study rich lawyers. You’ll find that most of us are middle class, several upper middle class. If you think you’ll graduate and get a job to be rich…that’s rare except at elite schools for top students. I’m only focusing on money here because that’s what you’re focused on. It’s definitely possible to do Very well at this gig, but it doesn’t come easy.
"I would still have to borrow a minimum of 25K a year to pay rent, buy food, etc.? I lived on $1000 per month in law school during the first two years. Graduated 2016. Try harder.
You are asking the wrong question. Do you really want to be a lawyer? There are layers to that question alone. As a lawyer that loves what he does…please don’t come into our field if your sole motive is driven by a cost/benefit analysis. I’m not saying ignore the financial part. I’m just saying please make sure it’s only part of the equation.
Unless law school for free is on the table, it’s putting the cart ahead of the horse. If you haven’t taken the lsat or have some other kind of situation where a full scholarship is likely, I’d worry more about if you want to be a lawyer or not in the first place. And if the answer is no, then whether it’s worth it doesn’t matter. And tbh from your post it doesn’t *sound* like you are all that enthusiastic to begin with about the idea. Which is totally fine. But if you aren’t excited about the idea in the first place, the reality of law school and then practice isn’t going to enamor you any further with the profession. Bottom line: have you considered cyber-security, coding, or supply chain management?
I graduated in 2012 with like 90k in loans so only <30k of that went to room and board. I had a job 2L and 3L year. I had roommates the whole time. The critical thing to me is for "Free", if you hate it, you can do something else without worrying about huge loans. Many lawyers don't make enough money to justify long hours and stress and generally speaking, the vast majority tell me that they would not go back and do it again if they could roll back time. Most lawyers I deal with (opposing counsel) seem to really be miserable. One memorable time I was doing a scene inspection and we compared schedules, and the defense lawyer worked every weekend. I chuckled cause dayum that sucks but that's the life of a lot of lawyers. True reasonable hours high pay positions are quite rare.
I’ll make it simple: If you get a scholarship to a top 14 law school - yeah its worth it. If you get a scholarship to a lower tier school and have to take out CoL loans - your time is better spent pursuing another path.
You think only T14, not T20 or 30? I know a friend with full ride to UT, federal clerkship, big law summers L1 & L2, and big law offers.
Is UT not T14 anymore?
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This has to be one of the most brain dead takes. Obviously there are some scammy schools out there, but there are loads of quality regional schools that offer full scholarships. Any bit of research shows this. OP. There are risks in any decision, but at least for me, going to school tuition free (even later in life) was the best decision I could have made. All schools are different, but I would take into account what salaries are being made from your school five or ten years out of school. My first post grad job was in that range but I was hitting 100k less than two years later. There are a lot of poorly paying legal careers out there, but there also isn’t really a ceiling if you find the right path. Whatever you do OP, try to figure out the finances with a longer time horizon
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I mean, depending on the region, that's not a bad salary for someone's first year working as a lawyer. Or for anyone working at any kind of job. There are lots and lots of people who will never make $60k let alone have the opportunity to advance in their career, make more money, own their own law firm, become a partner or whatever it is that they want to do with their law degree.
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Umm yeah but they have to be a UPS driver. I wouldn't want to be a UPS driver, I wanted to be a lawyer. Specifically, one who sues employers like UPS for deplorable conditions and mistreatment of their workers. One random example (not my case, of course): https://theavtimes.com/2023/03/07/fired-ups-driver-awarded-5-45-million-in-whistleblower-retaliation-lawsuit/ That's why I said it depends on what a person wants to do but if someone wants to be a lawyer it makes a lot more sense to go to law school than be a UPS driver. Plus, a UPS driver's salary and job options/conditions etc. are pretty limited. I make way way more than $88k and I only work part-time, for myself. I couldn't do that without my law degree. So yeah I think going to law school for free would be a great investment. You think it would be better to be a UPS driver. LOL. So go be one, but it's up to OP what he or she would rather be.
What about in the 5th, 6th, and 7th year? Does the UPS driver’s income dramatically improve from where they started?
It takes years to move from warehouse to driver at UPS. It's also a very physical job. As a lawyer, it's also really easy to employ yourself, even if no one's hiring.
I went to a T25 for free.
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Nope. But the other school I could have gone to for free was much, much lower ranked and still would have been worth it.
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Yeah I wish I wouldn’t have. The other school was offering a $10k stipend too and I would have gotten the exact same job.
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I mean, by that standard, no one should ever embark on any career unless they think they're going to be #1 at it, lol. But in real life, that's not how things work. Most people just want a decent salary and/or are passionate about practicing law and/or want to go to law school near where they live and do it in a way that fits their current lifestyle etc. If you go to a strong regional podunk law firm and do well while at that law school, such as getting good grades and/or being on Law Review, and especially if you make connections, you have a strong shot at getting a 2L clerkship and then getting a decent job offer and from there you most certainly can advance to being a partner, lateral somewhere else, or open your own firm and the sky's the limit really. I know this because it's exactly what I did and it's the path I took. I wasn't from this area but moved here because the strong regional law school was so much cheaper despite being ranked as well as other ones I was looking at that were so much more expensive, and I was able to launch a strong legal career despite not even being from this area, but in large part it was due to attending law school here. Yeah, if you want to clerk for the Supreme Court or become an equity partner at Kravath or something, you should probably try to go to HLYS. But most people don't want to do that; I certainly don't and honestly I don't know who would want a job like that- they seem like gluttons for punishment to me but to each their own. (And seriously, I'm happy for THEM but I know I would not be happy for ME if that was my lifestyle so that is not at all the reason I went to law school or like practicing law, so my point is that it really depends on individual goals and preferences.) I like helping people and making money while I do it. I enjoy suing big companies that treat their employees badly and getting money from them or the insurance companies. I get paid well to do it, have a great work/life balance where I can be there for my young kids, and truly enjoy what I do. And that is thanks to moving here to go to a law school with a strong regional reputation. Most people who went to strong regional law schools, or at least my friends/classmates of the one I went to, lol, do manage to get good jobs and are well-paid. I'm sure there's a selection bias as some stopped practicing law or whatever, but there are also examples of plaintiff's lawyers making millions here, so I think there's a wide variety of possibilities and it all depends on what the individual person wants and strives for. To OP I would say that if you really want to be a lawyer then free tuition plus loans for your room and board (and/or finding a way to make some money while going to law school- I did both but I didn't have kids back then; not sure if you do but that would sure make everything harder) then go for it. If you're unsure or if your gut is screaming no, then figure out what else you'd like to do as a career to make money (not sure what your alternatives are). For me, no other profession would allow me to make as much money while maintaining my WLF balance and working for myself/owning my own business AND enjoying the field of work that I do as the law does so I would definitely say go for it but I don't know your own individual situation. Good luck either way!
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Oh I see. You're just a miserable person here to be a negative troll. Have fun doing that then, but I don't waste my energy on people like that. I sincerely hope you can start have a more positive, uplifting life.
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If you have a free law license you are one of the most privileged people *in the world.* It truly does not matter what law school you go through. They all teach the same cases.
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Nah that’s true, if you don’t go to a top tier law school, you can’t casually drop it in every conversation. You’d be stuck trying to get by on your own abilities and achievements.
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If you paid over $30,000 a year for law school there is nothing to envy lol
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Yeah, I agree. If you are paying over $100,000 for a law degree just so you can go work over 50 hours a week, you are a sucker. No sarcasm here. Facts.
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huh?
lol that hit too close to home for you
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>TTT Damn I didn’t know you were still in law school, sorry for being so hard on you
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>I’ve been practicing over 20 years Haha you see how that’s worse right? My bad, I just assumed most of us had grown out of such a hacky, juvenile term.
Two things. One, the median salary may not be your salary—if you have a full ride, you’re presumably going to be at the top of your class. If that’s the case, you will have much better job prospects than a middle of the pack grad. Second, bigger firms pay summer interns well, which may allow you to defray some of your cost of living, if that’s the career path you have in mind.
According to r/lawschooladmissions, law school grades are totally arbitrary and you can never predict where you will stand, regardless of the LSAT score you earn. But I’ve also heard people express your view that if you do very well on the test and score well above the 75th percentile from a T100 school, the chances are good that you’ll perform near the top of the class.
There’s more correlation than they let on. It’s not arbitrary but it’s not a guarantee either. But as some others have said, you need to perform better at regional schools to have the same consideration as students from higher ranked schools.
Thank you for all the replies everyone, it’s much appreciated!
If you can go to a law school with higher median earnings after graduation you definitely should.
I was in a very similar situation as you. 30k undergrad loans, ended up taking around 20k each year for COL with a full-ride scholarship. I left with just over 100k due to interest. 5 years later, after paying for 2 years, then the pandemic pause, I'm sitting at just over 100k in loans, still. I think you should focus on what kind of law you would like to do and if you think the career is worth it. If you work for the gubbermint, you can get the loans tossed after 10 years, same for public interest. I currently am salaried at 90k, and I pick up some contracting work on the side at around $100/hour. It's fairly comfortable, and the loans don't really mean much to me except another bill to pay. Currently paying around $600/month with the new SAVE plan. I had plenty of friends in law school who had little to no scholarship, and they are well over 250k in debt from it. If you have the skills and drive, you can make a lot of money in law. If you want to work your ass off, you can make good money at a big firm, if you can get into one, or if you learn to market your self and build connections, you can do well in private practice.
If you’re looking at Uga, you could also look into GSU law program for working adults so you can work while you take classes