Why Going Back To Law School May Be A Bad Idea

Published: July 31, 2007, 3:44 pm

Tags: job career, career, career change, job change, lifelong education, middle age, feature

The National Law Journal recently wrote that people who want to make a second career as an attorney shouldn't expect to find work at big firms. According to a National Association for Law Placement survey cited in the article, only 17% of of new law school graduates age 36+ who go into private practice join large firms -- those with more than 250 attorneys. 53% either practice on their own or in a firm with less than ten attorneys. Older lawyers who go into private practice are a minority. Another recent NALP survey found that only 39% - 44% of older graduates entered private practice, much lower than the 61% for their younger colleagues. That means newly minted older lawyers were disproportionately going to work for businesses, government, or doing public interest work. More than a quarter of older graduates took in-house jobs in business. Those jobs are traditionally considered less prestigious and demanding than associate positions at large law firms. The percentage of older

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