Y’all may be interested to know that my sister finished law school in the spring and sucessfully passed her Bar Exams this fall.
She turned 50 in July. 
Born 1969, graduated law school 2005. Now working for a DC law firm.
To echo everything you have already been told, if you are doing this for the right reasons, it can work. In fact, I think the added age/life experience can be a definite advantage both at law school and when interviewing and working. Being 10 years older than my colleagues at the same level as me here makes me the source of information for them on many things, not least the blue plate specials at local eateries. But also it allows me to relate to the partners/senior associates on a different level than that on which a new attorney normally would.
I went to Vanderbilt, which is wonderful and supportive for “non-traditional” students, at least at a law school level. They looked past my (less than stellar) GPA and looked at my LSATs and other factors. My problem was that I did my undergraduate (and Masters) in the UK, and did not have a GPA. Unfortunately the B++ average I got there was considered good (2:1 borderline 1st) but it gets assumed to be a B+ when they “translate” it and considered to be just average.
As for money, I survived on loans, spending down savings, and fortunately my (now ex) wife was working and could support our son. Given the rates on student loans at the time, and the salary boost as a result of the degree, it was a great investment for me. The money did prey on my mind at first, though - it was a major factor in me deciding to go to Vanderbilt not Penn (Nashville is much cheaper than Philly, Vandy guarantees scholarships for three years).
If you decide to go, best of luck with it.
Thanks for all the responses! Also, I’m pretty certain about what I’d like to do when I get my law degree. I currently work for an Energy/Oil company in Houston and I plan (haven’t told my work yet!) on coming back here to work in-house. I would love to be doing international law particularly in the Middle East.
Sadly, 24 would be far too young to apply as a mature applicant. I’ve heard 35 is a typical age.
I wouldn’t exactly think of me as a “kept man,” nor of my wife as a “sugar mommy.” In my case, we remortgaged our house to pay for my schooling. That was an option that was open to us, being homeowners, but I’m sure it was unavailable to my younger non-homeowning classmates.
My classmates manage though. There are any number of scholarships, bursaries, and so on that they look into, apply for, and occasionally receive. A good many receive some kind of school loan also.
[quote[I plan (haven’t told my work yet!) on coming back here to work in-house.[/quote]
In my experience in-house counsel is something you get after years of working at a firm or a government agency that specialises in the field (like the EPA or something). Generally companies aren’t too keen on hiring someone fresh out of college that they’d have to train up. The legal department is going to be a lot smaller at a company than say working for a federal agency or a big firm. They don’t have the time to spend on getting a new lawyer up to speed on how a corporation is run. Most huge companies will also be liable to outsource some of their specialised work to firms-there’s no telling whether you’ll be stuck doing labour and employment working for this company while Bryan Cave (a big firm) is handling all their environmental/oil and gas stuff.
My view of it is also that it’s pretty much the cherry on top type job you get after paying your dues at a firm.
That is not to say it can’t be done because anything can be done-but it’s significantly more difficult than going to a firm or other obvious job (like a state or federal agency). Be aware of that if your intention is to become corporate counsel.
Incidentally, I am speaking from experience on that (though I’m not in oil/gas or energy)-I currently work as an attorney for the feds doing financial transactions. I guess my practice area can vaguely be construed as banking. Anyway, most of the deals I do are with very large banks, and the attorneys that represent them are 90% of the time, former government lawyers from my agency because that’s who they prefer to hire (generally because you have relationships with attorneys in the agency and the transactions are very complex). Not a single one of them walked out and got their corporate counsel job before getting at least 6 years of experience. The ones who left before that are all at firms.
As an accountant turned lawyer, I’d advise you to go for it. I only had two years of accounting before I went to law school, but there were plenty of slightly, and indeed much, older people in my program.
I think you’ll have two advantages over the students who go right in. First, you should be able to look at law school like a job, not a way of life. Go in, do what you need to, and then go home and have your established outside life. It’ll shouldn’t be either an all-consuming meat-grinder or an extension of the undergraduate free-for-all.
Second, with business, and particularly accounting, experience, you should have a good understanding of the business aspects of law, contracts and corporations in particular. You’ll be able to see how business relationships develop and fracture in ways that some others may not. Most everyone has a common sense understanding of an auto accident or an armed robbery, but it really helps to have practical experience to pick some of the business stuff.
Good luck.
Thanks for the feedback.
Specifically, I’m looking to get hired back doing land contracts work (inside the US)once I graduated. It’s in the same field of work I do now, except, they require a law degree. I’m pretty certain they have entry level jobs as well. From there, after working awhile, I would look to go international within the company.
I did not mean to be too discouraging…I hate when lawyers do that to me. I do think it bodes significantly better for you if you’re already doing the non-legal aspects of what you want to do + you have connections and relationships at your company. Personally, I think you have a better chance than most law grads.
The easy way to find this out is to see if they’ve hired entry-level lawyers recently and/or see if they have any sort of summer clerking program set in place. Again, it doesn’t necessarily matter if they don’t-they may make an exception for you because you already have the background. If you’re planning on leaving, lay the groundwork for putting the thought in their heads before you go rather than trying to maneuver it when you have finals hanging over your head.
Anyway, plans change all the time with school, keep that in mind. I went to law school with the vague intention of going into anti-trust, fell in love with environmental & healthcare (not med-mal) and now I work in practice areas in which I had absolutely no interest (constitutional, business orgs etc.). By the time I got out I was a) very much in debt and b) desperate (I got my job the day after I walked) so the first offer that smelled of financial security was promptly taken up. It’s good to know what you want, but make sure to keep flexible (and learn to smile at the naysayers…very important)
Are you planning on working and going part-time, or starving and going full-time?
I am 32 now, and a 2L. Started out as a part timer last year, and decided over the summer to spend some of the retirement money to go full time. Best decision I ever made. At orientation for the evening students, we were told that we could not imagine how little time we would have outside of school. It was not an exaggeration, and in fact might have been holding back a little.
Anyhoo, I do not regret the decision to go to Law School. After 9 years in IT, a career I did not plan on anyways, it was time to for a change and a challenge. There are days that are boring or tedious. Then there are days when I am prepping for exams every waking moment. I can’t wait to finish and get working on a career that I chose.
Your situation is pretty close to mine, thanks!
I am planning on going full-time…and starving I suppose, although I have a good network of friends here who live close by, who have food!
I think I’m getting the jist of all the responses. Basically, and it’s not limited to law school, if you’re going to make a major change in your career, make sure it’s something you really want to do! I knew that I guess, but hearing it from other people first-hand helps a lot.
Why on Earth haven’t you discussed it with them? Maybe they’d sponsor you or something? And, if you maintain relations with them, you’ve got someone to ring and say, “Hey Brian, I’m having a little trouble with the concept of X…”
I meant I haven’t told them I got accepted for the upcoming Spring semester. They know the “overall” plan about law school. I’m not sure what sponser means, but they will not pay for any law school education.
Not to be too repetitive, but past grades won’t matter as much if you’ve been out of school for a while. When I was in law school, the average age was 27, and we were the youngest class in recent memory.
Working in-house can be had sooner than later. The 6th year associates are already getting long in the tooth, and they have a clear idea if they’re making partner or not by that time. These guys will stop busting their hump if they know they’re not going to make it (bringing in business is the biggest factor), and they will go find the greener pastures of in-house counsel.
I made the transition 3 yrs out after working for a big firm, even though partner plainly told me that I could make partner (uh-huh, sure). I was sick of the 80+ hr weeks and the bs billing. It helps if you’re in a hot field (at the time it was/still is employee benefits, IP, and labor), too. Knowing the non-legal side of the business will give you a tremendous leg up.
The only thing I would have to worry about is the actual studying. There is going to be an insane amount of reading, and the class discussions really only explore what you don’t know (which you will find that quotient to be increasing towards everything as you tumble towards graduation). I had this older guy tell me that he couldn’t keep up with us younger kids (our top 10 were all around my age, just out of college) – it’d probably help if he didn’t go out drinking with us.
For what it is worth, I would tell you exectly the opposite. Out the top 20, us old guys/gals were significantly overrepresented. I think people who have worked full time for an extended period are better prepared for law school - you can approach it as a job, put in your 8-10 hours a day and do absolutely fine (with other insane cramming periods of course). Many people who came straight up from undergraduate seemed to find 3 hours of class and 4 to 5 hours of reading to be a great burden. Having come from working 10+ hour days in the finance industry, the idea that reading was work came as a blessed relief.
And I still did my fair share of drinking. Gotta let these whippersnappers know that life doesn’t end at 30.
I was 29 when I started law school, and I was far from being the oldest in my class. I was probably only slightly above the average, if not right on it.
I’m 31, a 1L and I have 13 days to finals! I would say at school, about 35% of students are “non-traditional” in their upper 20s or early 30s.
I do think that the older law students I know are less panicky about finals, more focused yet laid-back. Just a better sense of perspective, I think. It also seems to me we enjoy the work more.
In terms of paying for the thing, I have an academic scholarhip that covers 75%, I took loans for the remainder, and my lovely SO is kind enough to carry the rent for the time being.