Why Going Back To Law School May Be A Bad Idea

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 graduates going in-house is twice the rate of their younger classmates.

The magazine cites several reasons why large law firms don't hire older law school graduates:

• Older associates aren't prepared to make the work-until-midnight time commitments required at large firms;
• older hires have less ability to relocate because of family;
• the difficulty older associates have taking orders from associates or partners younger than them;
• the likelihood that older hires won't have many years where they are significant sources of new business or major contributors to the practice.

Another reason is provided by "Anonymous Lawyer," tongue-in-cheek author of an eponymous blog, replying to an older attorney who asked A.L.'s opinion of the National Law Journal piece:

You were reading the National Law Journal. And then you took the time to e-mail me. That's time you could have been billing clients. That's time you could have been working hard and making partners money. But you weren't. You were slacking off, just like everyone your age does, with their "children" and their "elderly parents" and their "doctor appointments."

Funny, but probably reflective of an unspoken attitude at large law firms.

Many people do go to law school in midlife with the intent of going into public interest law, or returning to their previous employer as an in-house attorney, or using their expertise in government work. Others may be positive that they want to start their own practice. Their path is probably no harder than that of any other midlife jobseeker. But anyone who thinks that they're going to land a "LA Law" - type job at 40+ should really do their homework before investing their time and money on what could be a frustrating and futile quest.

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More from "Anonymous Lawyer" on why firms prefer younger associates:

Young people don't have perspective. They don't understand that the kinds of things we demand from them are pointless and not worth getting all worked up about. They don't get that we're not going to fire them. They don't get that most of the pressure they feel to stay here all night is pressure they're putting on themselves and that the consequences for living a normal life are all in their head.

But older associates know it's all a bit of a game. Older associates know I don't really have the power to behead an associate in the guillotine I stole from the Studio 60 soundstage when we took the summer associates on a tour.

But the kids don't. They think it's going to really happen. They think we're really going to kill them if they don't finish the document review by 6AM tomorrow morning. And that's why we like them.