Law school: The time is now

What is driving the current “great resignation” is multi-faceted, but somewhere at the root is a desire for meaning. We seek great working conditions, respectful colleagues, and meaningful work.

If this rings a bell with you, readers, if you find yourself wondering how to enjoy a stable employment path that by definition is filled with meaning, whether it’s a first, second, or third career, consider law. In fact, let me cut to the chase: just come to law school, now. The time is right. With a law degree and law license, you can and will make a difference.

No matter your politics, as I have said for decades and written in many of my books, something that could not be more relevant today, legal education is a power tool for social change.

As a lawyer, you will have the ability to do well and do good. You will help real people with real problems, every day. Your efforts might allow a family to stay in their home, prevent a child from losing visitation with a parent or grandparent, or assist a business in becoming the next hottest tech producer. You might help someone accused of a crime or someone who wants to be sure their hard-earned money will be inherited by those they love. You may draft or edit business plans, arrange company mergers, advise nonprofits. Legal work touches us all, and we all need the assistance of lawyers. Because every case involves a new set of real facts, I call the work of attorneys “reality lawyering.”

Lawyers don’t age out of our jobs the way those in other careers that demand physical activity do. In other words, the investment of three years now will pay off for decades to come.

Why now? Legal education is changing for the better. Law schools had been pretty much the same for a hundred years; think of the scenes with the professor interrogating students in The Paper Chase, Legally Blonde, or the Ruth Bader Ginsburg movie, On the Basis of Sex. We are now undergoing radical change. We no longer have final exams that cover everything in a semester. In addition to midterms, we have quizzes and other formative assessments, which means a greater emphasis on meaningful learning! Creative law professors are developing new educational tech to assist in and out of class, using group learning and problem solving along with case studies and statutory analysis. Bar exams are evolving, as is the practice of law. Most cases settle with far fewer trials, so negotiation skills are essential. Plus, we expect to have a new bar exam in at least two thirds of the states that will include much more of a practice-oriented focus and fewer subjects, which means less memorization.

Admissions of students from historically underrepresented populations are growing every day so law schools are more and more diverse. Many law students are pursuing second and third careers, bringing wide and varied work and life experience to classroom discussion. We have learned so much from the pandemic, not just about online teaching but about innovative and effective teaching and learning, in and out of the classroom.

Our world is complex. Earning a living by helping people and businesses to navigate that complexity is critical to our collective future, to our productive and peaceful prosperity. In every daily act, we each make a difference.

If you find yourself

• Interested in and passionate about voting, public health, education, the environment, or tech
• Hooked on hearings for choosing our Supreme Court justices

Or, if you see yourself as:

• A problem solver committed to helping people and companies/organizations figure out and resolve their challenges
• A debater, a spokesperson, a powerful voice for causes you believe in

Come to law school. Bring your logical and emotional intelligence and join us. Become a future counselor, advocate, and leader.

Nothing could be more important.

Sara Berman, a nationally recognized legal education thought leader, is a professor of law and assistant dean at Touro University’s Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center. Professor Berman previously served as the founding director of Academic and Bar Success at the AccessLex Center for Legal Education Excellence in Washington, D.C. and on the faculties and senior administrations of law schools in California and Florida. Berman’s books and articles on bar preparation, student success, and self-represented litigants include text and audio versions of Bar Exam Success: A Comprehensive Guide and The West Step-by-Step Guides to Contracts, Torts, and Criminal Law.