Which students belong in law school? Law prof offers an answer
The need has never been greater for “idealistic, wise and ethical” lawyers to help resolve legal questions about issues ranging from the need for gun restrictions to the proper construction of the Constitution.
But that doesn’t mean the current crop of 1Ls should all be in law school, according to George Mason law professor Michael Krauss. Writing at Forbes, Krauss describes two groups of law students, and says only one group should pursue a law degree.
Krauss says you should be in law school if you answer yes to these questions: “Are you interested in pursuing justice, in making the world/your country/your state a place governed by the rule of law, freer from predators and safer from tyrants than it currently is? Are you interested in helping the 50 percent of Americans with legal problems who cannot currently afford legal help to resolve them? Are you interested in soberly attempting to understand and solve the incredibly difficult, and incredibly interesting, intellectual problems that underlie so many of today’s legal disputes, and that are so misconstrued by a journalistic profession obsessed with political correctness?”
But Krauss says this group should get out of law school while a partial tuition refund is still available: “If you’re in law school because you didn’t know what else to do after your BA, because you hate math (and erroneously think law doesn’t require math skills) and the sight of blood, therefore couldn’t be a physician, and have no goal other than to make a lot of money, and if you dislike work but have always relied on your IQ and adrenaline to ace all your courses, well, you chose the wrong generation to go to law school.”
