Not Another Law Blog...

Probably the last thing this country needs is another law school, and it's probably also true that the last thing the "blogosphere" needs is another disgruntled alumnus from one of these august institutions sulking over the sorry situation in which he has found himself. There are already scores of both active and now defunct blogs of former law students denouncing the law school scam with an evangelistic fervor. Sites like JD Underground even allow anonymous users to skip the process of creating blogs and instead allow individuals to author posts lamenting the day they decided to enroll in their Kaplan LSAT courses.

Why then create a new blog that only adds to the cacophony of anti-law school sentiment?

Before I answer that question directly, let me briefly share with you my inspiration for this site:

A month or so ago, I was toiling away at an unpaid legal internship. With no real job prospects and without even my bar exam results, I figured it was better to try to build my resume with volunteer work than sit at home doing nothing. (For reasons that still escape me.) There I was dueling with some antiquated typewriter as I tried to fill out some legal form that our county was too cheap to put online. As the machine shredded my third attempt at filling out this redundant paperwork, I had an epiphany...Why on earth was I doing this?

I don't mean that I was starting to question the wisdom of slaving away in some back room for free. (A valid question in itself.) Instead, I was questioning the very idea of jumping through hoops for the chance that I could one day become a practicing attorney. Yes, law school and the bar exam were behind me, but as most law graduates soon learn, to get a job as an attorney, your quest doesn't end after the bar - it's just beginning.

I'll address these hurdles in a later post, but let me return to my anecdote. You see, I don't just regret going to law school because the job market is bad (and not just because of the recession). I regret going to law school because I hate the law. Fiddling with that typewrite just helped crystallize this fact for me. I hated reading the cases and writing memos in law school. I hated dealing with arrogant judges and opposing counsel during my internships. I loathe filling out all of the mindless forms, and while I concede appearing in court can be exciting, I can't imagine the stress of doing so on a regular basis is something I'd find appealing on a long term basis.

So, why did I create this blog? Simple: I want out, and I want to let others in on my quest to find a fulfilling career in spite of my J.D. Sure, along the way, I plan on complaining about the law school industrial complex. I'll lament Sallie Mae's monthly reminder about my time in law school, and I'll fondly remember what life was like before I bought those magic law school beans. That said, however, I also hope this blog will help future law graduates who want to put the law behind them.

I'll give some more specific details about my goals in a future post. For now, thanks for reading, and I hope you'll give this new blog a chance. After all, can there really be too many blogs bashing what has robbed so many of so much?