[Parthamis]

Could anyone provide me with some advice about whether or not to go to law school?

stats: Passed 3 parts of the CPA (part 4 coming in 9 days)
undergrad GPA: 3.1
Graduate GPA: 3.28

I have been contemplating whether or not to go to law school since about March. I was let go from my job as a staff accountant in December due to corporate culture, and maybe think its a sign I am not destined to be an accountant.

at this point do not know what I am doing with my life. age 25, unemployed most of 2017 and taking a crappy internship as a customer service representative this tax season and maybe working weekends at H&R block…

Despite passing 3 parts of the CPA firms have not called me for interviews, which is reason #2 of this sign. I have a pretty low undergrad GPA, but I have reasons for such and believe I would be able to do very well in law school. One problem is: I have far too high of student loans already, so I would probably go to a much lower ranked law school and get a full scholarship.

Anyone can offer advice? especially CPAs who actually have gone to law school please?

[PTBP2018]

Hi there,
I have learned a lot through experience, and that includes learning about people. Everyone just needs to get on the right bus…and in the right seat too. Some people thrive really well in a corporate environment, whereas to others…just don't. In my experience, I started working in a very corporate setting. I grew into a position – helping students with career decisions and financial aid. I put in about 10 years in that type of setting. It was my first company post college. I finally finished another degree in accounting and moved to the accounting department. I hated it. The people were ridiculous – very different from what I was used to. They had zero people skills and I was just a lonely number. I moved on and worked for a tiny start-up company. There were only 12 of us. I learned about entrepreneurs. I learned how to help grow their businesses and how to help them to make sound financial decisions. My clients really leaned on me for advice, and I loved that they actually cared about everything I had to say. I would re-work their cash flow projections with every decision and help foster their success as much as I could. I learned that a LOT of the entrepreneurs that I worked with…had low GPA and REALLY could not thrive in a corporate machine. That doesn't mean that they were nonconforming or unable to keep a job. It just meant that they knew that they needed to work for themselves in order to feel most useful to the world. They were geniuses. Complete geniuses. Maybe you are one of them.

I work for a mid-sized company now (since relocating), and I think it's a good fit for me in terms of culture, responsibility, and work-life balance. I think that you should try to get some exposure to the entrepreneur world. I am not suggesting that you go start your own company. Maybe just see if you can find a position with a smaller company. This is an option that might work well for you.

Law school is one avenue, but it's not the only one. My uncle is a tax attorney and he does extremely well. He said that the Bar is a bit easier than the CPA, so your chances of passing are pretty darn good, given your track record. I do know what it's like to have insane student loans, so make sure to look at all of your options. You're 25, and you have plenty of time to figure it out. You may have to do some crappy jobs in the interim, but everything will fall into place. Every crappy job is a learning experience. Nothing happens over night, so be patient with your trial and error.

Hang in there. It will all work out!

[Sir Ivalis]

Hi Parthamis,

I'm a licensed attorney, and thanks in part to this forum, I'm also now a CPA. The answer to your question is very easy: absolutely do not go to law school.

I'll put the reasons in a little list:

1. The job market for law is pretty terrible and there are signs that it's probably only going to get worse. I did the reverse of what you're doing in order to find a stable career: got out of law school, worked some low-level jobs, then went back to school for an MST and got a job offer within my first 3 months there.

2. You mentioned this one – big opportunity cost and tuition/living costs.

3. Related to #2 – going to a lower tier school to get a full ride: smart choice for the wallet, terrible for job prospects. If you think the big 4 is bad with judging you on pedigree, the law firms are much, much worse. They want a candidate, not only with top grades, but from a top law school (usually meaning top ~14 schools in the country). This is not to say that if you crushed your grades at a lower tier school, you couldn't get a good job, it just makes the odds worse.

4. You may hate law school. In my mind, people should only go to law school if all they dream about is being in the courtroom all day. This is a slight exaggeration, but you get the idea. Law school is absolutely the last place to go simply because you think you might it like or you're just not sure what to do next. I speak from my own mistake.

5. If I haven't swayed you by now, go take an LSAT practice exam first in timed conditions. There are plenty of prep companies who offer something like that or you can just download one from the official site. See how you do without any studying. A good exam prep company might be able to get you another 10 points on top of that on a good day. Where does that place you when you look at median GPA/LSAT acceptance rates at law schools? This step can be discouraging enough for a lot of people to turn them away from the idea. On the other hand, if you crush it, then you can really start thinking about the next steps.

There are a lot of good career paths out there for a CPA. That staff job you were let go from and it's crappy culture (and the type of work) is one of thousands. One data point is simply not enough to write off the profession, in my opinion. So hope that helps, and best of luck to you.

REG - 81
FAR - April 13th (73), TBD
AUD - July 6th
BEC - TBD

[Parthamis]

two extremely powerful posts…

@Sir Ivalis
what you have said, is what many others have told me, including on this law school forum:
https://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=283970
another idea I've had was to go to law school under a full scholarship for a year just to see if I'd like it.

@yackemo17
The worst part of losing my job is that it was an incredible firm with an incredible starting salary. The fact that I have to start and work much at much lower level positions paying less is depressing. Everyone in my graduating class is 1-2 years ahead of me in terms of the public accounting career path.
-At the beginning of this year, I thought I would be able to finish my CPA off, discover what I am doing with my life, and have total physical fitness. I have only accomplished 1 of these (CPA). I am certain that I passed the Audit exam, score coming in 9 days.

[Anonymous]

A lot of great replies here.

I also had considered law school, but realized I would not be a great lawyer. I have plenty of knowledge and am an excellent student, but I would not be able to be in the court room day in and day out. However, I do find Law interesting and enjoyed learning about Business Law in REG – specifically Bankruptcy and Securities Laws. Some of the Tax Law was interesting too, but most of the Tax in REG was strictly computational.

Goodluck everyone and know the sky is the limit! Prove all of you nay-sayers wrong!!

[kay]

I've thought about law school as well but for a very different reason. I love tax, I think it's interesting and rewarding and gives me the variety I crave in my day to day work. But what I ultimately would like to do is teach. In order to make that happen at least in my area I really need a terminal degree. My options are a JD or PhD. Both can be geared towards a tax emphasis but the most significant difference is a JD can be done part time taking up to 6 years to complete depending on my course load, but will cost more and will take the same amount of time to complete. There is some opportunity there though to continue working full-time and I won't have to write a thesis. The PhD will take 4-5 years and I won't be able to work due to the demands required to receive the tuition waivers and living stipend.
I think in your situation if you don't have a specific plan/ reason to pursue more eduction other then law school sounds cool, its likely you'll get yourself in a position of being over educated and under paid while having lost the opportunity cost associated with going back to school.
I'd suggest cleaning up your resume, and hitting the job market hard. Don't under sell yourself but don't also base what you want salary wise on your previous firm if you know they were paying above market. I think getting a job in accounting is your best bet, it will build your confidence again and once your in if you work hard and concentrate on performance you can climb the ranks quickly. If this time next year your still thinking about law school then you may consider applying.
Also out of curiosity how can you be so sure you'll get a full ride with a mediocre GPA, no real work experience and having been out of school for a bit? Where can I find these type of scholarships.

[kay]

Also I think very few people are aware of the possibility of being admitted to to practice tax law in front of the tax court without a JD. If your serious about tax and specifically representing clients in audits, look into the non attorney acceptance to practice in front of the tax court. This combined with your CPA may get you in at a smaller law/CPA firm specializing in client representation.

[scattershot]

if you're dead set on law school, be aware of the bi-modal salary distribution — don't fall for career services' lies about graduate salaries at 90/120/whatever.

[Parthamis]

@kay
I was looking at a couple low ranked schools, so low that the 75th percentile GPA was below 3.0 and LSAT was 152. I figure having above both those features, and having a CPA+work experience on top, I would definitely qualify for free tuition.

[dgg135]

I'm a lawyer. Don't go.

[discouragedinpublic]

I actually considered going back to law school as well as it was something successful people in our department had in addition to their cpa. I just found out I am about to lose my job after only a few months and I am not sure if I am going to still consider going to law school. Like you I am about to pass my final cpa exam. I think I may have to go back into industry in which case I don’t see the point in going back to law. But if I had the chance to stay in that department I definitely would have.

[Author]

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