No, Really

I know a lot of law students, mostly, but not entirely, through the Penn Law School Light Opera Company. Of those law students I know, I'd like to think that a good handful of them really know me pretty well.

I'm going to guess that if you took a survey, not a single one of them would tell you that yes, I would be happy in law school.

This is something that I've known about myself since my freshman year at Penn. I walked into a meeting about submatriculation certain that not only did I want to be a a lawyer, but also that I wanted to start law school before I finished my undergrad degree. I walked out of that meeting knowing that I really, really didn't want to go to law school. Like, ever.


I think there are two kinds of people who eventually make it to law school: the kind who genuinely want to be lawyers and the kind who see it as something to do while they figure everything else out. Law school for me always seemed like a fall-back: "Oh well, if I can't figure out what I want to do with my life, I'll just go to law school." I'd hate it, but it would at least guarantee me an income upon graduation. Probably.

But now, with my sudden unemployment, my family is lobbying hard for law school. At least once a day, someone will phone me to suggest it. Now, I love my family to death, but this is going to have to stop, and soon, or they will quickly discover how easy it is for me to screen my calls.

Yes, I probably would make a good lawyer. And Ru Paul isn't a bad-looking man. But if you're just doing something because you can, what's the point?