|
I respectfully disagree with jatx about the utility of a legal education in the business world. I’ve worked for and with several successful consultants and business executives with exclusively legal training. I’m not a lawyer, and at this point I’m not even sure if I will practice law. I’m just trying to make it through night school, so perhaps I’m not yet ready to put my legal education in perspective. But now in my fourth year, one thing of which I’m sure is that I’ve been able to develop critical thinking and reasoning skills to a far deeper level than I ever did in b-school. That to me has been the most rewarding part of law school to date. I believe these skills will be valuable no matter where I go after I graduate, so I don’t think I’ve been “wasting daylight.”
There’s nothing magical about the analytical tools taught in business school. These tools can be learned elsewhere. When I joined my first consulting firm after b-school, they immediately shipped me to their internal two-week, mini-MBA program. Many corporate giants like General Electric have well-regarded internal training programs, and McKinsey & Co. actively recruits at law and medical schools. They care much more about whether you are motivated to think and learn, not whether you can build a spreadsheet.
Besides, I learned far more about business after I got my MBA than when I was in b-school. After several years in management consulting, then the corporate world, and now owning a small business, I’ve learned that some of the toughest problems in business cannot be solved by applying the analytical tools taught in b-school.
As for the bar, I plan on sitting for the bar, both state and patent. If only because when I close my eyes I can clearly hear the first words out of the Dean’s mouth on day one of orientation week. “We look forward to spending the next three to four years with you. But remember, you cannot call yourself a lawyer until you’ve passed the bar.”
|