Law Students: How To Make The Most Of Your Law Degree If You’re Not Going To Practice

Casetext is offering select students the opportunity to gain real entrepreneurial experience while in school as part of its law student ambassador program.

In law school, some people you meet were born lawyers — their first words were “summary judgment,” their family tree is all lawyers for like five generations, and they feel more comfortable in a suit than jeans. They probably even dressed like this at their first Halloween.

And then there are the rest of us. Those that wonder, do I actually want to be a lawyer? What if $180,000 of debt and the three hardest years of my life were a huge mistake? The thought crossed my mind more than a few times in law school.

But now that there are a few years between me and law school, I am happy to report: going to law school is the best decision you’ve ever made, even if — and especially if — you don’t want to be a lawyer.

Why? Because in law school you are learning deeply about a profession that comprises only 0.3% of the U.S. population but serves tens of millions of people. That is, it’s an enormously important profession where only a select few have the knowledge to fix it — and soon you’ll be one of those people. The opportunity to make an impact is enormous. And your skepticism about the status quo will only help you.

The key is taking control over your path in the law now, today. By seeking out the right experiences in school and after graduation — which aren’t always the same things your classmates are doing — you’ll build your credibility, develop real insights about the industry, and better identify what you can uniquely bring to the table to make a difference.

This is precisely what I did. I founded Casetext in response to a problem I saw as a litigator: merely accessing the law is insanely expensive, creating an unequal playing field that advantages the well-heeled. With knowledge of the law and a commitment to social justice, we’ve built a free legal research website that draws on the collective knowledge of the legal community. And we’re disrupting a billion-dollar industry in the process.

We needed to be lawyers to make this happen. Half of our team attended law school, got a J.D., passed the bar, and spent years practicing law. (Even some of our amazing engineers are lawyers!) We worked at big and small firms, for state and federal government, and in roles as diverse as defending inmates on death row to litigating patents. But now we’re completely rethinking legal research and publishing, and supporting a movement within the legal community that’s changing how lawyers and the public access the law. We wouldn’t know that the problem existed, let alone have any idea of how to fix it, if we didn’t have a background in law.

So the question to ask yourself is: If not practicing law, then what? What is going to be my path? How am I going to help make the legal industry more egalitarian, more efficient, more sustainable, more profitable, or more tech-forward?

That’s what this time in law school is for: seeking out experiences that will make you not only practice-ready, but innovation-ready. It’s why we’re offering select law students the opportunity to gain real entrepreneurial experience while in school and build a movement of legal innovation and open access to law at their schools as part of our law student ambassador program. It’s one thing to talk about changing things, but there’s no replacement for seeing firsthand what it takes to do something truly new in an old industry.

Legal entrepreneurship isn’t always the easiest path — there are no big bonuses or public interest fellowships, and you’ll face naysayers and days where you wonder if it can even be done. But if your interest in the law is more “big thinking” than brief-writing, it may be the more gratifying, impactful route for your career. By giving support and direction to some of the most ambitious, innovative law students in the country, we hope to foster the next generation of lawyers that can rethink what it means to practice law. We’ve seen firsthand the countless challenges in the law that demand innovation, and we’re looking for law students who, like us, want to think outside of the box and make a difference.

So you’re in law school, but you may not grow up to be a lawyer — don’t panic. Embrace it.


Jake Heller is the Founder and CEO of Casetext, the best place to read and write about the law, and recently named one of the 25 Hottest Startups in SF. To work with him and the Casetext team this fall, apply to be a Law Student Ambassador at your school at https://casetext.com/students. #FreeTheLaw