Quinn Emanuel Partner Warns: 'Don't Go To Law School'

Even if law school works out for you, this partner reminds you that it doesn't.

At this point, telling people not to go to law school — unless they really want to be a lawyer — is a little bit like telling children that they can’t fly. Most kids intuitively understand the reality, others will at least Google it, but there will always be a few kids who will tie beach towels around their necks and take a header off of something. All you can do is hope they’re jumping off their couches and not their garages.

That said, it’s rare that people tell children that flying itself is bad. But that is precisely what Susan Estrich is doing. Estrich is a partner at Quinn Emanuel, a law professor, and has an ex-spouse who is famous. In her piece on Creators Syndicate, Estrich argues that even if you go to law school and magically end up in Biglaw, it’s still not worth it:

But even if you go Big Law, you’ll likely make less than your pals who go the finance route, and aren’t billing by the hours worked. Law just isn’t a very good way to get rich, unless you were a charter member of the team that took on tobacco, or you spend all of your time doing “bad baby” cases, which takes a kind of John Edwards capacity to compartmentalize… and make your fortune off the worst tragedies. To each his own. Everybody needs a lawyer, but they don’t necessarily need you.

Truth. It’s a damn near under-reported part of the law school trap: the elite who really can get the test scores and eat the hours and make it to Biglaw could have made much more money doing other elite-ass things. Becoming a lawyer is a great way to improve your standard of living if you come from a family of poors who thinks rich people “worked for every penny they had.” But if you are a lawyer, your income is pretty much restricted to how many hours you can work in a day. That’s no way to live.

Take it from the Quinn Emanuel lady. Look at the Quinn Emanuel bonus structure. A senior associate who billed 3,000 hours received a whopping $20,000 more than a senior person who billed 2,101. Is that worth it? Estrich is telling you that the people who are rich are the ones who can afford to pay her fees.

Estrich saves her harshest words for the dumbest people:

But if you want to practice law, no matter what, do not go to an unaccredited law school. I’m going to anger some people in my home state for saying this, but California is allowing shysters and fly-by-night operators to lure vulnerable folks who don’t know better with the promise that they can be “lawyers” in just four short years. Or at least that’s what the matchbook says. I call them matchbook law schools, although technically they are unaccredited law schools, and they suck up money and produce almost no lawyers.

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Again, she’s not wrong.

But you know how kids are. Superman could come down and say “you know, I don’t think this flying thing is for you,” and a kid would say, “you’re just jealous that I’ve figured out how to steal your power,” tugging on his cape all the while.

Don’t Go To Law School [The Star Democrat]

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