Don't Go To Law School Because Of Trump

If you want to resist, there are other, less expensive ways to do it.

Donald Trump (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty)

‘You want to go to law school?’ (photo of Donald Trump by Win McNamee/Getty)

To many, President Donald Trump is the cold-hearted Republican who threatens to lower taxes for the rich, brutalize immigrants, and rule us like a king. As individuals, they feel that there isn’t much they can do to stand up to him other than vote in the next election and in the meantime, attend a protest or two.

Then they saw lawyers nationwide band together to fight Trump’s executive orders banning certain immigrants. They saw the lawyers assemble at airports protecting immigrants from the overzealous border police. They took their cases before the courts, successfully convincing the judges that the executive order is unconstitutional and should be struck down.

These lawyers were considered heroes. And for the first time in a long while, lawyers in general were seen as role models and not as bloodsucking vampires. And this may continue to be the case for the next four to eight years.

For the young and idealistic, those who are jaded with their current careers, and those who hate President Trump for whatever reason, they may think that now would be a good time to become a lawyer and be part of the action.

There has a recent increase in LSAT and law school applications, with some speculating that it is partly in response to Trump. Some are calling it the “Trump Bump.” An increase in applications does not necessarily mean more people will go to law school, as some people apply to explore their options and use their acceptance letters as leverage for scholarships or job offers. But it is an indication of things to come.

Being a lawyer for the sole purpose of trolling President Trump seems very short-sighted considering he will be in office for eight years at most. Most are applying for the traditional reasons: political science majors, those who have no options with their liberal arts degrees other than degrading commission-only sales jobs, Saul Goodman fans, and those don’t want to practice law but are hoping that the LLM in Space Law will help them become a rocket scientist or an astrophysicist.

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With that being said, going to law school because of President Trump is a stupid idea. It means you have done little research on law school and are going based on emotion. It makes no sense on a financial and practical level.

First, let’s look at the lawyer protests at the airports since that’s where most of the attention has been. Part of the reason lawyers are getting good press is because they were working for free. Everyone loves free lawyers. Can you imagine how the public would react if lawyers approached the frightened immigrants at the airport terminal with an attorney-client contract specifying their $250 hourly rate and requesting $2,500 upfront? I can hear the cries of the social justice warrior outrage: “How dare those greedy lawyers take advantage of the vulnerable!?”

If you are able to participate with the attorneys at the airport, you may learn ways to protect people from Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers who might force them to waive their rights and deport themselves. But other than that, I wouldn’t expect much more than a symbolic participation trophy or at least an admirable check-in post on Facebook. You see, the above doesn’t really translate well into a securities, banking or tax practice if you are gunning for Biglaw. It works if you want to be an immigration lawyer, although in a typical day, immigration attorneys’ encounters with ICE officers are not this up close and personal.

Also, let’s consider the time investment just to be a lawyer, typically three years in law school. During that time, you will not be spending too much time protesting because you will be too busy studying the nuances of the Uniform Commercial Code, the Parol Evidence Rule, and the Erie Doctrine. And by the time you graduate and pass the bar exam, Trump will be running for re-election.

As I mentioned before, activists should not go to law school because they don’t have to be lawyers to make change. The three years spent in law school can be spent pursuing their social causes. In fact, the large student loan debt might limit their options and possibly force them to work for the dark side.

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And speaking of student loans, I wouldn’t count on President Trump making student loan reform a high priority in his agenda. Unless you are savvy enough to negotiate a substantial tuition discount, frugal enough to limit your borrowing, and talented enough to land a high paying summer associate position, you will graduate with crushing six-figure law school and undergrad debt. Most of us are painfully aware that student loan debt is nearly nondischargeable in bankruptcy. Since President Trump has financially benefited from our bankruptcy laws on multiple occasions, I was hoping he would understand that making student loans dischargeable in bankruptcy would help make America great again. But now that it appears that most law school graduates (and most young people in general) will oppose President Trump to some degree, it doesn’t make sense for him to lighten their heavy financial burden.

So to those who want to be lawyers to fight President Trump, I understand where you’re coming from. Once you graduate from law school and pass the bar exam, you can do your part to represent an immigrant for free. But if you want to resist, there are other, less expensive ways to do it. When you graduate with limited job prospects and huge student loan debt, who do you think will get the last laugh?

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Shannon Achimalbe was a former solo practitioner for five years before deciding to sell out and get back on the corporate ladder. Shannon can be reached by email at sachimalbe@excite.com and via Twitter: @ShanonAchimalbe.