Law school: yeah or nah?

If you told my junior high and high school teachers that I grew up to become a lawyer, they’d probably laugh at you and question what sort of mind-altering substance you had taken that day.

To say I was not the most motivated student in my teen years would be a significant understatement.

I was more concerned about having fun, making people laugh, and having extended lunches on school days at friends’ houses playing “Halo,” “Gears of War,” and all other manner of mid-2000s video game classics through the afternoon class periods.

I was also the kid that sometimes did his homework and then didn’t bother to turn it in. Even calling in some favors from the attendance lady at our school, I still had to go to a session or two of “Saturday School” to graduate from high school.

For parents of kids like me, maybe hearing all of this is of comfort to you that your kid might still amount to something.

Or maybe it just makes things worse knowing that your slacker kid might later become something even worse – a lawyer!

Why I went to law school?

I wish I had a compelling story about how my passion for the law from a young age guided me to becoming a lawyer. But that would be a lie. And I am a lot of things, but a liar is not one of them.

I also wish I could say that as soon as I got to law school, I quickly developed a passion for helping the injured. But that would be a lie too.

I spent the first seven years of my career doing insurance defense work – i.e., helping insurance companies pay the lowest amount possible to resolve personal injury claims.

The worst part is, I even enjoyed working with insurance companies (don’t tell my fellow plaintiff’s lawyers), built a ton of awesome relationships, and learned a lot of things that make me a better and more effective plaintiff’s personal injury lawyer now.

So no, it wasn’t a passion about helping people that led me to law school either.

What was it?

Well, I’ll level with you – I went to law school because it was the one “acceptable” career path that did not require math – I hate math.

Should you go to law school?

My story is one of how a hatred for math led to a love of being a lawyer. I absolutely love my job as a personal injury attorney!

There is nothing more rewarding than getting a great outcome in a personal injury case for a client that they could not have obtained on their own.

It’s even better when the client is grateful and tells you as much. I love being able to make a tangible positive impact in people’s lives. But me getting here was a happy accident. I never would have guessed “personal injury attorney” would have been my ideal career path – but here I am, and it is! There are so many rewarding career paths and niches in the law should you choose to go this route.

Most career paths in the law require three things in varying doses: (1) a lot of reading; (2) a lot of writing; and (3) long hours alone.

If you can handle these three things, I am confident you can carve out a rewarding career as a lawyer.

But the answer to whether you should go to law school is that annoying lawyer answer – it depends.

Austin Strobel is a personal injury attorney at the Idaho Advocates, with 10 years of experience practicing on both sides of personal injury claims of all varieties.

This column provides general information and is not to be considered legal advice. Readers with specific legal questions should consult an attorney. The Idaho State Bar Association provides a lawyer referral service, through their website at https://isb.idaho.gov/.