Law School

[logicallefty]

I have two career fields I am experienced in, IT and law enforcment.

Lately I have had the interest in taking up law school and doing something like be a lawyer who specializes in Digital Forensics and Computer Related cases. I live in a metro area with hundreds of lawyers and they all contract this kind of service out to one guy, who is a friend of mine, and he is sufficating in money at $250-$300 per hour. So much that he turns people away constantly.

I need to find a law school that is either :

1) part time and approved by the Illinois State Bar

2) online and approved by the Illinois State Bar

Been having trouble finding one . There is a great law school within driving distance but they only do full time which I can't do right now. I would have to sell my house, quit working, and kiss my time with my daughter goodbye which I won't do.


Anyone knowledgeable in this kind of thing have any insight?

 

[Bible_Belt]

There's not one; that's why you can't find one. I'm in Illinois. I graduated from SIU law.

 

[dasein]

1. Skip law school
2. Find an existing lawyer who would like to do this kind of work.
3. Offer integrated service packages... however, there will need some attention to the Bar rules, it is very workable though.

 

[logicallefty]

I was thinking there may just be no fit in one for me. I am close to UIUC but again, they are a full time gig. I can appreciate law being a field where you can only go full time and not online. I wish IT was that way too to weed out the bad weeds.

Dasein, you aren't the first one who advised me to do just what you said. I have the Computer Forensics and Cybercrime training and experience, and the law enforcement too. I just know that often times in this day and age, unless you are a real true practicing lawyer, your word isn't credible. Although.... I have been in court PRO SE against an opponent with a lawyer and won. Still, I know I am not a lawyer and I have a very high respect for lawyers, what they do, and what they put up with. I know lots of them.

Thank you fellas.

 

[dasein]

Would suggest taking the opportunity cost of law school and investing that into marketing/networking. You will learn -nothing- about this area in law school, and will suffer an immense opportunity cost. Moreover, once you are a lawyer, you can't just walk in and cold call prospects in every state I'm aware of. You also will have prospective troubles with practicing without a license should you grow and take on out of state clients.

IMO your best bet is to start networking with inhouse legal counsel of midsized companies. You sell them a flat fee security package that includes "customized" security policies and plans. This part is the only legal related part and it is mostly cut paste. You do a profile, then use your template to generate the policies, hand off to inhouse counsel who reviews and revises then company adopts. That's the whole legal end. You conduct seminars training to the new policies and then do the actual IT review. Have several tiered packages such that you can step down from your premium packages to your actual desired package.

 

[Bible_Belt]

Yeah, the "average starting salary" and % who found a job numbers are completely bogus. The only grads they include in the survey are the ones who respond to their email solicitations.

Scholarships are another law school scam. They suck you in with the scholarship, but don't mention that you have to have to be in the top half or so of your class to keep the scholarship. Because law grades are your rank against everyone else, half of the students will be below the median regardless of their individual grades. Depending on the school, 1/3 to 1/2 of the scholarships will be lost, and then the school can recycle them to lure in a new sucker next year, while the student who thought law school would be free is now on the hook for 2 1/2 years of tuition.

 

[logicallefty]

Thanks again all. All feedback is appreciated.

I was making decent money back when I was a Cybercrime Detective. Now I am working a regular IT/Security job and making more than that, more than what entry level attorneys make in my area, but less than the real experienced attorneys make here.

I definately have other options without law school. I was looking to law school because I just love the whole criminal justice and law field. I love the Cyber/computer security stuff too. Computer Forensics, etc. I also find myself called on by friends and family for legal advice, and it comes easily to me most of the time. I just don't have the law degree and BAR certification to back it up.

Thanks again all. Until there is a part-time or online option I don't see law school in my future, and maybe not even at that point.

 

[Bokanovsky]

100% of the lawyers here told you not to go to law school. I cosign what Bradd said. It is more beneficial to you to go to a lower tier law school with good regional placement and place in the top 10% of your class with a scholarship than it is to go to a higher one and place 50%. Ultimately though, you simply can't know for sure how you will place in your law school graduating class before you go to law school. I also seriously doubt that there are many low tier regional schools in Illinois that can place graduates because of the glut of law schools there, similar to my own market.

The best students in law school are not out chasing women or having fun. Even the highly paid lawyers are still doing more work to make less money than other in-demand fields like computer science, accounting, finance etc. You likely make more money as a police officer than half of the criminal defense lawyers you see around the courthouse.

I have to go against the grain here. Going to law school was the best decision I've ever made. I make great money, I am my own boss and I actually like what I do, for the most part. The key to having a successful career as a lawyer is to make it a business rather than a job. As an associate, you will be worked like a slave and not paid nearly enough for it. Most of the miserable lawyers that you keep hearing about are employees. But if you are capable of starting your own practice (either by yourself or with other lawyers as partners) and establishing your own client base, it's a totally different ballgame. At the end of the day, it's like any other business. Some lawyers are good business people, others are not.