I've been a lawyer for almost 15 years. Worked several years at an international firm with 500+ lawyers, and did antitrust/banking litigation and other business-v-business disputes. It sucked. Now work at a 5-person firm (all partners; eat what we kill but share the overhead) and do some personal injury plaintiff work, some hourly litigation, and some estate-related stuff. It is infinitely better, and I make 2 or 3 times what I was making at the big firm I left, depending on how some of my contingency-fee cases go.
Law school is a huge sham, and prepares you zero. I currently have a law student who "shadows" me on most of the interesting stuff - depositions, mediations, hearings, trials - she tries to make herself available, she stays up to speed on the cases, and balances that with her school work. She is not paid for this, but she is learning a ton, and there is a decent chance that I hire her as an associate when she graduates. I don't really care about her grades or anything else, because law school is a sham and I know that.
The point is, if you want to be a litigator and cannot go the private sector route because of grades/resume, try to get into a similar situation with someone at a small firm. Show that effort, show you have a personality, show that interest, and you can probably land a decent opportunity out of school, and eventually, you will make good money if you stay the course.
If you are inclined to sit back and waffle about the profession and just try to improve your grades, you are pretty much fucked and you should quit right now and quit incurring debt and go do something different. The best way to turn it around is to be honest with yourself - you won't get a big firm job, you probably won't get a private sector job based on on-campus interviews, and you need to start networking.
This post says it best! Law school really is nothing like practicing law, so go shadow a lawyer for the summer (or heck, in the spring, couple hours a week around classes) and see if you like it. Find some alum to follow to District Court (i.e. misdemeanors and traffic tickets) and see if that circus is for you. Find another alum, or just go sit in Superior Court on a Monday and watch opening statements in a trial. If you are in it just for the money though, run! The market economy for mid-class and lower graduates is terrible - you'll have to do a lot of door-to-door work on resumes, networking, etc., to eventually find yourself in the right place at the right time.
My path wasn't typical at all, but I absolutely LOVE practicing law. During law school, I volunteered and had a fellowship at Legal Aid, as well as took WFU's Litigation Clinic. After graduation, while looking for work, somebody at church asked if I knew how to write a will. (I did, thanks to Legal Aid and not law school). I wrote theirs. Somebody else needed a traffic ticket - I learned that in Lit Clinic. Then my first will client passed away and the family paid me a nominal fee to attend the probate hearing with them and help answer questions and explain the legal terminology that the clerk's aren't allowed to. One thing led to another, and 6 months later we "officially" opened Payne Law, PLLC, and now almost 2 years later, I am super happy. I set my own hours, I have fantastic mentors (fellow lawyers who couldn't hire an attorney but will gladly help you out when you have a question about "how do I do _____?"), and I make decent money. Yea, I'm on the income based repayment, but its entirely possible that in 3-4 years, I'll be able to "catch up" on my payments, if I keep on my current track.
So... the best way to find out if law school is worth it is to go find what real lawyers are doing and shadow them for free. Offer to do anything they need done, and trust me, they'll find something. We had two "volunteers" at our firm this past summer (one was taking a class at her undergrad and needed an unpaid internship, the other is a local student home from college and just wanted to see if they thought they would enjoy being a lawyer). Both helped me a ton - there's always a project that needs to be done that I can't bill for, so I get to it when I get to it (or never? ha!).
If you ever want to chat about this, feel free to PM me and I'll shoot you my contact info.
Disclaimer: I taught high school band for 3.5 years (graduated from undergrad at Christmas) and was miserable - unsupportive parents and administrators, etc.; now I handle death and divorce (besides traffic tickets, business advising, and general practice stuff that pops up in a small town) and absolutely love it.
Either way, good luck to you and I wish you the best in whatever path you choose. It's not a decision to take lightly!
