Reasons You Should Not Study Law

Most students who did arts in secondary school always craved to study law. It has become so rampant that even science or commercial students even want to become lawyers. Many have many reasons for choosing this path while many as well have reasons that are obviously not cogent. For those whose passion is Law and feel they are brilliant and capable enough, IT'S A GOOD IDEA. But for those who have reasons that are not pleasant to the ears, best of luck o. 

For a lot of these people, their reasons for wanting to study law is enough reason for you to know it's a wrong choice.

Below are Some Wrong and Useless Reasons Many People Want To Study Law:

1. “I like arguing and everyone says I’m good at it.”

Of all reasons to study law, this is the worst by a large margin. Know who else likes arguing? Sports talk radio hosts, cable news talking heads and teenagers — i.e., idiots. If you like to argue just for the sake of being contentious, you shouldn’t that doesn't mean you'll be able to debate in a court room.

If you like arguing for the intellectual challenges it can present, that’s an understandable and reasonable position. Everyone likes a healthy, intelligent debate right? Well, understand that being a lawyer has almost nothing to do with arguing in the conventional sense, and very many lawyers never engage in anything resembling “arguments” in their commonly understood form. 

You won’t even be having fun discussions in law school. In law school, the people who want to “argue” a lot are called “gunners” and are reviled by everyone, even the professors. 

2. “I want to be like Gani Fawehinmi, Femi Falana [or any other character].”

I have little sympathy for this perspective. It is 2017, if you still allow yourself to be misled by the fact that you want to be like some other people instead of being yourself, it means you are either getting it wrong or you deliberately decided to close your eyes to the right thing, 

The actual job of being a lawyer is NOTHING AT ALL like what you see on TV, so, it's far from what you see from afar.

There is NO lawyer/law procedural that even remotely shows what it’s like to be a lawyer. So, instead of staying far from the profession and wishing to come closer because some people are doing well, why not look for the best profession you too can do well and others will want to be like you too?

3. “It’s the only way I can use my humanities degree.”

Many people think being a lawyer or studying law is the only lucrative profession/prospect in arts and humanities. However, the world is changing, and the economy is drifting to other professions as well. The world's economy is shifting to a service and information based economy, and soft majors are already becoming more and more valuable.

Why? Because a services and information-based economy needs what the Arts and Humanities creates: literate, intelligent, well-read people who can write and communicate ideas effectively. The demand for these people is not going to flutter out. In fact, it will only grow stronger as the economy continues to shift and the supply of qualified candidates remains insufficient. Do not make the mistake of thinking being a lawyer is your only option. That is simply not true. In plain English: A humanities major now has many, many options they didn’t have in the pre-Internet era.

Beyond that, this reason belies an assumption: That you have to get a job. When you finish school, everyone knows about the two most obvious options: 1. Get a job working for someone else or 2. Get more schooling. But there is a third option: Carve your own path in the world. This can take many different forms, like starting a company. Or it could take the form of many other sorts of lifehacking activities.

If you limit yourself to the choices presented to you by people who once did one of those two things — get a job or go back to school — then you obviously aren’t going to understand that. There are other ways to make a living, and lots of people following those paths, you just have to go look for them.

There are other courses you can study in the arts and humanities, such as English, Linguistics, Classics, Archaeology, even Education, among others. 

4. “I don’t know what else to do.”

If you are coming to the end of your schooling and don’t know what to do, or just otherwise feel lost in life, you shouldn’t feel bad. It’s OK. 

If your parents and friends say that you should have already “picked a direction” or “figured out a plan for your future” by now, ignore them (sometimes). The pressure and admonitions they are foisting upon you aren’t about your happiness or your success; it’s about theirs. It’s about validating themselves as good parents and friends. If they see you go to law school, to them it means you a) got good grades, b) went to college, c) didn’t drop out, d) didn’t commit (m)any felonies, e) have ambition and f) will make six-figures. By every traditional measure, they have succeeded in their prescribed roles.

None of these, of course, has anything to do with whether you are happy or fulfilled or even like the law; which are the most important considerations when making a decision like this. Many parents who have children doing humanities always want them to study Law or become a lawyer. They'd say, if you become a lawyer, it'd make them happy. But also consider your happiness too.

5. “I want to make a lot of money.”

If there’s one thing you can’t argue with, it’s that lawyers make a lot of money, right? 

Well, I think that's Wrong. WRONG! There are a lot of professions that pay better, far better!

Now, ask yourself this question again:

“Why do I want to study Law or be a lawyer?”

If ANY of the above reasons describe why you want to become a Lawyer, I advise you to stop now. Seriously. No qualifiers on this statement, just stop. DO NOT GO. Look for the best profession for yourself.