Maybe you have realized that your present job leaves you little opportunity for professional growth. Maybe after speaking with your own attorney, you can’t help but think that you certainly are as capable of earning a law degree and rendering legal advice. Or maybe you are intrigued by the intellectual stimulation, employment flexibility and relative financial stability that typically accompany the attainment of a law degree.

If you find yourself regularly having such thoughts, then you should seriously consider seeking a law degree. Before investing the significant time and expense of obtaining a law degree, you should carefully evaluate your personal answers to the following questions:

•Is it too late for me to go to law school?

Even for people who have been in the work force after college for ten years or more, the answer to this question is increasingly “No. 0”. Applicants who have proven their abilities to succeed in their ch0osen 1occupations after college are increasingly attractive to law schools.

Having acquired the maturity and time management skills from a professional job after college, these law school applicants are often better students and candidates for success than those still accustomed to the relatively unstructured college environment. In addition, law school applicants who have worked after college are typically more committed to their decision to attend law school and less prone to “academic burn-out” than those attending law school straight from college.

•Which law school is best for me?

In the spring of each year, U.S. News and World Report issues its rankings of all of the nation’s law schools. These rankings are helpful as a general guide to assess the relative strengths and weaknesses of a particular law school.

However, applicants should not overemphasize these rankings in choosing which law school is best for them. These rankings necessarily have large subjective components, and many of the factors upon which these rankings are based are subject to overt or subtle manipulation by the law schools.

We are fortunate to have several highly ranked law schools of national acclaim in our region. Although the prestige of a law degree from one of these highly ranked national law schools is undeniable, there are also several well-regarded law schools in our region which excel at developing the necessary practical skills to succeed as lawyers. The lack of necessary credentials or financial resources to attend a highly ranked law school with national prestige should definitely not discourage someone from pursuing a law degree.

•Should I attend law school on a full-time or part-time basis?

The answer to this question is obviously a uniquely personal one depending upon your financial and family circumstances. Again, there are several excellent law schools in our region which have part-time programs to allow students to obtain law degrees while continuing to work. If at all possible, however, the significant challenges of pursuing a law degree are best met by attending law school on a full-time basis.

The rigorous academic requirements and time commitments involved in obtaining a law degree (particularly in the first year of the law school curriculum) are extremely challenging even for the best of students who can devote their full-time attention to this pursuit over the course of three years.

Although there are countless success stories of those who have managed to obtain a law degree on a part-time basis while continuing to work full-time, a law school applicant considering this route cannot fully appreciate the inevitable personal strain this will create over several years until actually experiencing it.

•Will the benefits of obtaining a law degree outweigh the substantial costs? According to the most recent reports addressing this issue, there is general consensus that the costs of attending law school are increasing at a significantly higher rate than the increases in salaries for new attorneys. One recent study in the National Law Journal reported that tuition costs have increased by well over 200 percent since 1990 while median salaries have increased by approximately 60 percent over that time period.

The Princeton Review reports that the average full-time law student now spends more than $125,000 to attend law school and ultimately graduates with over $80,000 of debt. Although starting salaries at the top-tiered law firms are now in the $160,000 range, the median income for law school graduates is only $59,000, according to this same report.

Despite these sobering statistics, the most recent study available from the U.S. government reports that the average salary of a person with a law degree is approximately double that of college graduate’s.

In the final analysis, the decision about whether to attend law school should never be based primarily upon financial concerns. Those applicants who truly have the passion and determination to engage in the practice of law will almost certainly realize not only financial success but also, more importantly, tremendous job satisfaction from choosing a career in the legal profession.

Tim McLean specializes in corporate counseling and commercial litigation at Clingen Callow & McLean LLC, a full-service law firm of business advisers and counselors based in Wheaton. He serves as regional director for Illinois and Northern Indiana for the board of directors of the Notre Dame Law School Association. Contact him at 630-871-2612 or mclean@ccmlawyer.com.