Hanging up my badge and gun and going to Law School
I have a deep love of the law and for years I have done my very best to evenly, fairly and honestly enforce it. Its been a very rocky road and I have seen the best this career has to offer and the worst, I’ve worked with the brightest as well as the dullest which has brought me to a point where I have made a decision to take the next step.
I have decided to hang up my badge and gun and go to law school. I feel that I can make a bigger difference this way. I feel that far too many people on both side of the court room are abusing the system and instead of standing by and allowing it to happen I am going to do more about it.
The ball is now rolling and I am very eager and anxious to get started.
+1…I can count on one hand the number of law school classmates I would let represent me…
be forewarned as well…“the system” definitely chews up a lot of the idealism you clearly possess…save this post so you can look at it when you are a 3L
Todd and I are so far as I know the only two “lawyers” to post so far, and neither of us actively practices law…
i did have a blast in law school though…110 hour work weeks for a large firm, though, would have put me in a (very) early grave…
I have toyed with the idea of hanging up my spurs and going to law school to go into environmenntal law. I have many lawyer friends and several that do corporate enviro law for the Coal industry and make a very nice living at it.
I could get paid large sums of money to frustrate hippies…Other than my student debt, I really ain’t seeing a down side here.
Seeing what I have seen as a law enforcement officer with experience in two states having endured what I have gone through at the hands of some very questionable coworkers has solidified me after years of wanting to it took something or should I say someone lighting the fuse to eternally motivate me.
Not a lawyer, but I have friends who made the change you are embarking on.
Those that were happiest with the move made their way to other LE agencies who liked hiring lawyers. The others valued money over societal impact and didn’t have their hearts in LE anyway. Nor were they super cops to begin with.
One friend who ended up being a DA describes the same frustrations in the DA’s office that he did in the patrol room: micromanagement by admin, lack of the impact he imagined making, lack of discretion in how to handle matters assigned to him, constraints of P&P, etc. He gets some relief by copping on the side in a neighboring jurisdiction, but it isn’t what was imagined.
Couple that with the fact that in his AO, he’d be making more as a cop than a DA, and it will take a long time for him to catch up. Money isn’t everything, but the cop with the GED making more than he does is a bitter pill at times. Not as uncommon as you’d think, either.
In some venues, a law degree would help you climb quickly into a professional beaurocratic position. You might find opportunity to make a difference there.
I’ve thought often of the same move, and decided I’d rather be a PA than JD.
… and if you are serious about this endeavor, be prepared to say adios to your weekday and Saturday nights. You will become very familiar with the law library.
Good luck. I went PT while working as an LEO. Finished in 1994 and still working as LEO (better pay, pension and benefits). It was a difficult but great experience.
The only bad thing about practicing law is that you have to work with lawyers.
Good luck to you. To be honest I have kicked the idea around myself and when I get that new GI Bill this summer I may look into it harder. Have you figured out how much it will cost and how you are going to pay for it?
please take no offense, and i sincerely want to convey to you as politely as possible…, stop “feeling” and start THINKING !!
i wish you great success in your endeavor, i also hope you become a “Constitutional” attorney/lawyer defending all our GOD given rights and those set forth by our forefathers who fought for our independence and wrote up one of the worlds greatest documents, the “Constitution of the United States of America” with a “Bill of Rights” that guarantee we have due process.
That said, lawyers have become the bane of our society. Truly. Lawyers are the cancer that has taken over DC and wreaked havoc into our society. I can’t help but feel your decision is Borgian. Resistance is futile, assimilate.
