Liam, 38
“My career was going nowhere. I decided it was time for a change. My performance in college wasn’t good enough for law school right after. So, enough time had passed that my bad grades could be forgiven
“I was in a solid job for almost 11 years before I came to school. I had good pay, retirement, benefits, not to mention I worked my butt off and saved my pennies, so I had a good amount of money saved up. Yes, it was a dead-end job, but I could have stayed there another 25 years, and retired comfortably. I really gave all of that up to come to law school. If this didn’t/doesn’t work out, I can’t just go back. It would mean starting over from scratch, again.”
| Getting back into the “swing” of things… | “[I] Decided I had no choice and forced myself through sheer force of will.” |
| Biggest shock of coming back to school… | How much easier it was from a scheduling perspective but harder from an intellectual perspective. |
| Greatest challenges in law school… | Personal stress and expectations. |
| Greatest resources… | Great friends and mentors. |
| Law school and your personal life… | My personal life comes second but I have wonderful supportive people in them that make it work. |
| Your Story/Advice… | If you’re having trouble finding your place, remember everyone brings something different to the table. As a non-traditional student you have something that no one straight out of undergrad can have, experience. Even if your life has had nothing to do with the law, it can be useful to you and your classmates. Don’t try to hide what makes you different, use it to make everyone better. |
First Gen JD 