Customer Reviews

Running from the Law: Why Good Lawyers Are Getting Out of the Legal Profession

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Arron's thesis is simple: Law today is a beastly profession, and that is why some of the best and brightest are getting out. This is part self-help book, part career guide. A lot of the feelings these people experienced such as ridicule and incredulity from families and co-workers are explored in detail. Finally, each person who's profiled in the book talks about how and why they changed to their current job.

I found it extremely informative, and the appendices were filled with URLs of websites that talk about changing from a legal career to another field. I highly recommend it.

I've pretty much read this book from cover to cover and feel that it gets close to touching upon what it is like to seek work other than in the law when you have a law degree. What the author does not really touch upon is the bias and resentment that some people face whey they figure out that law school may have been a mistake and they honestly try to find some other career or job. I, myself, got a law degree but was not offered the typical 'starter job' with a law firm after graduation. I was faced with almost $100,000 in school loan debt, the dashed hopes of my family and no 'law career.' The author only mentions that looking for non-legal jobs may be an emotional roller coaster. For me, as I am sure for some others, this doesn't even begin to describe it. The author doesn't mention the hatred and bile that other 'practicing attorneys' spew your way for wanting (financially needing) to leave the flock. The author doesn't really touch upon the resentment from those (who don't even have actual law degrees! ) encountered when seeking a non-legal job. That said, the author does try to give some hope by recounting the stories of successful people who've left the law: David E. Kelley is mentioned casually. One can't help but wonder whether the mistake of getting a law degree is something that society (non-lawyers, but especially attorneys) would ever let someone rectify. In my case, as opposed to the success stories in this book, it seems not.

If this doesn't help talk you OUT of the decision to go into law, probably nothing will. But then, if it CAN talk you out of it, you shouldn't be doing in the the first place. Worth reading.

_Running from the Law: Why Good Lawyers..._ is an extensive sampling of personal statements from licensed attorneys who are fed up with the law as it is practiced now. I read this book as part of my preparation for law school: I want to begin my first year with eyes wide open about the pitfalls of this career. I was not disappointed, as Arron's book provides chilling accounts of miserable lawyers trapped by the "golden handcuffs" and advocates separation from the practice of law to cure their woes. Arron and her interviewees usually agree: the system is at fault. They argue, almost as if they are reciting some kind of party line, that the adversarial nature of our justice system is to blame for the misery of lawyers. It's a shame that a book with so many inspirational stories of people who have escaped the oppressive expectations of their co-workers can't offer any other remedies for legal professionals besides total reformation for the system. In any case, I am glad I read this book, and I would recommend it to anyone who is not sure why she is a lawyer, or to anyone who is sure he is going to become one.