Looking for some advice. I work in compliance now, and I got accepted into a hybrid JD program. Cost is almost completely covered by scholarship, so that is not a factor. I had looked at law programs a lot before but cost has been the limiting factor. I’m trying to decide whether to go ahead with it, and just looking to see if anyone else has taken a similar path and what the experience was like.

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I have a JD. Most of my team is JDs. If you plan to stay in PA, it is 100% NOT worth going. However, if you do consider leaving PA, having the option of joining a CPA firm OR law firm is a great option. I’d be glad to answer any questions you have. What are your future plans and what LOB are you?

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Is your question regarding what the law school experience is like or what opportunities there are if you pursue a law degree? Or something totally different that I am not reading?

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Also law school for 4 years (Assumimg you’ll do part time) is a lot of work still and will probably suck when balanced with the fact you’ll still be working.

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I’m considering doing the same. Interested in hearing about how this goes for you.

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TL:DR - it may not be worth it
———————
A hybrid law school program? What is that? lol
Like everything else hybrid, you may be putting yourself at a disadvantage. Is your goal to be a lawyer or continue to be an accountant? If the latter, maybe don’t waste your time and money pursuing a JD. You can find lawyers at RSM who can teach you the ins and outs of legal research and writing. If your goal is to be a lawyer and potentially move to a law firm to practice tax law, then it might be worth it. Although, this brings me back to my first point. Will any law firm consider a candidate from a “hybrid law program?”

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It is an ABA accredited hybrid program and a well respected school, so the fact that it is hybrid is not a concern for me. I won’t go on my full rant, but I think the legal profession is generally behind, because there was a time when the ABA was forcing schools to shut down their part time and night school programs, which puts students with bills to pay or a mortgage at a disadvantage.

You do make a good point about being able to learn some stuff internally, and I am planning to reach out to talk to one of our partners who is an attorney to discuss this too. I would honestly say my end goal is not strictly as an accountant or attorney but something in between. I work on an industry where the legal research and analysis could benefit me, but I’ll always also have some compliance work that goes with it.

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It will be a lot of work and difficult to balance, but if it’s basically free, I highly recommend it.

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You will likely be the only one with your kind of job in your program. I say this because that was it for me. Working busy season hours while in law school is incredibly difficult. Make sure you fully understand what you are taking on before you do so and that you will have the proper support from your team.

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You will need to set boundaries early and do not give in even once because once you do then it isn’t a big deal to cross them again - again said from experience.

In response to one of the previous comments. What you can learn from another attorney is going to be extremely limited without a legal education- and would be dependent on how good of an attorney that person is. If you want a true legal education do not depend on one person who likely isn’t qualified to teach you

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Most or all of your classes in law school will be irrelevant for what you do now (who cares about constitutional law or torts at accounting firms?) So, this will be a lot of work for hypothetical bullshit that you will never need or use. I am currently working on my tax llm (distance/part time, top school), which only requires 24 credits (not 90 or whatever for JD), but this is my 3rd year in the program and it is very tough (not just classes, but working full time and taking classes, doing finals, etc. missed weekends with fam, missed vacations)! It will make sense to go to law school only if you want to be a lawyer (i.e., doing litigation or something like that that’s not available to you without bar admission). If you want to be in tax (including WNT, specialty groups, etc), in house doing tax or on the business side of things, this is a total waste of time and energy. Tons of lawyers at biglaw dream to jump inhouse or do mba or whatever to escape law. Check biglaw bowl.

good for you i guess? time not wasted at con law class. i used it 0 times in 8 years out of law school. and as to wnt, i mean, duh more lawyers there (probably most are from gov or biglaw), but if you really really want to be there you can do it with cpa (like that other 10% you mentioned). not that OP is trying to get into wnt, just saying that’s still an option

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