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"While 45,000 law students graduate from law school each year, fewer than 30,000 attorney positions are available for these graduates."

What a wasteful brain drain. How much better off would our country be if more of those students went into engineering or became entrepreneurs?


Depends on the area of law. Divorce lawyers and corporate lawyers may be a waste, but what about prosecutors and defense lawyers?

And, if engineering is so much more important than law, why not pay engineers more than lawyers?


The value of money is at least in some ways derived from laws.


Because engineers don't go to an extra 3-4 years of school and go into 200k of debt to get there.

Someone has to prop up the "higher" education system.


No, we just prop up the conference and technical publication markets. A conspiracy of some sort, no doubt.


Law School programs are all 3 years. Graduating with 200K of debt is really unusual.


Count the undergraduate costs as well. It's certainly possible to do it on the cheap, but those eight clubs, 4.0, and volunteer work that help you make it into a top 10 school likely means you're not working with the lowly peons, especially if you're a product of the Ivy system.


Not to mention the cost of living in addition to law school itself. And don't forget a lot of the top law schools (you did go to a top law school to "guarantee" a top salary (or you know, a job) when you got out, right?) aren't exactly in the boondocks.


I don't want to belabor the point but it goes against evidence. For what it's worth I went to law school and graduated with less than 100K in debt, as did most of my peers. And this number is also in line with national averages if you cared to look it up.


Law school and entrepreneurship aren't mutually exclusive. You learn transferable skills and knowledge. Beyond a gaining a familiarity with the basic legal landscape, in law school you hone your skills in dealing with big abstract frameworks. You also improve your writing and communication skills. With the right mindset a law degree can be great prep to tackle a startup. At least that's what I'm hoping. :)

-a non-practicing attorney, soon-to-be entrepreneur


You definitely pick up some nice skill sets in law school. If you managed to get out without crushing student loans that forces you to work for BigLaw, you can definitely use your legal skills in many exciting fields. Congrats and good luck Jesse. :)


Thanks! My loans aren't too bad, [just] under $100K, all federal. I'll be out of debt in 5 or 6 years while maintaining a good standard of living.


Jesse, I'm curious as to what you're up to. Ping me at idoh@idoh.com. I'm also a non-practicing lawyer in tech.


Just followed you on twitter. I'm @jesselamb. :)


"I've dwelled on my failures today because, as graduates of Harvard, your biggest liability is your need to succeed. Your need to always find yourself on the sweet side of the bell curve.

Because success is a lot like a bright, white tuxedo. You feel terrific when you get it, but then you're desperately afraid of getting it dirty, of spoiling it in any way.

I left the cocoon of Harvard, I left the cocoon of Saturday Night Live, I left the cocoon of The Simpsons. And each time it was bruising and tumultuous. And yet, every failure was freeing, and today I'm as nostalgic for the bad as I am for the good.

So, that's what I wish for all of you: the bad as well as the good. Fall down, make a mess, break something occasionally. And remember that the story is never over."


You need to fast for the 12-16 hours before 6:00 am. So stop eating between 2:00 to 6:00 pm the day before. When you wake up at 6:00 am, eat a healthy breakfast.


But wont that put me to sleep right away - I usually feel sleepy after a meal. This seems counter-intuitive.


> I usually feel sleepy after a meal.

Carbs do that (e.g. potatoes). Try eating proteins and greens only instead and see if it still makes you sleepy.


the other theory i heard was that the stomach uses blood to churn food, which deprives the brain of blood


That means you're eating the wrong things.


I figured it out. What the article refers to is a strategy to not sleep during the long flight but instead starve yourself so you stay awake. And then when you eat, you basically reset your body clock to the start of a new day.

I think this is very early research and not really applicable.


...but instead starve yourself so you stay awake.

Staying awake during the fast isn't necessary.


These founders all have products at least in beta. They are in various stages of funding: some are self-funded, some have angel investors, others have institutional funding.


Ok then, my questions would be:

How much money do you think you'll make from this (to see how they evaluate their chances and worth), do you want to sell or remain and make a salary (to see what they are building the company for - longevity or a quick flip, not that either are bad), and what do you see your retirement like?


First UCLA gets creamed by SC and now this.


I voted your comment up because I'm a Trojan, but I have to admit, I somewhat agree with this. I do think its much more applicable to undergraduate students than graduate students though.


"You need to tolerate surface differences in order to help people focus their talents on what needs attention. One of the weaknesses of some people in administration is that they want people around who look, act, and think like they do. That's a recipe for disaster."

This is why so many startups hit a wall after they get picked up by corporate giants. Group think kills.


Yes, group think kills.


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