Hello,

I'm going to be very honest in this post and am hoping that you can give me your honest opinions and advice in return. Please do not be too nice because all I really want right now is someone to set me straight if I have some misconceptions and give me the reality of the situation.

I am a 28 year old graduate of Political Sciences from a mid-ranking Canadian university, mid-ranking when it comes to my field of study but well known otherwise. I really screwed up during my years at uni and took far too long to complete my degree and ended up with just a 3 year bachelors.

I am a natural businessman so I sort of fell into marketing after graduation hoping that eventually I would go on to work in marketing for an NGO where I could utilize my poli sci background too. I have spent four years since then working in the field, mainly in the Middle East. I just left my position at a top-tier marketing firm last week. I worked there for 2 years.

Law is something I have always wanted to do. I am considering doing another degree at this time and I keep coming back to Law as something that interests me thoroughly and something that I could see myself doing. I am avid politico and am a bit left-leaning, so human rights law interests me quite a bit.

But I don't know where to start. I think I prefer to attend a school in Europe. That is just a preference based on where I see myself doing the best I can as far an environment goes, not on any researched facts, so am open to suggestions. But am not sure what I need to do. My questions are many and I will try to keep them short:

- Do I have to write the LSATS for any and all law schools?
- I know the entrances are tough, but how much does my undergrad impact my chances?
- What is a respectable GPA to apply to law schools?
- What is the bottom-most limit for the GPA to apply?
- How does professional work experience impact the application?
- Am I too old to be doing a law degree now? I am 28, by the time I get in and finish I will be 30 or 31 at the least. How does that impact my life in terms of years that I have to spend after graduation in clerking or otherwise?
- Specifically, what is the development route of a lawyer after graduation? Does everyone clerk? How long does it take?
- How many years can I expect to spend on a law degree and post-degree work before I can truly call myself a professional in the field and start working on full-fledged projects/assignments?

As you can probably tell, I write to you under considerable duress. Its starting to hit me that I've wasted quite a few years chasing some unimportant things in life and now that I want the right things, I may be too late.

I am dedicated to doing this, but I need to know if I am chasing a pipe dream or if this is actually going to come true. Any and all information/advice you can provide would be very helpful.

Hey Honest Lawyer;

I can't speak to European law schools in terms of the LSAT or entry requirements, but at this stage you might want to keep in mind where you ultimately want to practice three or four years from now. Even human rights law, for which there are at least some limited international options, will probably tie you to a specific jurisdiction at the end of the day; realistically, you're far more likely to wind up bringing domestic actions to a national Human Rights Tribunal than prosecuting international criminals at the Hague.

It's also worth noting the difficulties inherent in trying to change jurisdictions once you have an undergraduate law degree; perhaps most importantly, it will most likely add a year or more if you wanted to return home and practice in Canada. This isn't meant to deter you from studying law abroad, but keep in mind that a law degree from England or France will tie you to practice in that particular country more than you might realize.

What I can tell you about is the process and practice in Canada. You'll of course need to write the LSAT, and the realistic minimum in terms of GPA is a 3.3. Work experience helps more at some schools than others, and schools like the University of Windsor will actually take a serious look at it. If your GPA is at least in the ballpark, keep in mind that most Canadian schools will balance your GPA 50/50 with the LSAT: a solid score on the test can make up a lot of ground.

After a three-year law degree in Canada, you article for one year before being called to the bar. This typically happens at a law firm, but can take place with large in-house legal departments or within the Court system as a law clerk.

In terms of handling "full-fledged" projects that's more or less up to you. If you head off to work for the larger firms, you'll generally spend a significant number of your early years working on small parts of larger files under the supervision of more senior lawyers. There are positives and negatives to that approach, obviously. If you head to a smaller boutique, you'll hit the ground running fairly quickly: you'll be calling your own shots on smaller matters within a year or so. There are also positives and negatives on that front, too.

Let me say, though, that 28 is nowhere near too late to start a legal career, if it's something you really want to do. A good colleague of mine has only been practicing for a couple of years now and is 35: I doubt he regrets his decision. Just don't let anxiety over a perceived "late start" force you into important decisions without taking the time to think about where you want to wind up and looking into what it's going to take.

I'm out of Highland Park, so I'll sign off now, but I'm happy to answer other questions if you have them.

Cheers!

Agree. Consider if you relly want to practice law and where. Be aware that practicing in human rights may not pay the bills unless you are really important. If you just want to have some knowledge in law, but you are not interested in practicing, then just do an LL.M. In Europe there are very good LL.M. focused in international law and human rights.

Thanks for your replies.

To tell you the truth, I am not sure if I would like to practice in the court system.

If someone gets a law degree, then what are the real world applications other than practising law?

And, how does someone for example take an international law degree and apply it to the NGO field?

An undergraduate law degree, without any subsequent practice, is of somewhat limited value. The typical law degree tends to be an introduction to a wide range of areas such as criminal, constitutional, company, torts, etc. You won't exactly be a specialist in any one field when you graduate. Law school is just the start: it's practice where you actually start developing applicable skills, at least in terms of employability.

The private sector typically doesn't have much use for law school graudates without any practice experience, but if you're still looking at human rights law, you might consider working with the Federal government; they typically prefer some sort of follow up degree, such as an LL.M., but that's certainly where the work is, and they usually hire a few LL.B. graduates every year.

I know very little about NGO work, but I understand that paid positions (and even internships) with the more notable organizations tend to be highly competitive: specialized post-graudate study is typically a given, and most postings are usually looking for established experts in a given field.

The exception to these general rules, of course, is that one opportunity that you manage to forge for yourself with sheer determination: head to law school and start getting involved with organizations that do the sort of work you're interested in. Volunteer with them while you're studying; get to know what they do, and focus your studies on that area. Start trying to write papers and articles in that area, and submit them for publication. That will open a lot of doors that a simple degree just can't.

Finally, consider what you mean by "international law degree" - I don't know how many undergraduate programs out there actually focus on "international law": there may be a course or two on it, but the real focus will be the domestic law of whatever jurisdiction you're studying in. The three year undergraduate degree in Paris focusing entirely on international human rights law just doesn't exist.

There's lawyers everywhere - as company secretaries, handling IP matters, employment contracts or public procurement for any business or organisation, and backstopping big projects where the ability to keep track of and process vast amounts of documentary information is needed.

Since you already have a degree and significant experience, whatever you do in future will be a continuation of what you are doing now - in one way or another. There won't be a clean break and a new career. Start keeping your eyes open for legal-type roles in the field you are already in and se how your existing qualifications and experience would combine with law for a step onward and upward.

Good luck!