Here goes another "comedic drama" about lawyers living it up in the big city,this time starring Jerry O'Connell and Jim Belushi. The show is called The Defenders and it will air on CBS this fall. I'll give this show a chance, but I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up in the television graveyard along with The Deep End by the end of the year.In case you didn't know, O'Connell just finished his first year at Southwestern Law School. Nando recently profiled the TTT, which costs $74,050 for the 2010-2011 school year. It makes sense for someone like O'Connell who is wealthy and has nothing else to do between television pilots to earn the bragging rights of having a useless law degree. He's just following in the footsteps of other celebrities such as James Franco who slept his way through Columbia University and Tiger Wood's estranged wife Elin Nordegren who is a student at Rollins College. Unlike normal people, none of these celebrities need their degree to survive, find another job, and pay their bills.
For those of us who don't make millions of dollars each year from acting or a philandering billionaire husband, wasting $74,000 each year on a useless degree at a place like Southwestern Law School will likely be a life destroying decision. Just like the character O'Connell will portray, having an exciting legal career as a defender, meeting beautiful women, and living in a fancy apartment with a TTT degree is a fantasy. Enjoy it as entertainment but don't believe this in any way reflects reality.
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I hear you, sister. I am about $80,000 in debt from law school and after leaving my law job a few weeks ago in order to save my sanity, I realize there is no conceivable way I will pay those loans off before the 30-year loan period. I made a huge mistake going to law school. If I had known the practice of law consists of being trapped at a desk for the majority of a 60-hour work week, perusing endless case law, and arguing with other attorneys and clients for the rest of the week, I would have accepted the position that was offered to me at a non-profit after I finished undergrad. I would probably be more financially secure than I am right now, with my "distinguished" law degree. And I went to a top 30, tier 1 school! Gah!
ReplyDeleteOh, but I am going to check out The Defenders, only because I enjoy picking apart all of the inaccuracies and Hollywood myths about law that are perpetrated on these shows. I always wonder who's being billed when all of the associates and partners are banging each other at all hours of the day!
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by, Recovering Lawyer! Your story is fairly common around here. I went to a T14 school and now work in an area that doesn't need a law degree. The overpriced tuition money and three years was all for nothing! I like your blog. Keep writing!
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