Law School to Education Career?? Help plz...

[Education&Law]

So...I should start off by saying I am a Canadian in my final year of law school at the University of Victoria. I always knew that I had a passion for education in many ways, but I decided to pursue law school because I had a fantastic experience interning during my undergraduate degree. However, I now find myself only months away from graduating law school with absolutely no desire to be a practicing lawyer and as a result my interest in education has only grown. Although I would love to teach (and i know one must teach before admin positions become available), I think the ideal career for me would be in an administration position or somehow being involved with the curriculum design. Fortunately, by the time I graduate law school i will only have about 10K worth of debt! Certainly nothing to brag about, but I have friends who have amassed nearly 100K so I don't think I will be in too much trouble. 

 

Ultimately, I would like to know if my law degree will be any sort of advantage? I really do not know what people in the education world think of JD's, but is there any way in which I could use my JD to my advantage in my pursuit of some career in education? 

 

Thanks everyone!  

[Nico Corr]

I am going to apply to graduate schools for International Affairs, and I am currently in the Education field. It's interesting you post this, because Law School is something I have been considering as well! There are many people in my school system, and surrounding school systems that hold law degrees in administrative positions. I'm not aware of any teachers with law degrees, but their are plenty of principals, superintendents, and in house counselors who have law degrees. Do you have any kind of experience as a teacher's assistant in Law school? Have you tutored or mentored younger students? That sort of thing could help you gain Education experience . 

Edited October 5, 2017 by Nico Corr

[_kita]

11 hours ago, Education&Law said:

Although I would love to teach (and i know one must teach before admin positions become available), I think the ideal career for me would be in an administration position or somehow being involved with the curriculum design

This is a bit of a misnomer. Yes, a lot of administrators are teachers. However, there are educational tracks that are just administrative called school administration. There are also student affairs programs. For those that know that administration is their focus, the educational curriculum is based on student learning theories and practical experience in different administrative departments. These programs are accredited through ACPA (American College Personnel Association). You can search for these types of programs here: http://gradprograms.myacpa.org/. Other non-accredited programs exist. Honestly, I didn't stay in my student affairs - college counseling track long enough to know the benefits of an accredited vs. non accredited program.

11 hours ago, Education&Law said:

Ultimately, I would like to know if my law degree will be any sort of advantage? I really do not know what people in the education world think of JD's, but is there any way in which I could use my JD to my advantage in my pursuit of some career in education? 

 

Your law degree would open you up to Legal Affairs administrative  positions. If you do that, you could see if you could work for the school administration, and then also go for a degree/certification in the student affairs or education administrative side. That way you could use your current degree to build up your administrative professional skills & get the education you need.

 

 It would take some balancing to line up these variables, but if you can manage it, you would be able to use your current degree to pay for a room over your head and get free education towards your preferred career.

 

[t_ruth]

I have a JD and worked for a few years before starting my PhD in Educational Psychology. I felt it was a real advantage for interpreting literature, writing, and understanding the logic of experiments. PM me if you want--I'm happy to talk more.