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Comment by ibopm | Hacker News Reader

Engineer turned law student here.

I am just finishing my term as a summer associate at a top IP boutique. I deal with patents everyday and it is literally soul crushing at times.

Especially with software patents, it is the most ridiculous thing I have ever spent time on. After I get called to the bar, I am going back to my programming roots. Unfortunately, I've been rusty while attending law school and basically have to relearn everything.

That's okay though, because I'd rather do it and become an example to other people so they won't make the same mistake I did.

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Why finish?

I left law school in the middle of my second year to start a business. Typically, when I talk to non-practicing lawyers now, they say "I wish I did that".

If you're sure you don't want to do law, then finishing it + passing the bar is pure waste. Time is precious. Your 20s are especially precious.

It sounds like you've got a year or two left on this path. That's 10-20% of your 20s. What does it get you?

Maybe I'm doubting myself, but I'm not ready. My programming skills have deteriorated so much. I'm also utilizing law school as a safe haven where I can try to fully grok combinators, functional programming (Haskell), and meta-programming (macros in Lisp).

Since I only aim to pass in law school, I don't go to any classes at all. It is almost exactly the same as not having school or a job. Having this kind of free time and the (temporary) lack of financial pressure is valuable and I can use it to grok more hipster things that will hopefully help me code better later on.

On another note, I am in Canada but want to move to the US. I'm thinking of building a good portfolio and then grabbing a job down in silicon valley to get into the US. I'll need time to do that, law school gives me time.

Oh, you're in Canada. Your situation is far less dire. Though articling adds to the time required to pass the bar.

But lack of financial pressure is an illusion. Unless you've got family support that will end with school, you're running up debt, not getting income, and not learning a skill that will be of any use to you.

If you're truly certain law is not for you, the only thing finishing really gets you is an ability to not look silly to others when you describe what you're doing with your life.

You'll value that now, but feel silly about it later.

I completely agree with you. But when every single person in your life is telling you to just finish and article, it is really hard not to. I feel silly about it already, I only wish I had the balls to disregard the opinion of everyone in my life, but I really don't have it in me.

That's also why I want to move to the US, so I can get away from these risk-averse people who have my "best interest" at heart. Because they end up living my life for me, and enough is enough.

I also think people are more open to entrepreneurship in US, whereas people in Canada feel pretty comfortable with their situation.

It's tough. I still remember calling my dad to tell him I didn't want to go to law school anymore. "Oh shit" was his reaction.

For the first few months, everyone thought I was nuts. For the first two years, I still heard constant doubts.

But then the doubts ceased, and people started to say "hey, that's pretty cool what you're doing" and they asked how I did it.

There's no getting around that discomfort. Right now you're prioritizing present comfort over future regret. Would you be comfortable sending this discussion thread to yourself five years from now?

What got me around that block was reading the Four Hour Workweek, especially the first couple chapters. I'd check it out – buy it right away.

(I do LSAT prep, incidently, http://lsathacks.com is my site, and I run the LSAT subreddit. You may have seen my stuff.

Also, Canada is supportive of entrepreneurs too, you just need to find the right neighborhood and social group. I live in the Plateau in Montreal, where a good quarter of the neighborhood is a student or self employed. I don't feel out of place.)

I am in the exact same boat. Went from programmer to top ten law school to top ten patent practice in Silicon Valley. Lasted two years. Now back in programming.

I learned a lot about how our legal system works and how corrupt our patent system is ... And I met my wife in law school ... Otherwise going to law school was the worst financial decision of my life.

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