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Career/Academic Path Advice


KingoftheBritons

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KingoftheBritons
  • Law Student

Hi everyone, 

I just finished my first year of law school in April. Although my legal education has helped me confirm that I want to pursue a career in law, I can't help but feel like law school by itself isn't teaching me all of the skills that I want to develop. Specifically, I was hoping to learn more about how the law interacts with the public, how to measure that interaction, and how to use this information to devise better laws, regulations, and policies. I still really enjoy the substantive part of law though (especially the theoretical aspect e.g., learning about the principles behind tort law and judicial decision making). Ultimately, I would love to pursue more policy intensive roles, but related to the justice system. 

I was therefore thinking about switching to the combined JD/MPA at my school as they offer classes such as quantitative methods for public sector management, managerial economics, etc... I was just wondering if any of you have taken this route and if you could perhaps give me some advice on if a combined JD/MPA will get me where I want to be. Another important consideration is that it would add another year to my degree and therefore a significant amount of money. 

Thanks in advance!!

 

Edited by KingoftheBritons
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Before you give up on law school, I think you need to do some clinical work. Do you have that opportunity?

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KingoftheBritons
  • Law Student

@Hegdis

Well, I wouldn't say that I'm giving up on law school. It's more that I would like to add to the skills and knowledge that I am currently developing. Hence the combined JD/MPA. Sorry if my first post didn't make this clear. I would also still be looking to complete my articling and take the bar. I love the law and want to work as a lawyer, but would rather focus on the policy aspect of it. E.g., a job of this kind seems ideal to me: https://www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca/english/about/artcl/pd_policy.php 

I have not done any clinical work yet, but I do have some experience in less formal advocacy that somewhat resembles clinical work. While I definitely enjoyed it, I can't say that I see myself doing that as a career. This summer I am working as a research assistant for one of my profs and I am absolutely loving it. I would love to continue doing this kind of research as part of my career, and feel like I would benefit from learning how to measure the impact that laws and regulations have on the public. There are law classes that i will hopefully be taking that could help with this (e.g., economic analysis of law), but the classes offered as part of the MPA seem extremely helpful in this regard.  

I'm just curious if the MPA would actually be beneficial in the way that I am hoping it would be, and, if so, if it would be beneficial enough to warrant adding an extra year to my degree. 

Thanks! 

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