Archives for June 2004

So, why did I decide to go back to school to pursue a JD? And why not pursue an MBA? I do have a fair amount of entrepreneurial business experience, so an MBA might have made sense.

I’ve wanted to pursue a post-graduate education of some kind for quite some time, but I frequently vacillated between a degree in Fine Arts and a “professional” degree of some kind. I’m one of those artsy types who happens to have a head for business (or so I’d like to think). Unfortunately, returning to school full-time is not really a realistic possibility, so I needed to limit myself to degrees that I could get part-time/evening, which pretty much ruled out going back for my MFA.

I tried to think of what I really loved doing, what my passions were, and I determined that in order for me to be happy with my career, I need it to have a several components:

1. The “job” must be (for the most part) intellectually challenging.
2. I enjoy project oriented work, that is, work which involves deadlines as a motivating factor. Once a project is finished, I want the opportunity to work on another project (or handle multiple projects simultaneously).
3. I would like the career to have a writing component.
4. I would like a career that uses technology as a tool, but is not necessarily technology based (I’ve done software development, I’m done with that).
5. I like to interact with people.
6. I need to have some level of control over my own destiny.

So, having been on my own with several business ventures, I wanted an education that could help me find either a job for someone else that met those criteria, or would aid me in once again striking out on my own. The two degrees that made the most sense were and MBA or a JD.

The MBA had the advantage of being focused on business. But the MBA also had the limitation of being focused on business. Then I came across an article that mentioned over 10% of American CEOs have JDs. Not that I want a corporate career necessarily, but the fact that so many executives have JDs indicates that on some level, a JD is beneficial in the business world. That’s a big “Duh” for the most part, but still a factor in my decision.

Then I met Groklaw. I was hooked. You know you?re in trouble when you?re reading a motion written by attorneys for IBM and you find yourself laughing at the subtle humor. My wife happens to be an attorney, so I grabbed some of her books, and started reading about torts, and again, I was hooked.

I hope that my interest isn’t just a passing fancy, and that the intellectual challenges of studying law continue. I would like to go into some area of intellectual property law, combining my technical skills and background into a career that I might find challenging and rewarding. And even if I don’t end up practicing law (and at this point I am far from certain I want to practice law, at least in the traditional sense), it seems that the educational experience itself will be beneficial and applicable to many other areas I might end up.

Of course, this could all be the rationalization of a naive, soon-to-be 1L…

Disclaimer: I work for a very highly regarderd and ranked business school. The students here are very bright individuals who are highly motivated, and the faculty here are very intelligent and capable teachers, who do really seem to care about giving their students a top notch education. That goes a long way towards setting this school apart from the norm.

That said, a friend of mine recently sent me an article from Fortune magazine, entitled “Why an MBA May Not Be Worth It” which was a very interesting read. An even more interesting read was the paper that sparked the article. That paper, written by a Standford University business professor, is called “The End of Business Schools? Less Success Than Meets the Eye” and it has some really enlightening information, especially for anyone considering going back to school for an MBA.

It did a lot to reconfirm that I think I made the right decision in deciding to go back to law school, rather than pursue an MBA.