Seeking thoughts from former lawyers who made the switch

[pincognito]

Greetings,

I've been lurking on the forums for several months now and would like to revive aspects of previous thread regarding people who made the switch from a J.D. to an M.D./D.O. As I am seeking some personal insights from you, it seems only right to offer some personal details to provide some context for my question.

I have been a practicing corporate litigation attorney (i.e., biglaw) for several years, which was preceded by about a year working with the UN. I have also done considerable amounts of pro bono work, so I have gained exposure to what practice would be like in a more immigration-law or civil rights-law focused firm or NGO.

Despite the fact that I have generally been able to work on some very interesting cases, and have had the privilege of good colleagues and a generous salary, I am really not satisfied with the job in ways that I think are fundamental/elemental to being a happy lawyer. Fully explaining why would take me pages, but, to provide but one example, conflict is the absolute center of what I engage in, day in and day out. Perhaps a litigator should not be surprised by that, but it has worn me down considerably. I am not so naïve to think that any profession is without its share of dealing with conflict (I have no doubt doctors have to deal with considerable conflict, whether that’s with patients, other medical professionals, or insurers), but as a litigator it is the very basis of my professional being. Significantly, I think the aspects of my job that I do not find satisfying would exist in biglaw, a public defender’s office, an NGO, etc., so simply switching offices will not remedy the situation.

About 15 years ago, however, I was a premed student. I was not a particularly industrious student at the time and was not concerned with the grades I was receiving. I hadn't spent much time conferring with the premed advisors and didn't fully appreciate the damage I was doing to my chances at medical school until my senior year, when I had my first meaningful conversation with one of those advisors. At the end of the day, my overall GPA was 3.30 and my math/science a 3.0, and I was advised I had no shot of attending medical school. True or not, I took that to heart and wrote off ever going to medical school.

I chose law principally because it seemed to offer another career that would be intellectually engaging. That has, to some extent, been true, but the thought of going to medical school has never left. Even in law school I considered the possibility of returning to the medical school path. I have consistently talked myself out the switch, however, given the financial costs and time involved. T his year, however, my desire to try to attend medical school has hit me full force and I am very seriously considering the switch. I have set up some shadowing opportunities, am talking to as many doctors as I can about how foolhardy this would be (most have been encouraging, if only to remove a lawyer from the ranks), and have a good sense of the post-bac GPA rehabilitation I would need to engage in.


Thus, my question for you former lawyers (I think there are a couple on this forum that are at least in residency), is whether you have found the medical profession to be more satisfying or fulfilling than the legal profession? If so, why, and was the switch still worth the costs and time involved? If not, why? Those are awfully open-ended questions, but we’re all coming at it from different backgrounds with different expectations, so I’d appreciate any perspectives.

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[26miles385yards]

I don't have much advice for you, but I'm a rising 3L at a top law school thinking of doing the same thing. I'm not sure Biglaw is right for me and my premed past has never completely left me behind, so I'll be interested to see what replies you get.

Good luck!

 

[BennieBlanco]

Greetings,

I've been lurking on the forums for several months now and would like to revive aspects of previous thread regarding people who made the switch from a J.D. to an M.D./D.O. As I am seeking some personal insights from you, it seems only right to offer some personal details to provide some context for my question.

I have been a practicing corporate litigation attorney (i.e., biglaw) for several years, which was preceded by about a year working with the UN. I have also done considerable amounts of pro bono work, so I have gained exposure to what practice would be like in a more immigration-law or civil rights-law focused firm or NGO.

Despite the fact that I have generally been able to work on some very interesting cases, and have had the privilege of good colleagues and a generous salary, I am really not satisfied with the job in ways that I think are fundamental/elemental to being a happy lawyer. Fully explaining why would take me pages, but, to provide but one example, conflict is the absolute center of what I engage in, day in and day out. Perhaps a litigator should not be surprised by that, but it has worn me down considerably. I am not so naïve to think that any profession is without its share of dealing with conflict (I have no doubt doctors have to deal with considerable conflict, whether that's with patients, other medical professionals, or insurers), but as a litigator it is the very basis of my professional being. Significantly, I think the aspects of my job that I do not find satisfying would exist in biglaw, a public defender's office, an NGO, etc., so simply switching offices will not remedy the situation.

About 15 years ago, however, I was a premed student. I was not a particularly industrious student at the time and was not concerned with the grades I was receiving. I hadn't spent much time conferring with the premed advisors and didn't fully appreciate the damage I was doing to my chances at medical school until my senior year, when I had my first meaningful conversation with one of those advisors. At the end of the day, my overall GPA was 3.30 and my math/science a 3.0, and I was advised I had no shot of attending medical school. True or not, I took that to heart and wrote off ever going to medical school.

I chose law principally because it seemed to offer another career that would be intellectually engaging. That has, to some extent, been true, but the thought of going to medical school has never left. Even in law school I considered the possibility of returning to the medical school path. I have consistently talked myself out the switch, however, given the financial costs and time involved. T his year, however, my desire to try to attend medical school has hit me full force and I am very seriously considering the switch. I have set up some shadowing opportunities, am talking to as many doctors as I can about how foolhardy this would be (most have been encouraging, if only to remove a lawyer from the ranks), and have a good sense of the post-bac GPA rehabilitation I would need to engage in.


Thus, my question for you former lawyers (I think there are a couple on this forum that are at least in residency), is whether you have found the medical profession to be more satisfying or fulfilling than the legal profession? If so, why, and was the switch still worth the costs and time involved? If not, why? Those are awfully open-ended questions, but we're all coming at it from different backgrounds with different expectations, so I'd appreciate any perspectives.

contact Law2Doc

it will take 6-10 years.

You have to do it for your own reasons, and it should have to do with passion for the career.

No job is perfect. Many docs hate their job and want to get out. Probably the majority don't like it. That is life though, most people are broke, most are unhappy and unsatisfied. Then there are the elite that are content and thriving.

Good luck. I think self reflection will help you as much or more than other people's opinions.

 

[pincognito]

contact Law2Doc

it will take 6-10 years.

You have to do it for your own reasons, and it should have to do with passion for the career.

No job is perfect. Many docs hate their job and want to get out. Probably the majority don't like it. That is life though, most people are broke, most are unhappy and unsatisfied. Then there are the elite that are content and thriving.

Good luck. I think self reflection will help you as much or more than other people's opinions.

Thanks for the good wishes. I am fully aware of how long the transition will take and certainly do not think being a doctor is a perfect job. I don't really disagree with anything you say, but I am not seeking other people's insights to make the decision for me. I am interested in getting the perspectives of any former lawyers in the event their experience might speak to me.

I have read many of Law2Doc's posts, and am happy to PM him/her if they invite me to do so, but I have posted on the forum in the event there are other people who might benefit from the exchange.

 

[lawyerdoc2b]

[]
I am a practising attorney and 51-years old. Three years ago I decided to pursue medicine and began taking (sometimes retaking) the premed science courses. I made all A grades (except one B in Physics II). I took the MCAT August 5th and await my scores. This was my second attempt. I expect to increase my current score of 21S. When I read your post I found myself looking in the mirror.

You have to either want to be a doctor with all of your being or your are one brick short of a full load to give up a successful career and a $250,000+ per year salary to do this at my age. Well, even with a 21S and a 3.3 overall GPA and a 3.3 science GPA I have been well received and have had one interview with three more scheduled. My D.O. applications to eight schools are all complete. Some have invited me to interviews now based upon my current scores and some await receipt of the scores from my latest MCAT.

You can do this if you really want to. I have worked the usual 50 -55 hour work week and still pulled this off. I work in the corporate work (for the last 7 years) after 15 years as a litigator trying heavy exposure civil jury trials. The question for you is are you running from your career or are you running to a career in medicine? Send me a PM with your contact information. I'll respond and we can talk. I'm happy to help out a fellow memeber of the bar.

Remember in Law School on orientation day when the Dean addressed you and the members of the incomming class? He likely said something like: "Look to the left and look to the right - one of you three ain't gonna be graduating in three years." Scared to death weren't you? If you can make it through that garbage you can make it through medical school. It will be a similar grind.

 

[Esquire]

I empathize with your feelings regarding the legal profession because I'm also considering the switch after nearly a decade in the law.

The practice of law is hostile mainly because of the people it attracts: insecure, narcissistic, power hungry people with chips on their shoulders. I think the insecurity comes from the fact that lawyers know deep down that they aren't really producing anything of value -- we just push paper back and forth, moving money from one pocket to another.

Lawyers try to get power by attaching themselves to "important" clients and cases but don't do anything tangible. We don't build bridges, we don't fix sinks, we don't cure people. We just do what the client would've done anyway. It's all a fraud. Do you really think an hour's time of a lawyer fresh out of law school is worth charging $300-350?

On top of that, lawyers are expendable. Any lawyer from any interchangeable big firm will do. In the lawyer-client relationship, the lawyer is the low man on the totem pole. Everyone tells him what to do: the judge, the client, the other side, his firm.

(BTW, it seems that 20% of lawyers are children of doctors. Those are the worse. They are either (i) former pre-meds who didn't cut it or (ii) majored in art history or some other useless major & fled to law school when their parents threatened to cut off their funding. Both have an ax to grind to prove that they can be more successful and harder working than their parents.)

If I were you, I would stick at Big Law for at least a couple more years to make it possible to get through med school with little to no loans.

 

[CogitoA1]

I'm beginning to think we should start a club.

Anyway, I'm also an attorney who has begun the process of The Switch, and I'm also transitioning from biglaw, which I haven't found quite as unmitigatedly negative as some.

Footnote: I don't agree with Esquire's picture of the legal profession, though I've met my share of characters that would fit into such a picture. I also disagree about the value of lawyers in an enormously complicated society. Such societies cannot exist without a regime of highly complex rules, and you need lawyers to enable those complex rules to function effectively. Lawyers "push paper" in the same sense that investment bankers "trade numbers." Both descriptions trivialize a process with substantial real-world implications.

In any case, I'd love to hear a compare and contrast from someone who has already made the transition.

Congrats on getting close to the end of the beginning Lawyerdoc2b. It sounds like you've just about fully moved on to the new track.

 

[pincognito]

I'm beginning to think we should start a club.

We've definitely got a quorum here.

Congratulations on the interviews lawyerdoc2b. It must be an exciting (and nerve-wracking) time for you. I'll admit I'm a little jealous you're that far along in the process. Under my best case scenario, I'll be applying to matriculate in 2012.

[]
You can do this if you really want to. I have worked the usual 50 -55 hour work week and still pulled this off. I work in the corporate work (for the last 7 years) after 15 years as a litigator trying heavy exposure civil jury trials. The question for you is are you running from your career or are you running to a career in medicine?

Well, my hours at my current firm trend a bit longer. 50 hours/week minimum, and 70-80 hour weeks are not uncommon. Beyond that, though, there is simply no way I can attend anything outside work on a regular basis, other than maybe on weekends. My hours are unpredictable and can involve weeks overseas. And I'm just not willing to go through the post-bac process that slowly.

As to your question, I am most definitely running from my career in biglaw, but with respect to the more fundamental switch from lawyer to doctor, that is most definitely a result of my running to a career in medicine. I'm shadowing a couple of physicians (one in EM, the other a pediatrician) and will start volunteering at an emergency department shortly. I'm feeling good about the switch already, but will be getting a little more shadowing under my belt before jumping of the cliff (likely this January, when I hope to start post-bac classes full-time).

If I were you, I would stick at Big Law for at least a couple more years to make it possible to get through med school with little to no loans.

No doubt this would be the rational course of action, but I've had my fill. I've saved enough to carry my family through the post-bac years, but I'll almost certainly be acquiring new debt for medical school.

Footnote: I don't agree with Esquire's picture of the legal profession, though I've met my share of characters that would fit into such a picture. I also disagree about the value of lawyers in an enormously complicated society. Such societies cannot exist without a regime of highly complex rules, and you need lawyers to enable those complex rules to function effectively. Lawyers "push paper" in the same sense that investment bankers "trade numbers." Both descriptions trivialize a process with substantial real-world implications.

I'm not as pessimistic as Esquire, either (though Esquire's got several years of practice on me to get better acquainted with the law). I have worked with some incredible people in my short career and I think that at its best it is a noble profession. When there is a client that truly needs help navigating the legal channels of criminal procedure, representation in immigration court or even drafting a contract, I do think a lawyer can provide a very valuable service. That said, I simply do not enjoy the day-to-day and know it's not my path.

 

[Esq2Doc]

Wow. I'm heartened by this thread. I'm not the only lawyer out there crazy enough to be thinking along these lines, though my experience is a bit different, I suppose.

I work for the largest law firm in the state - which just happens to be the AG's office. So, not only do I hate what I'm doing every day, but I'm also horribly overworked and underpaid. I'm bitter, jaded, and miserable. I agree with the comment above about not leaving anything tangible behind - at the end of the day, I look at what I've done, and I never get any sense of accomplishment or forward movement. There's just another in a string of largely interchangable civil rights cases.

A few years ago, I started getting involved in emergency services, first by becoming a first responder, now by volunteering with the local ambulance company. I'll probably go for a full-fledged EMT soon, and I've found, to my surprise, that I really like it. The only problem is that I wish I could do more (well, sometimes. Anyone who's been in EMS knows that a goodly number of calls you might as well pull up, beep the horn, and shout, 'Taxi!'). I started thinking about medical school...

I'm 30, and went straight through college and law school, and have been a lawyer for a little over five years. I was not a terribly conscientious student as an undergrad, but I did manage a 3.3 GPA, and, IIRC, a 4.0 in my science courses - less impressive when you realize those were only the natural science courses required for my undergrad core. A 3.1 in law school, in the middle of my class at a top-20. Fortunately, I have been blessed with rarely meeting a standardized test I didn't like, which probably explains why I got into the law school I did (more on the strength of LSAT scores than my mediocre GPA).

So, at my "advanced" age, I'm thinking about a career change. I suppose a post-bac would be for me, since I have none of the pre-reqs, a BA, and have been out of undergrad for 9 years or so...

But I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one.

 

[AnotherJD]

I'd love to join this "group" if I may. So glad to see that I am not the only one out there thinking about making this switch.

I get the sense that most of you have been practicing law for 5-10 years. The main disadvantage in my situation is that I'm relatively new (1-2 year of practice at Biglaw) but am already thinking about the switch. This means I have some loans riding on my back but this is always something I've always wanted to go for and would much rather do it sooner than later. I do get a lot of discouragement from my friends who (rightly) think that it makes no financial sense for me to go into medicine with where I am at right now but given that this is not about the financial gain, I am okay with my decision.

Just wondering if anyone in this thread is applying to post-bac programs and/or had science backgrounds. If you are planning on doing a postbac are you doing it in 1 year v. 2 years? Also curious as to what your essays about "why become a doctor" is and whether your career as a lawyer has anything to do with it.

This is so exciting and nervewracking at the same time. So glad to "meet" everyone.

 

[235750]

Remember in Law School on orientation day when the Dean addressed you and the members of the incomming class? He likely said something like: "Look to the left and look to the right - one of you three ain't gonna be graduating in three years." Scared to death weren't you? If you can make it through that garbage you can make it through medical school. It will be a similar grind.

I think you will find most (if not all) medical schools (MD or DO) within the United States have a very different attitude than law school. Specifically, attrition rates are somewhere in the single digits. At our orientation at medical school, the dean told us something along the lines of, "Look to your left, and look to your right. These are your future physician colleagues. You can only fail medical school by quitting."

That's not to say you can't fail a class or even an entire year. But you can dust yourself off and try again. The staff here are extremely supportive and there is no weeding out. You may not get that super competitive surgical residency you wanted by barely passing all your classes/boards, but you will become a physician and getting a job will not be difficult no matter what specialty you choose.

I do agree that if you can tolerate the hostile atmosphere of law school, you will have no problems in the supportive environment of medical school. It will be a great change for you I'm sure! And in terms of academic rigor, I'm sure law school prepared you well

Best of luck to you!!

 

[Law2Doc]

contact Law2Doc

it will take 6-10 years.

You have to do it for your own reasons, and it should have to do with passion for the career.

No job is perfect. Many docs hate their job and want to get out. Probably the majority don't like it. That is life though, most people are broke, most are unhappy and unsatisfied. Then there are the elite that are content and thriving.

Good luck. I think self reflection will help you as much or more than other people's opinions.

Research your decision very carefully before you leap. The politics and "conflict" you dislike in law may well be present in medicine too. And I strongly agree with the poster who suggested you need to be drawn to medicine rather than running from the law to be a compelling applicant. Medicine is hard work, a long road with few offramps, so you have to really want it, not just on a whim or in hopes it will somehow be better than your current lot. So get out there and shadow, volunteer and really research this decision before you step of that cliff and give up yourcurrent career. No point doing anything else before you do this.

 

[earthwalker7]

Hey comrades,

I've had a similar experience as a post-MBA employee in the marketplace, working in finance and investment banking. We're not *helping* anyone or creating much of a social value. I had hoped to use the business skills to do some good but ultimately this work rings quite hollow. I empathize with you all - long hours, good pay, but the work sucks and is so distant from others, so far removed from anything interpersonal or anything that makes any difference.... it's really hard to think of another year in finance, and certainly nothing in corporate is even remotely appealing. And like many of you I had dreams of being an MD, had some pre-med pre-reqs, etc. Also 31 now. Time flies when you're slogging through...

 

[podboy]

Hey guys,

Glad to see you here. I know it's a lot of fun to pretend you have loads of options with that JD and BIGF*CKINGLAW experience, but take it from me, being laid off sucks balls.

So, yes, I'm too here looking for comfort in a premed/prepod/preopto/prewhatever scenerio. I graduated from a top 12 law school, worked for 2 years in patent prosecution, 1 year in litigation. All at the biggest firms I knew (1 now no longer exists, yet is still listed as a top 50 Vault firm) Do I need to be more graphic?

We're all here for the same reason. Admit it. Law sucks balls. Medicine undoubtedly also sucks balls but it generally beats law. Unless of course you're an osteopath, but I won't go there right now.

Good luck all!

 

[AnotherJD]

iloveDr.Still, thanks for the insight and words of encouragement. It's definitely relieving to hear that med school has such a supportive environment, which I am quite surprised about. Being a nontraditional student, the more support I can get, the better.

Law2Doc, I agree that running away from law isn't a good reason to go into medicine. I don't hate my job (hence not running away from it) but I also don't see myself doing this forever. I need something with more human contact. Like another poster said, while "pushing paper" has some real life consequences, at the end of the day, pushing paper still feels like pushing papers. Unfortunately, I don't have much time to shadow or volunteer given my schedule - another reason I am worried about whether postbac programs will accept me or not. Luckily, I do have a lot of friends/families who are physicians who gives me a sense of what their day to day life is like so I know going in that there are days when it will be utterly mundane and boring. This is definitely a big leap for me and somehow I feel that there will be no middle ground...

 

[pincognito]

And I strongly agree with the poster who suggested you need to be drawn to medicine rather than running from the law to be a compelling applicant.

Fair enough, though I think this maxim gets overstated a bit on these forums. It is certainly possible to run away from one career, because you have determined it will not be fulfilling, and towards another at the same time, because you believe it will. There is no question, though, that you have to explain why you are drawn to medicine in much more cogent terms than "my last job sucked."

Medicine is hard work, a long road with few offramps, so you have to really want it, not just on a whim or in hopes it will somehow be better than your current lot. So get out there and shadow, volunteer and really research this decision before you step of that cliff and give up yourcurrent career. No point doing anything else before you do this.

Shadowing, volunteering, researching the path, calculating finances, questioning my motives -- I am doing all of this. This is not a lark for me. It will be a long, hard road that will be financially difficult at best over the next decade.

The reason for my original post, though, is that I am genuinely curious whether someone like you is happy with the decision of switching from law to medicine. Has medicine been more interesting, fulfilling or stimulating? Maybe that's just too individual a question, and the answer will not have any real general resonance for others considering the same type of career change, but I'm genuinely curious.

 

[pincognito]

Just wondering if anyone in this thread is applying to post-bac programs and/or had science backgrounds. If you are planning on doing a postbac are you doing it in 1 year v. 2 years? Also curious as to what your essays about "why become a doctor" is and whether your career as a lawyer has anything to do with it.

I will be doing an informal post-bac at a state university over about a year-and-a-half. I do have a science background of sorts, in that I did the prerequisites at college, but am retaking them to show current abilities and to improve upon my college grades.

As to the essay, we shall see, but I am pretty certain I will talk about my career as a lawyer in some respect. Not in negative terms, but in terms of explaining what skills I learned, what I like about being a lawyer, and why those skills and experiences will make me a better doctor. As Law2Doc indicated, you certainly do not want to apply to medical school expressing a bunch of hostility about your last profession.

 

[AnotherJD]

I will be doing an informal post-bac at a state university over about a year-and-a-half. I do have a science background of sorts, in that I did the prerequisites at college, but am retaking them to show current abilities and to improve upon my college grades.

As to the essay, we shall see, but I am pretty certain I will talk about my career as a lawyer in some respect. Not in negative terms, but in terms of explaining what skills I learned, what I like about being a lawyer, and why those skills and experiences will make me a better doctor. As Law2Doc indicated, you certainly do not want to apply to medical school expressing a bunch of hostility about your last profession.

Nice. I'm also applying to postbac programs as well but not sure which program I will land up in. Also working on essays to the same effect. It feels as nerve wracking as jumping off a cliff (maybe because I am) but it feels so thrilling to finally take control of my life.

 

[Law2Doc]

Luckily, I do have a lot of friends/families who are physicians who gives me a sense of what their day to day life is like so I know going in that there are days when it will be utterly mundane and boring. ....

Sorry, but knowing people in medicine won't count to adcoms in terms of the kind of career research expected of a career changer. You simply need to make time to shadow and volunteer. Consider this a prereq-- the schools will. You need to see firsthand whether this is what you want to do with your life. And you need to do it as the first step or it doesn't show that you researched your decisions. More thought and research will be expected of nontrad career changers than the typical 20 year old trad. Saying you have no time is not an acceptable answer. How do you know if you will like patient care without front line exposure? Answer is you can't. So you MUST get out there and to this. Saying luckily I know lots of doctors is the kind of response that will make adcoms steer clear. Doing is what counts here, not hearsay.

 

[futureboy]

Medicine undoubtedly also sucks balls but it generally beats law. Unless of course you're an osteopath

Don't quite get this. MD=D0

 

[AnotherJD]

Sorry, but knowing people in medicine won't count to adcoms in terms of the kind of career research expected of a career changer. You simply need to make time to shadow and volunteer. Consider this a prereq-- the schools will. You need to see firsthand whether this is what you want to do with your life. And you need to do it as the first step or it doesn't show that you researched your decisions. More thought and research will be expected of nontrad career changers than the typical 20 year old trad. Saying you have no time is not an acceptable answer. How do you know if you will like patient care without front line exposure? Answer is you can't. So you MUST get out there and to this. Saying luckily I know lots of doctors is the kind of response that will make adcoms steer clear. Doing is what counts here, not hearsay.

I agree Law2Doc. While I plan on volunteering/shadowing while I am doing my postbac, this is something that is hard to do with my current (unpredictable) schedule. This is one of the major weaknesses in my postbac application and afraid that they may not accept me due to this. Do you have any suggestions/insight as to this as it applies to postbac programs (not med school)? Much appreciated.

 

[Law2Doc]

I agree Law2Doc. While I plan on volunteering/shadowing while I am doing my postbac, this is something that is hard to do with my current (unpredictable) schedule. This is one of the major weaknesses in my postbac application and afraid that they may not accept me due to this. Do you have any suggestions/insight as to this as it applies to postbac programs (not med school)? Much appreciated.

You really should do it BEFORE the postbac, because (1) if you don't like it, then maybe you save yourself doing the postbacs in the first place, and (2) it shows you research your decisions first, before you take the plunge if you look at the field first, and then choose to do a postbac. Adcoms want to see a track record of careful consideration from nontrad career changers, not folks who charge forward from a career into a postbac and only then explore what their target path is all about. You are putting the cart before the horse here. You simply need to make time, even if it's just a few hours here and there. EDs are open all night. Hospitals are open all weekend. Whenever you have free time there should be an option to squeeze in some shadowing/volunteering, and you absolutely want to do this before you leave your law job. Not only because adcoms will want to see this, but you really ought to make your decisions in this way anyhow.

 

[AnotherJD]

You really should do it BEFORE the postbac, because (1) if you don't like it, then maybe you save yourself doing the postbacs in the first place, and (2) it shows you research your decisions first, before you take the plunge if you look at the field first, and then choose to do a postbac. Adcoms want to see a track record of careful consideration from nontrad career changers, not folks who charge forward from a career into a postbac and only then explore what their target path is all about. You are putting the cart before the horse here. You simply need to make time, even if it's just a few hours here and there. EDs are open all night. Hospitals are open all weekend. Whenever you have free time there should be an option to squeeze in some shadowing/volunteering, and you absolutely want to do this before you leave your law job. Not only because adcoms will want to see this, but you really ought to make your decisions in this way anyhow.

Thanks for the advice. I spent the day looking up hospitals around my area, filling out applications...now all that is left is some phone calls and interviews and hopefully I will be on my way!

 

[JDtoMD]

Long time lurker here. Like all of you, I am glad to see there are more of us than just Law2Doc.

I myself recently took the plunge and I can honestly say I am both running from the legal profession and running to the medical profession. I worked for several years in a medium sized firm practicing health care law and med mal. I spent most of my days dealing with seemingly infinite medicare/medicaid compliance issues and with an occasional med mal case. I experienced both the corporate side of health care and the litigation side, but in every case I was really drawn to the medicine behind the case. I was far more interested in the patient and the treatment they recieved than the legal issues arising therefrom (ahh legaleese).

So, I quietly began volunteering at a local ER. The more I was there, the clearer it became that the legal profession was not where I wanted to be. I wanted to practice medicine.

At the same time, my father experienced some health issues and became, shall we say, very familiar with cardiology and vascular surgery. This experience further cemented my conclusion that medicine was what I wanted to do with my life. I owe the fact that I can still speak with my father to a doctor. The immediate impact that doctor made is immeasurable. I long to make that kind of immediate impact.

I think all of us can expect pointed questions regarding why we left a legal carreer. If my family asked it, I would expect no less from the adcoms. If you truly unserstand your motivations, the answer should be easy.

 

[2Sexy4MedSchool]

Hello. I'm a former attorney (nine years sole practitioner, mostly criminal defense) and current MS IV in the process of applying for a residency. I would be happy to offer advice or guidance to anyone who needs it. I shall echo two comments from this thread that I heartily agree with, having gone through the process myself as an applicant and also having worked with our school's admissions committee:

1) You have to look like you're running towards medicine and not just away from the law. Yeah, I know, we really are running away from the law, but you've got to find a way to spin this whole change in profession thing or you're just going to look like you're chasing degrees, and no school wants to reward that.

2) Any school that admits you is going to be rejecting some 20-something genius pre-med science-geek wunderkind who otherwise might have practiced medicine for 50 years and cured cancer. You, on the other hand, are old and have only shown a propensity for changing careers. So you've got to work harder than that Doogie Howser wannabe to get in. Yes, I know you're making a bigger sacrifice, I know you know yourself better and you're mature and all that other stuff, but you need to know that your soon-to-be-former law career is at least as much a liability as it is an asset. Humility is called for in this circumstance.

If anyone has any other questions, please feel free to PM me.

Res ipsa loquitor and all that jazz. 2S4MS