[hackthefender]

I left software engineering and became a litigator at one of the big U.S. law firms for the last decade. Here are some thoughts based on my experience.

First, although a technical degree is generally required to become a registered patent attorney, there are a lot of people who do patent and other IP litigation without technical degrees. Software comes up all the time in cases, and being able to read source code is a big advantage.

Second, I firmly believe that programming wires your brain in such a way that makes you good at law school and subsequent practice. The law is really a very detail-oriented endeavor. There is just something about stressing for years about whether there is a missing parenthesis or whatever that exercises your brain in the same way that looking for loopholes in a contract or whatever invokes.

That said, at least in the U.S., the biggest decider of your early success in law will be your LSAT score and undergrad GPA. If you think you might be interested in law, just take the test, estimate what schools you could get into, and then do the cost-benefit analysis with that additional information.

Just my thoughts. Take it or leave it.

[maxgeist]

Thank you for the reply. I think you're 100% right about the LSAT. I'm prepping for it now.

Have you been happy with the switch from software engineering to law? 3 people in my immediate family are lawyers, so I think I have a relatively realistic understanding of the reality of legal practice. But overwhelming online pessimism about law careers is making me uncertain about taking the risk.