Teacher v. Lawyer - Which profession should you choose?

Many of you are pondering whether to pursue a career as a teacher or as a lawyer. Your temperament and personal constitution are fit for both, and you like the idea of being a member of either of those two professions.

You have the drive in you to educate people, perhaps children, and have influence over their development, or correct mistakes your teachers made. You see yourself in a classroom, children looking up to you. You see the wheels turning in their brains, the lights going off connecting the dots. You inspire, encourage, build confidence. This thought satisfies you greatly.

Or you dream of helping people in the most difficult times. When their liberty, or property is at stake. You want to use your powers of persuasion to make a difference. The jury is on the fence, and your words tip the scales towards justice. You are thinking about becoming an advocate.

Many of you are unsure which of these paths to pursue. First, you need to understand how similar these professions are.

I have taught school for five years. Now I am a trial lawyer.

I was a teaching assistant in primary schools and special education units. I was a substitute teacher in public high schools (I shall not bore you by reciting the infinite number of puns stemming from my last name - “Mr. Plan, what is your Plan for today’s lesson – or have you not Plan’ed anything yet?”) I taught college students German and English in three different countries. I got new jobs where the headteacher threw me textbooks saying: you start tomorrow. Tutoring. Exam prep. You name it. Poor students. Rich students. Old. Young. ‘tistic kids. 200 IQ. Troublemakers &etc.

Now I defend the accused before the courts in New York. Their life is often in tatters as I meet them at the courthouse. Drug stings. Child endangerment. Terroristic threats. Burglaries. Guilty people. Innocent defendants.

…

What is so similar about these jobs is that you are an educator. You use textbooks and handouts in school. These are your pieces of evidence, augmented by your own unique pedagogy.

In the courts, you teach judges and juries. You educate them on the differences in reliability and credibility of certain testimony of pieces of physical evidence.

Jurors are truth-seekers. Their glare will intimidate you. Likewise, a crowd of children will discern you and read you and your soul within seconds.

In both settings, you seek to obtain the best outcome, child, or client. You seek to influence, and use your spoken word as the medium of change.

Of course, the entry barrier into the legal profession is a lot harder. Which is why I recommend starting with teaching jobs. You could qualify as a teacher, or go to law-school, teach your way through it, and use your law degree as a qualifying degree if you want to stick to teaching. If you go into law, your experiences in the classroom, the embarrassment, the quick-thinking, the public speaking, all these human experiences will forge you into a powerful advocate in the courtroom.

No. these professions are not mutually exclusive.

They are synergetic.