[Todd Terry]

I graduated from law school, worked at a firm more or less full time during my second and third years, and practiced law for 8 years after that. IMO while you learn something in law school about the law, it isn't nearly enough to have a real understanding about how the legal process works that would allow you to have confidence in your opinions about legal issues in whatever situations you find yourself in -- only practicing law for a number of years gets you to that point.

Additionally, since the practice of law is so specialized, while having a law degree will allow you to have much more intelligent conversations with your attorneys, I don't think it will ever obviate the need for having an attorney in a given situation. Also, to the extent that you want to have a law degree as some sort of backup plan in case your current endeavors don't work out, I think practicing for a number of years right out of law school is the only way to make yourself an attractive candidate to prospective employers.

My general opinion is that a law degree is useful if you want to practice law, if you want to be a businessperson (since so much of what you do is law-related and it will allow you to make better decisions based on the advice of your attorneys), or if you want to be a politician. Otherwise, I don't think it's worth the effort and cost, although getting a law degree isn't particularly challenging compared to say getting a Ph.D. or medical degree. It certainly is expensive though.