Kathleen Colton ⋅ Saint Charles, IL Retired, The Law Offices of Kathleen Colton, Ltd. ⋅ 30 years experience

Hello, Mitchell.

You mentioned in your question that you will be attending college with the goal of being admitted to law school.

In regards to college, my advice is to focus on learning to become an excellent writer. While I majored in Political Science and minored in History, what I really think was the greatest benefit of my college career were the advanced English courses which I took that taught me to be succinct in my writing skills. By the way, I entered college at the age of thirty-one!

Regarding law school, the entry competition is stiff, but you will have the advantage of military service and real world experience. You will still need to have a high GPA and a decent score on the Law School Admissions Test(LSAT).

Hope this helps. I will be happy to answer any questions you may have along the way.

Robert Rahni ⋅ White Plains, NY Fordham University ⋅ 13 years experience

Mitchell,

My pleasure! Please consider me a resource moving forward as you maneuver through the at times esoteric process of selecting the right school. I'm on standby and always willing to assist.

Best of luck!
Rob

Kathleen Colton ⋅ Saint Charles, IL Retired, The Law Offices of Kathleen Colton, Ltd. ⋅ 30 years experience

Hello, Mitchell.
I started college at thirty-one and graduated in three years, then on to three years of law school, which made me thirty-seven. I agree with Mr. Rahni in terms of interning along the way (probably for free!). I found that my age was an asset to employers and that the fact that I "went back to college" showed iniative on my part. I had no trouble finding employment, as I had made contacts through my internships. Your plan is a good one and very doable.
Kathleen Colton

David Aron ⋅ Washington, DC Commodity Futures Trading Commission ⋅ 23 years experience

This is thinking way down the line, in light of your timeline, but the more experience in IP you have, the easier it will be to get a legal job related to IP law later. While big law firms mostly care about grades at first, some smaller firms and companies may be more enlightened. Also, the experience will be more important later. In general, it helps lawyers to understand the industry they're focusing on. So, for example, if you wanted to focus on First Amendment or copyright law, an internship or summer job at Hearst or the New York Times legal department or you're local paper would be helpful. Best of luck!

Mitchell Perlow ⋅ Fort George G Meade, MD U.S. Navy, Petty Officer Second Class ⋅ 8 years served

Thank you both for your great advice.

Mr. Rahni, that article is really helpful especially the questions to ask any colleges, I am defiantly going to be saving it for future reference. And yes I plan on using my GI BILL for tuition as well as looking into any grants I can get.

Ms. Colton, I will defiantly have to work on my writing because I have always had trouble meeting length requirements. A lot of the time I will make my point in a paper only to realize I am a few hundred words short of the minimum word count.

Its also nice to see someone who got a later start on college than most people, I have been concerned about how it will look to potential employers to have started college at 30.

Robert Rahni ⋅ White Plains, NY Fordham University ⋅ 13 years experience

Hi Mitchell,

Thank you for your ongoing service and for posing this thoughtful question. As is often the case with military service members it’s great to see you’re getting a head start, planning well in advance of your separation date to maximize the likelihood of continued success.

Quick question: will you be utilizing any GI BILL/VA educational benefits to attend school?

If so, I encourage you review the below article written by yours truly published this past spring in “Military Advanced Education & Training” to help find a true military friendly institution of higher education:

https://www.mae-kmi.com/single-post/2018/04/10/GI-BILL%C2%AE-VA-Educational-Benefits-%E2%80%93-What-to-Know-How-to-Go

The article includes six guiding principles designed to develop a blueprint from to help contribute toward a seamless transition. There are also eight questions you could pose to the veteran representative on campus in gauging the degree of their military friendliness when it comes to policies and initiatives in place.

There’s a longer two-part article with a more comprehensive list of 25 questions to pose to the veteran representative on campus in ACP AdvisorNet’s Articles section. You may filter by “education” to find it easier.

Any questions about the article or GI BILL education benefits, please do not hesitate to call upon me.

Best,
Rob

Aubrey McDonald II ⋅ Fayetteville, NC US Army ⋅ 30 years experience

Good Morning Mitchell, Thank You for Your Selfless Service to our Great Nation. I commend You for having the foresight to seek guidance from fellow Veterans. Give me a call to discuss your options as well as advice and recommendations.

Aubrey
910 578 9860

FRANCIS TEPEDINO, ESQ. ⋅ San Diego, CA THE CONDOR GROUP ⋅ 30 years experience

Good for you. I went to Law School late in life. I attended night classes since I had a demanding executive job during the day. IP plus Law will put you in an excellent position for a rewarding and successful career.
That combination will open up possibilities for senior executive management positions in a wide variety of corporations, which was my background.

My Alma Mater, (I am on the Board), is the University of San Diego School of Law. This university has an MBA/Law offering which may be of interest to you. The weather here is great and we have a fine and well recognized Law School with a good faculty to student ratio. Let me know if I can be of some assistance to you.

Francis Tepedino
condorgrup@aol.com

Jose Roman ⋅ Norfolk, VA Military Resource Center Regent university ⋅ 8 years experience

Mitchell,

Let me know if you still have questions about the transition process and law school. Through the Military Resource Center I do outreach for Regent University and the Law School here in Virginia. E-mail me direct if there's anything I can answer for you.

One tip to be sure is to save your GI Bill for law school don't spend it on your undergrad or a bachelors degree unless its essential. You can email me at: JRoman@regent.edu

Best.
Jose R

Adam Cutler ⋅ Philadelphia, PA First American Title Insurance Company ⋅ 25 years experience

Thanks for your service Mitchell. I would be happy to discuss my experience with you. I can be reached at (610) 724-2489 or at acutler@firstam.com.

Matt Johnson ⋅ Chicago, IL EY-Parthenon ⋅ 10 years experience

Mitchell,

I saw that you've identified higher education as your transition plan and wanted to throw out a couple useful resources that I found along my own path that will be directly applicable to you looking into Law Schools down the road or even your immediate undergraduate institution:

1) Service2School.org - Network of Veterans in undergrad, law, medicine, and business schools. Their ambassadors (veterans who volunteer to help other vets through the admissions process) were absolutely critical as I conducted my search. They give application advice, essay edits and feedback, and have a number of highly useful resources to ensure that your unique experience is captured on the application.

2) Veterati - much like ACP but less formally structured and more useful for networking - this website allows you to seek out both civilian and veteran mentors. Excellent for informational interviews, finding new roles or new mentors, great for finding jobs, and excellent for getting insider information on individual schools - it's always easy to open up a dialogue with another vet after all.

One possible option that not many people know about is the joint JD-MBA degree from Northwestern (Kellogg School of Management is ranked #6 and Pritzker School of Law #11) or Columbia (GSB is #9 and Law is #5). Those elite schools offer a 3 year programs vice the usual 4 years it would take to complete Law School and your MBA. Disclaimer: you need VERY strong grades and a STRONG score on the LSAT/GRE/GMAT (based on program requirements) and the reputation of your undergraduate institution does matter since it's all part of your personal brand. Keep in mind that you have 36 months of benefits to use (you won't get benefits when you're not in classes so plan accordingly - take a full course load or get an internship in the summer to use your time effectively).

Finally, maximize your tuition assistance in the next 2 years before you get out but make sure that it transfers over to your desired undergraduate institution. You can check for precedence on individual classes via transfer.org - nothing worse than getting zero degree credit for whole semesters worth of work.

Good luck!

All the Best,
Matt