BeIR/webis-touche2020 huggingface dataset:
Law firm work is very boring

"Why you shouldn't go to law school." Law and Letters. November 15th, 2007: "those sixteen hour days will be spent doing things like rooting through warehouses of documents looking for privileges to avoid disclosing things in discovery. Needless to say, this work is incredibly boring. Or you could be doing piles of research on minutiae of securities law in preparation for a bloody negotiation. You'll have neverending pressure to bill more and more hours, and much of your work will be morally dubious at best, actually wicked at worst. (Consider, for example, how many lawyers must have been involved in the efforts to bury all the incriminating tobacco company documents.)"
Legal arguing/writing can be creative/beautiful.

Jamison Koehler. "On the True Value of a Law Degree." Koehler Law. January 16th, 2011: "The law can also be a great outlet for creative energy. When people ask me why I no longer write short stories, I tell them that I haven’t written a line of fiction since I started law school. The law takes up every bit of creativity that I have. There can be such beauty in a well-written motion or legal opinion. As I often told my father, a well-crafted legal opinion can be more satisfying to read than any work of fiction or poem. I often think of a particular legal opinion – like the Massachusetts decision on gay marriage – the way he might think of a work by John Milton or William Carlos Williams. You find new meaning in every reading. You read it and you think, gee, I wish I could write like that."
Huge variety of legal fields to choose from.

David Lat. "In defense of going to law school." Above the Law. July 13th, 2010: "There are so many options for law-related employment outside of Biglaw — midsize or small law firms, federal government (e.g., the DOJ Honors Program), state government, clerkships (federal and state), fellowships, non-profits / public interest, and in-house (yes, even for new graduates). And that’s without even touching upon the many career alternatives for attorneys — all the things you can do with a law degree that don’t involve practicing law."
Legal work requires sitting at a desk for long hours.

"Is being a lawyer all that bad?" The Healthy Lawyer. March 3rd, 2009: "My last problem with being a lawyer is that I didn't realize how much I would hate sitting at a desk all day long. That is why I said if I wasn't a lawyer I would want to be a personal trainer. I get up and go to the water cooler or bathroom so many times during the day, just because I hate sitting still."
Law school is a bad investment

Herwig Schlunk. "Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be...Lawyers." Vanderbilt Law and Economics Working Paper. October 30, 2009: "This essay treats a legal education as an investment, and asks the question of whether, based on known costs and expected benefits, such investment should be undertaken. The inquiry will necessarily differ from one potential law student to another. But for three posited “typical students” at private law schools, the investment is shown to generally be a bad one."
A J.D. opens opportunities in political/govt work

"Why you should consider a JD MBA." MyMBACareer.com: "An MBA JD degree is also useful if you are considering a career in politics or government. Even if you don't plan to practice law or work in a business setting, there are many ways in which an MBA JD degree can help you prepare for a job in public service. Your range of knowledge will make you a valuable addition to any campaign, political staff or government office. In the same vein, government organizations are constantly working with private business and legal firms, and a JD MBA graduate is perfectly suited to such work."
Lawyers rarely see the inside of courtrooms

"5 Myths about going to law school." Penelope Trunk's Brazen Careerist. May 16th, 2007: "Most lawyers never see the inside of a courtroom. About 95% of all civil law suits that are filed are settled before trial. Much of the work of a 'litigator' involves reviewing documents, preparing court filings and negotiating with the lawyer from the other side of the case."
Legal work environments can be very collegial

Susan Basalla. "Should I Go to Law School?" The Chronicle. January 23rd, 2004: "[Evan Wilson, a Ph.D. in the humanities who attended an Ivy League law school:] 'I prefer working in the legal world. I'm much happier here -- it's much more collegial than academe. I feel much more like people are pulling together. Academe had so many bitter fights over nothing.'"
Many hugely successful people started with a law degree

Hindi Greenberg. "So What Else Can You Do with Your Law Degree?" American Bar Association. July/August 2005: "Lawyers contemplating change are in good company. Consider the following one-time attorneys: Mahatma Gandhi (Inner Temple, London, 1891); Sir Thomas More ( Lincoln’s Inn, London, 1501); Peter Tchaikovsky (School of Jurisprudence, St. Petersburg, 1859); Studs Terkel (University of Chicago, 1934); Fidel Castro (University of Havana, 1950); and Howard Cosell (New York University, 1940). Other former lawyers include the two founders of the California Pizza Kitchen restaurant chain; the founders of Nolo Press, a self-help legal book publisher; and Mortimer Zuckerman, a real estate tycoon and the owner of the magazine U.S. News & World Report."
Not everyone incurs significant debts from law school.

David Lat. "In Defense of Going to Law School." Above the Law. July 13th, 2010: "4. Not everyone graduates with debt (or with as much debt as some people think). I was lucky enough to graduate law school debt-free; my parents paid for my college and law school. And I’m not alone. According to the Law School Survey of Student Engagement (figure 7), over 10 percent of law students will graduate with zero debt, and another 5 percent or so will graduate with less than $20,000 in student loans. So somewhere between 15 and 20 percent of law school graduates leave school with little to no debt — and a valuable professional degree to show for their efforts. There are several reasons why perhaps a fifth of law school graduates have little or no debt. Some have parents, grandparents or spouses who are willing to help out with educational costs. Some have savings from pre-law-school careers, in lucrative fields such as finance or consulting. And some attend reasonably priced state schools and/or receive very generous scholarship money. The dean of one top 25 law school told me earlier this year that about two-thirds of his school’s students receive some form of scholarship aid from the school. [...] So the 'sticker price' of law school, in terms of the cost you see on the law school website or in brochures, can be misleading. Many students aren’t paying full freight — and many of the students who are paying full freight can afford to."
Lawyers can be jerks; very hard to compete against

"Why you shouldn't go to law school." Law and Letters. November 15th, 2007: "You'll be Surrounded by Jerks. The lawyers-as-jerks stereotype is one that has more than a grain of truth to it, in my experience. In about four and a half years of actively practicing law, I came across numerous examples of utterly atrocious behavior, often in litigation. It's not always big things -- though big things are the ones that hit the news -- but patterns of obstreperous behavior and downright stupidity that can wear you down over a day-to-day basis. Bickering over stupid document production requests, delays, phantom schedule conflicts... all these things add up. Contemporary lawyering is often an expensive form of childish game-playing with the rules of civil procedure. It's psychological warfare for minute tactical advantage."
Law school offers invaluable perspective.

Jamison Koehler. "On the True Value of a Law Degree." Koehler Law. January 16th, 2011: "Lawyers who went directly to law school from college may not fully appreciate the perspective and skills that law school provides. After all, that’s all they know. They don’t know what it is like to go through life without legal training. I do. While in law school, I would learn something in my constitutional law, tax or corporations class and think: How could I possibly have survived for the past 40 years without knowing that? I also worked with a lot of lawyers during my first career. Just as a person who never went to college may overestimate what everyone else who went to college may have learned during those four years, I was always somewhat in awe of the people with law degrees. They seemed to speak a language that only they understood."
Clients are a frustrating part of law practice

"Top Ten (10) Reasons Not To Go To Law School." Karemar Blog. July 19th, 2007: "The best reason not to go to law school and not to become a lawyer is this: CLIENTS. Clients destroy the practice of law and in fact destroy the enjoyment of most businesses, however in law, clients are the worst. Clients hardly ever pay their bills, insist on running the show, though they know nothing about the law, and torment you with incessant calls and emails. [...] Clients are not for me, some people put up with clients and their whining. I, however seek to create value to users through new business opportunities. No more hand holding and babying grownups."
Law school educates future leaders.

Kevin Noble Maillard, law professor at Syracuse University. "It's Not a Trade School." New York Times. July 25, 2011: "It prepares people to become leaders in our society, which makes it imperative that they be rigorously trained as thinkers. They will become stewards of policies that affect our everyday lives: in our schools, our jobs and our families. All of this responsibility, in diverse fields, comes from legal education. As Chris Judge, my student at Syracuse, reminds me, “there are many paths toward becoming a lawyer,” and students and administrators should reject the customer-provider model of education."
Diversity in law fits diversity of personalities

Ben Paris, Curriculum Director for Graduate Programs at Kaplan Education Center: "There's no one personality profile for successful lawyers. Many people think that lawyers have to be super-competitive and argumentative, but that just isn't so. If you're interested in litigation, you probably have to be able to deal with confrontations, but most lawyers aren't litigators. There's enough variety in the law profession for many different kinds of people to make a meaningful contribution."
Lawyers are usually unhappy

Notre Dame's magazine summarizes some of the studies: "Lawyers suffer from depression, anxiety, hostility, paranoia, social alienation and isolation, obsessive-compulsiveness, and interpersonal sensitivity at alarming rates. For example, researchers affiliated with Johns Hopkins University found statistically significant elevations of major depressive disorder (AMDD@) in only three of 104 occupations: lawyers, pre-kindergarten and special education teachers, and secretaries. Lawyers topped the list, suffering from MDD at a rate 3.6 times higher than nonlawyers who shared their key socio-demographic traits."
Law school teaches people to "think like lawyers."

Geoffrey Stone. "Learning to think like a lawyer." Room for Debate. July 25th, 2011: "First, and most important, it can teach students to “think like a lawyer.” As any lawyer will tell you, this is critical. The practice of law demands a rigorous, self-critical (and critical), creative and empathic (how will my opponent and the judge see this issue?) mind-set. In general, legal education does this brilliantly. This is at the very core of a legal education."
J.D.'s can work in industries surrounding lawyers

Hindi Greenberg. "So What Else Can You Do with Your Law Degree?" American Bar Association. July/August 2005: "they can explore the industries that serve law firms or produce products for use by lawyers, or even set up their own businesses providing consultations to other lawyers in areas of self-developed expertise. Businesses that provide services and products to lawyers are expanding rapidly—computer consulting, legal product development and design, law book sales, practice management, office design, jury consulting, and legal software development, to name just a few. Look at the display ads in various legal publications to get an idea about the varied businesses that cater to law firms, many of which hire former lawyers to service those firms."
Law school cultivates arrogance

"Why you shouldn't go to law school." Law and Letters. November 15th, 2007: "Arrogance. A lawyer is surrounded largely by non-lawyers who come to him/her for expert advice. That alone can encourage some arrogance, but even more is necessary for the psychological warfare between lawyers. Lawyers often try to use extreme false confidence (a.k.a. arrogance) to intimidate one another into tactical concessions, e.g. by making the other lawyer think that they've screwed up, that "things are always done this way," etc. That is a tactic especially used by older lawyers against younger ones. The younger ones need to develop their own armor of arrogance to resist it."
No light at end of tunnel for successful students, attorneys.

David Segal. "Is Law School a Losing Game?" New York Times. January 8, 2011: "what might be the ultimate ugly truth about law school: plenty of those who borrow, study and glad-hand their way into the gated community of Big Law are miserable soon after they move in. The billable-hour business model pins them to their desks and devours their free time. Hence the cliché: law school is a pie-eating contest where the first prize is more pie."
Law school educates for wide-ranging careers.

Kevin Noble Maillard, law professor at Syracuse University. "It's Not a Trade School." New York Times. July 25, 2011: "Gone are the days of the gold watch at retirement or the lifelong stint with a single employer. In today’s “real world,” people change jobs, careers and fields. Training students for a specific job may work for the immediate future, but certainly not for a career of service."
Lawyers become uninteresting people

"Why you shouldn't go to law school." Law and Letters. November 15th, 2007: "Uninterestingness. The practice of law takes so much of one's time that one can engage in few activities with the rest of one's life. It is also so stressful that one tends to obsess about it. The result is that lawyers can become very boring people, with nothing to talk about except their ugly jobs."
Successful lawyers encounter "golden handcuffs"

"When my wife and I left D.C. almost ten years ago, many of the lawyers of our generation had made partner at big firms here in town and were well into their practices. They were respected members of their firms. They lived in large houses. Many of them had stay-at-home spouses. Their kids were in private schools, and they traded in luxury cars every year for the latest model. And yet, having worked so hard to arrive, many of them were painfully dissatisfied with their lives. [...] One friend of ours stood on the deck of his beautiful home, overlooking a large, expensively landscaped yard in Arlington, and told us he felt like he was in golden handcuffs. I hate what I do. But if I stop, I will have to give up all of this."
Law school teaches intersection of biz, govt, society

Linda Greene, Evjue-Bascom Professor of Law at the University of Wisconsin. "A priceless degree." New York Times Room for Debate. July 25th, 2011: "that a legal education provides an unparalleled opportunity to understand the intersection of private and public power, to explore the rationale for the organization of human society and to participate more knowledgeably and effectively in every aspect of human endeavor."
J.D. is not "all purpose" degree; it's for lawyers

"Should You Go to Law School? Not Unless You Want To Be a Lawyer." Wronging Rights. January 22, 2009: "I know that you have heard that a J.D. is a 'great all-purpose degree,' but it isn't. That's a lie put about by parents who are trying to trick you into middle-class professionaldom and law schools who are trying to take your money. A J.D. is not an all-purpose degree, it is a law degree. It does not qualify you to become a diplomat, a 'senior policy advisor' to anything, a politician, a banker, an aid worker, a political operative, or any of those other jobs that seem like they might be a fun way to satisfy your West Wing fantasies. It qualifies you to be a lawyer, and it doesn't really even do that -there's still the pesky matter of the bar exam."
The legal practice breeds impatience in life

"Why you shouldn't go to law school." Law and Letters. November 15th, 2007: "Impatience. See above with respect to stress. Also, the law is a very deadline-driven occupation, especially in litigation. There's always more work to do than there is time to do it in, and there's always a court and opposing counsel breathing down your throat with respect to strict deadlines. If you miss a deadline, the consequences can be terrible: a lost case, a malpractice claim against you, etc. Don't be surprised when this spills over and you find yourself swearing at people who walk too slowly while crossing the street."
Don't go to law school just because others do

Dahlia Lithwick. "Letter to a Young Law Student. Don't go to law school: But if you must, take my advice." Slate. Aug. 15, 2002: "If there is one law of law-school thinking it's this: 'If everyone else wants something, I must want it, too.' Not since the days of the Tonka backhoe and Malibu Skipper will you have so lunged for stuff in which you have no real interest, just because everyone else is lunging. Law school manages to impose odd new values on virtually everyone. And each step of the way, law students make choices—to interview with certain firms, take certain classes, apply for certain clerkships—based on an impoverished sense of other options and the fear that other people will get all the good stuff if you don't grab it. This is hard advice to give and harder, I expect, to take. Fear and conformity dig some pretty deep paths at law school. Don't just follow because they are there."
Law school is extremely hard and time consuming

"Top Ten (10) Reasons Not To Go To Law School." Karemar. July 19th, 2007: "I know that college went by extremely fast, but that was college. Law school is a different beast, with a poor social scene and students who are so competitive that they do not leave the library ever. This time creeps by. Also, breaks are not spent on vacation, however they must be spent improving your resume so that you can get a good job when you graduate. Think of law school as working hard while in school, approximately 70 hours a week only to work during your summers 50 hours a week. They don't want to work you too hard during your summers, because they are ultimately trying to hire you and then force you into their labor force."
If you don't want to be a lawyer, don't go to law school

"Should You Go to Law School? Not Unless You Want To Be a Lawyer." Wronging Rights. January 22, 2009: "I loved law school, and I am incredibly glad that I decided to go. [...But] when [people] ask me if they should go to law school, and why they are surprised when, instead, my response is: 'Well, do you want to be a lawyer?,' and then 'no' if they tell me that they don't. [...] I know that you have heard that a J.D. is a 'great all-purpose degree,' but it isn't. That's a lie put about by parents who are trying to trick you into middle-class professionaldom and law schools who are trying to take your money. A J.D. is not an all-purpose degree, it is a law degree. It does not qualify you to become a diplomat, a "senior policy advisor" to anything, a politician, a banker, an aid worker, a political operative, or any of those other jobs that seem like they might be a fun way to satisfy your West Wing fantasies. It qualifies you to be a lawyer, and it doesn't really even do that -there's still the pesky matter of the bar exam."
Lawyers suffer from high divorce rates

Notre Dame's magazine summarizes some of the studies: "The divorce rate among lawyers appears to be higher than the divorce rate among other professionals. Felicia Baker LeClere of Notre Dame's Center for the Study of Contemporary Society compared the incidence of divorce among lawyers to the incidence of divorce among doctors, using data from the 1990 census. LeClere found that the percentage of lawyers who are divorced is higher than the percentage of doctors who are divorced and that the difference is particularly pronounced among women."
Law students are highly stressed and often unhappy

"Understanding the Negative Effects of Legal Education on Law Students: A Longitudinal Test of Self-Determination Theory." Kennon M. Sheldon, University of Missouri-Columbia. June 1, 2007: "Longitudinal studies suggest that law school has a corrosive effect on the well-being, values, and motivation of students, ostensibly because of its problematic institutional culture. In a 3-year study of two different law schools, the authors applied self-determination theory's (SDT) dynamic process model of thriving to explain such findings."
Three years of law school has huge opportunity cost

Paul Gowder. "Why you shouldn't go to law school." Law and Letters. November 15th, 2007: "And not just the debt. But also the massive opportunity cost of three years of your life. Compare this to grad school, where top phd programs tend to be funded. Or to an MBA program which is a year shorter (and sometimes two years shorter). Or to working at something that you might find interesting, where you can learn, build human capital, and get paid, all at once."
Lawyers suffer from alcoholism and drug use

Notre Dame's magazine summarizes some of the studies: "Lawyers also suffer from alcoholism and use illegal drugs at rates far higher than nonlawyers. One group of researchers found that the rate of alcoholism among lawyers is double the rate of alcoholism among adults generally, while another group of researchers estimated that 26 percent of lawyers had used cocaine at least once -- twice the rate of the general population. One out of three lawyers suffers from clinical depression, alcoholism or drug abuse. Not surprisingly, a preliminary study indicates that lawyers commit suicide and think about committing suicide more often than nonlawyers."
Law school social scene is minimal

"Top Ten (10) Reasons Not To Go To Law School." Karemar. July 19th, 2007: "9. THE SOCIAL SCENE IS PATHETIC - Generally speaking, law school students are competitive, anal, nerds. They certainly are not the guys and girls you had a blast with drinking, dancing and partying all night. Your new friends and classmates will live in the library and will not find much time away from their books."
Many lawyers are successful outside of law, but so are others

"Should You Go to Law School? Not Unless You Want To Be a Lawyer." Wronging Rights. January 22, 2009: "I know: right now you are mentally listing the names of all of the diplomats, senior policy advisors, politicians, bankers, aid workers, and political operatives who have J.D.s. I'm sure it's a long list. Having a law degree certainly doesn't disqualify someone from holding one of those positions. It might even help a little. But it's not a requirement, and it's not the easiest or cheapest way in."
Big Law lawyers can't have much of a life outside of work.

Steven Butler. "Is being a lawyer worth it?" Helium. January 30th, 2009: "Minimum billable hour expectations at large law firms, whether by stated policy or not, are typically around 2,000 hours per year. This target does not include time worked on pro-bono matters, training, attention to non-billable firm marketing and related projects, and general administrative work around the office. The pay may be incredible, but the hours are rough - making the deal not as attractive on a "dollars per hour in the office" (or chained to your cell phone and blackberry) basis. The psychological and physical costs of this lifestyle are real and don't typically fit well alongside goals of having a happy life outside the office."