Don't do it. Absolutely not. No No No. First, google and read everything on Don't Go to Law School. Now, let's get into your specifics...
Your intentions are good. Your motivation is based on a misperception of the need and what you can bring to the table now and in the future.
Last week, I participated in a webinar/call for attorneys who want to volunteer right now related to asylum seekers and immigration. There were 2500+ registrants. The small, under-funded organizations that address many of the injustices have many people who want to help, and what they most need is:
- MONEY
- People with enough experience to volunteer to organize and manage thousands of OTHER volunteers to best steer people with actual experience and skills toward where they are needed and able to help
- People with language skills to interpret (people forget how much legal work is investigative/fact-finding). This includes Spanish, of course, but currently also includes various indigenous languages from Central America that are not commonly spoken or taught in the USA.
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There is so much advocacy work, policy work, and organizing to be done right now. Most of it does not need a law degree, and that which does frequently needs the JD + other experiences/skill sets.
If there is a specific social justice issue you are passionate about (e.g., anti-racism, housing rights, LGBTQ rights, etc.), there are likely a place you can already go volunteer or work (for low-pay). Even the legal work these organizations need is often not "interesting" or "sexy" - it's just directing people to resources and helping them with forms, documents, and letters. The work I did as a volunteer intern at my local district office (for a state senator) when I was in college is suprisingly similar to what I do volunteering as an attorney serving similar communities.
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Besides costing lots of money, law school is a tremendous outlay of your time and energy. If you take the amount of time you'd be in law school and give it to volunteer or low-pay work, you can probably do a lot more good. During the time you're in law school, you're unlikely to have the energy or ability to do much for others and you'll be taxing your own personal well-being.
Happy to continue this via PM.