What can I do with a Juris Doctor degree?

I second the person who said you should not pursue a law degree unless you are fairly certain that you want to be a lawyer. That being said, I did see 2–3 people who changed their minds while in law school, finished their degree, and managed to find jobs doing other things, but all of those things were law-related (for example, one was interested in academic administration, and got a job as Assistant Director of Admissions at a law school, and another ended up doing policy-related work in DC, and one ended up working for a company that offers bar prep courses). Read more: Ashley Ro, Attorney. Can I still do many things with a Juris Doctor? April 29, 2017. https://www.quora.com/Can-I-still-do-many-things-with-a-Juris-Doctor. Accessed November 07, 2020.

In general, it's much harder if you want to move to a completely different field, and a JD may make some non-law jobs harder to get than they would be with just an undergraduate degree. This is because, far more than an undergrad degree, a graduate degree has a signaling effect, and people will assume that it is directly related to what you want to do. If you apply for unrelated jobs (at least straight out of school), people are likely to assume that you don't really want to be there, and are only applying because you weren't able to get a law job.

That being said, if law really interests you, there is no reason you can't consider a career as a lawyer. While I agree with your friend, that you need to go into it with your eyes open, and should not go forward with the degree unless you have a plan and have weighed the risks, I don't think that automatically precludes law school in all circumstances. There are still plenty of law jobs out there, and many thousands of new lawyers have no trouble finding jobs each year. The problem is that there are also far more people graduating from law school than there are jobs, and that the job opportunities tend to be fairly concentrated among students from only higher-ranked schools. The most important thing is to do your research before deciding whether and where to attend law school, and to not allow yourself to get swept up in inertia towards a school that doesn't make sense.

I would look at job stats before you apply for school, and not consider any schools where the a decent majority of the class doesn't end up in a paid job as a lawyer. At the top schools, the vast majority of graduates find good jobs before or very soon after graduation. In general though, the real shortage doesn't arise until you get outside the top 25–30 schools. It is worth noting, however, that the top schools generally do not place many people in family law, so if that's the only area of law you love, your options may be more limited and tenuous no matter where you go.

Overall, if you really want to go to law school because you love the law, I would focus on making sure you go to one that will facilitate a career in the field, rather than focusing on how you will get out of the legal field as soon as possible. No matter how much you like the law, most of law school isn't really much fun, and it's definitely not worth the cost just for a three year intellectual exercise. If all you have is a general fascination with law but don't want to practice, I would treat it more like a hobby - read books and study on your own in your spare time (Coursera and iTunes have some good free online law courses) but don’t spend the time and money for a JD degree you don't intend to use. Read more: Ashley Ro, Attorney. Can I still do many things with a Juris Doctor? April 29, 2017. https://www.quora.com/Can-I-still-do-many-things-with-a-Juris-Doctor. Accessed November 07, 2020.