You will not get hired. A primary reason why law firms are willing to pay 23-24 year olds large salaries is the expectation (some bosses say it outright, few imply it) that the associates will work through the night, and sometimes 2 or 3 days with barely any sleep. Post 30, you don’t have the health to squander away even if you’re willing to. This is particularly true at the “tier-1” firms.

Another comment here accurately describes hurdles from a partnership PoV but that assumes people think that far into the future - which no one does when hiring a fresher. The other thing that’s relevant is that a 34 year old has lived live a fair bit and will be presumed to not put up with the garbage behaviour many partners engage in. Young adults who’ve never made money before are much likely to put up with that kind of behaviour.

Additionally, while most law firm partners lack emotional awareness, they also will know that hiring you will be a recipe for friction that will likely be unavoidable - a 27 / 28 / 29 year old SA or PA will direct your life more than you can think right now. Call you at 10 or 11 PM asking for a draft by noon the next day. No matter how much one denies it, egos will come into play when you work the hours law firms do.

I won’t bring up the reductions in hiring due to perceived efficiencies from AI - and yes, they have begun no matter what people tell you. Legora and Harvey aren’t cheap. The money has to come from somewhere.

All of these factors can only be overridden or dispensed away if you get a good partner who is open to unconventional thinking about how lives are lived - and law firm partners like that are exceedingly rare. So, this comes down to the question - are you willing to spend 3 years going you law school when your only chance of success will require immense luck, in this context.

Also, your diplomas and understanding of economic theory will not help your cause. Law firms don’t care about that stuff, much. I’m sorry if my phrasing is a bit blunt. This is not to discourage you or downplay your achievements, knowledge and lived experiences - which I am sure will be more rich and will have helped build more character that most law firm ghouls have. This is an honest opinion of someone who is over 30, and has experienced multiple firms including having a say in hiring exercises.

I'm not sure how relevant this would be to you, but I'm a 27 year old soon to graduate from a 5-year program from an NLU. I've received a PPO from a T-1 firm and had a considerable gap after high school prior to starting college. I did not face any difficulty in the hiring process, nor did I face any ego issues that others speak of even though people my age and younger were SAs. Maybe I lucked out with the teams or was secure enough to know that my late entry into law was not a reflection of my competence, but no one ever cared about my age while I was interning across multiple T-1s, T-2s and boutique firms. I also know of someone who started a law degree at 26-27 (so graduated at 30 approx.) and recently became an SA at a T-1 as well.

All I'm saying is, if you are someone affected by working under younger people in-charge (nothing wrong with it) or have issues with putting in the long-hours due to your age, you will not get hired. Not because of anything else, but simply because you are not compatible with a law firm life anymore. If you are willing to work regardless and are okay with working under those junior to you, I'd say no harm in trying. You may not make partner, but even with the advent of AI, law firms remain in need of work horses.

You sound like someone who has made up their mind and is only looking for reassurance to validate the said choice. So based on my experience, I'd suggest that you should go for it, since at present you sound quite stuck. Its up to you to decide if you're okay with making this choice or remaining where you are.

Also, at the risk of repeating what others have already said, your background in economics and political science won't do much for you if a career at a law firm is what you're looking for. Law firm work, at least on the transactions side, is largely about due diligence, legal research, and drafting, in that order. So the only way to learn these skills is to intern, since even law schools rarely teach these skills well. Hope it works out for you!