My brother sailed for a year after graduating, then went to law school for maritime law, was a lawyer for a short time and hated it so went back to sea and ended up progressing to Chief Engineer on a shipping line on the Great Lakes.
So it is possible. Thank you! I just had not heard of anyone doing that from all the people I have talked to so far.
It's not possible to go to law school right after KP unless you're doing it on a military contract or on Active Duty. Something they let fly in the past won't fly today.
You have these options:
Military or Uniformed Service (like Public Health or NOAA)
Sailing licensed or unlicensed with waiver
Shoreside maritime related with waiver
Maritime related graduate education; I think this one is a deferment, so you owe reports on 5 years of work after you finish that. I know of nobody who has ever used this.