What is law school like?

I graduated from the University of New Mexico's law School in 2002,and my biggest challenge was competion ,because everyone can be mean & cruel as well as keeping up my studies . What I recommend is that you contact your financial aid office of that law school you plan to attend and ask if they offer any work study programs. If you work on campus,they are usually flexable with working around school schedule. Best of Luck !

Retired Runner wrote:

I graduated from the University of New Mexico's law School in 2002,and my biggest challenge was competion ,because everyone can be mean & cruel as well as keeping up my studies . What I recommend is that you contact your financial aid office of that law school you plan to attend and ask if they offer any work study programs. If you work on campus,they are usually flexable with working around school schedule. Best of Luck !

Dear WithMeSoFar,

Me matriculate out from school, everyone mean to me, but check into competion first...If the retard who wrote the message above attended and graduated from law school, I am sure you will sail through.

Dhuck C

my asshole burns i just ate nachos and applesauce...

WithMeSoFar? wrote:

I looked at some school websites, apparently they seem to indicate volunteer experience is a huge plus (besides undergrad GPA and LSAT score).

No, no, no. Volunteer experience is essentially meaningless at almost every law school (Yale, the #1 school in the US, *might* occasionally make an exception). LSAT and GPA (typically in that order) are *huge* for law school admissions. Letters of recommendation and application essay are far behind, and volunteer experience is generally behind them.

Instead of volunteering, use those couple hundred hours to study the LSAT. Two extra points on that test will outweigh a thousand hours of volunteer stuff.

The websites only contain that stuff so that a) they won't seem completely crass, putting their sole emphasis on LSAT/GPA; and b) so that suckers with no chance of admission will still apply (and pay the application fee), hoping that their history of good works will get them in.

Get this book and read it (though with a grain of salt): Planet Law School. And take LEEWS (www.leews.com). "Volunteer" your time for those activities...you'll have a more rewarding law-school experience as a consequence.

I AM glad you asked me that cos I have a lot to say about law school. It is like really bad if you are guilty and trying to hide it. You sweat a lot and look over your shoulder all the time to see who is watching you. But if you are innocent and falsely accused, then you have to prove yourself and it takes a lot of study time. Still you can end up in the slammer guilty or innocent because you don't have enough money to afford yourself.

Grades are most important. Anything else that sets you apart from others helps (that includes pro bono work, starting a company, setting a Ironman course record...anything that tells them you are not their "average" student).

I hardly worked out my first year - jogged but that was about it (hardly slept either). Second year and most of third year however, you get into the swing of things and have some confidence. I was law review, in the top 5% and still was able to put in more cycling miles per semester than my first 3 years of law practice combined.

There is an old saying about law school: First year they scare you to death; second year they work you to death; third year they bore you to death. Trust me, any of those three is better than the average day of actually practising law :)

Good luck.

Don't go to law school!! Practicing law is horrible! Anyone who says they like it is either lying or a total sicko who never had a life so doesn't know that he has a sh-tty one practicing law. Non-lawyers will not appreciate you and make stupid jokes about you. It will be hard to find a job. And when you do, the job will be incredibly BORING>

Before going to law school, consider what you want to do after you graduate. Do you want to work at a big firm? Do you know what that entails? The debt you will incur from school will put a lot of pressure on you to get a high paying job that you may or may not like. Typically the pro bono do gooder type jobs are very hard to get right out of school. You will become a much stronger critical thinker by going to law school but it's 3 years and a lot of money, make sure what you do at the end of those 3 years is what you want.

i guess i'm a "total sicko."

there is such a broad spectrum of "lawyers" out there that, in my opinion, no one person can tell you what being a lawyer is like because it's different for everyone. the biggest difference is what sort of setting you practice in (big or small firm, private or government, in-house, etc.) the second biggest is what sort of work you do. there are lawyers in my firm that do things that i would find mind-numbing. i could never do document review or due dilligence on a regular basis - as is the norm for many young associates in large firms.

i found something while in law school that i enjoy doing. i'm lucky because i'm not one of those people for whom it was "hard to find a job." as with any job, if you're not a sought after quantity, it's likely that the job you end up taking will not be your ideal. the one thing that people entering law school should realize is that, unless you're going to a top law school, you don't get the pick of the jobs. that doesn't mean you won't find a job that you'll like doing - i know plenty of people who simply coasted through law school because they just wanted to get a job doing criminal prosecution for the state's attorney or public interest type work. but if you're one of those people enamored with a big firm job, with a big salary, but you still want to have a life and do meaningful (i.e., not document review for your first three years) work, those jobs can be harder to get. just go in with your eyes wide open.

I went to a top law school and made the main law review there as a night student, after having been educated and raised in a blue collar environment. I loved law school, but at least three quarters of my classmates absolutely hated it and couldn't wait to graduate. Done properly, law school is excellent mental training. What law students often call excessive competition is their first experience with actually having to study to get a decent grade, or distinguish themselves with respect to their classmates. Most law students were smart enough through their prior education to coast to their high grades.

The best preparation for law school is a willingness to study hard and think critically. The best preparation for the practice of law is a commitment to work hard. What classes you take, what jobs you hold, will all be insignificant in comparison to the amount of commitment you bring. If you are half hearted, do something else, as the profession is flooded with more attorneys than the market needs.

The average graduate from the average law school makes far less than someone who started working diligently in a business or corporation three years earlier. Financial rewards in the practice of law are exaggerated, as most of the big money is paid to perhaps 10% of attorneys in any age group. IF you want money, sell something or run your own business. If you want status, work in the entertainment or sports fields. If you want to use your mind and talents to make a difference and make a comfortable living, then the law is excellent.

Dhuck C wrote:

Dear WithMeSoFar,

Me matriculate out from school, everyone mean to me, but check into competion first...If the retard who wrote the message above attended and graduated from law school, I am sure you will sail through.

Dhuck C

This is the funniest message I've read all day. Dammit, I can't stop laughing and I'm sure my boss can hear me. I'm going to get fired for laughing at this sh!t.

WithMeSoFar? wrote:

Would it be hard to work full time, run and go to school at night?

Yes. Assuming a reduced schedule for night school you are still looking at 40 hours of work per week, commuting time, and then another 30 hours devoted to law school. Being conservative you are looking at 80-90 hours a week for work and law school studies. 168 hours in a week leaves you 80 or so hours to sleep, eat, do yur laundry bills and other errands plus run 30-60 minutes.

Other posters are right, look into financial aid and then concentrate on school. The first year is brutal. It was unlike anything I had done in undergraduate - the expectations were so much higher and the volume of work. It's been over 12 years since I graduated and I can still remember how hard it was.

The practice of law is different for everyone. I am lucky to be in a small firm - 5 attorneys total. I didn't make the money some attorneys do starting out in the big firm making six figures and working 80 hours a week, but I still make good money and I work 40 hours a week. I get to drive out to outlying counties for court and in general enjoy myself. It is what you make of it.

Watch The Paper Chase.

find something you love to do, and do it. don't go to law school because, like everyone else, you're smart, you want a stable carreer, and you want to make some good money. law school sucks. it's hard, expensive, and boring. and, there's no way to predict how you'll perform until you get there.

i did my undergrad work at an ivy league school. i got good grades, worked hard, and thought critically. i have also worked very hard in law school, but i'm no where near the top of my class and have hated every minute of it.

not to mention, the time committment of studying alone excludes the possibility of serious training. i know some people on here have said there's some time 2nd and 3rd year, but they must be sacrificing a lot somewhere. if you want to get some professional experience during the semester you'll want to work, you'll have to complete your elective and required coursework, plus any work for an extra-curriculars (including law review, etc...)

the stress from law school alone can cause depression. it can also deplete your immune system to the point that you are more susceptible to injury and illness if you do decide to train seriously.

think long and hard before you commit to law shool. make sure you have a good reason before getting into a profession that has a reputation for rampant alocoholism.

find something you love to do, and do it. don't go to law school because, like everyone else, you're smart, you want a stable carreer, and you want to make some good money. law school sucks. it's hard, expensive, and boring. and, there's no way to predict how you'll perform until you get there.

i did my undergrad work at an ivy league school. i got good grades, worked hard, and thought critically. i have also worked very hard in law school, but i'm no where near the top of my class and have hated every minute of it.

not to mention, the time committment of studying alone excludes the possibility of serious training. i know some people on here have said there's some time 2nd and 3rd year, but they must be sacrificing a lot somewhere. if you want to get some professional experience during the semester you'll want to work, you'll have to complete your elective and required coursework, plus any work for an extra-curriculars (including law review, etc...)

the stress from law school alone can cause depression. it can also deplete your immune system to the point that you are more susceptible to injury and illness if you do decide to train seriously.

think long and hard before you commit to law shool. make sure you have a good reason before getting into a profession that has a reputation for rampant alocoholism.

I went to law school but mostly saw it as a way to continue training for three more years. Not the brightest approach. All of my PR's are from that time (age 31-32), plus I worked part-time (teaching at a local junior college) while going to law school as a full-time student. However, because my focus was not on law school, my grades were mediocre and so, even if I had wanted a career in law, it would have been slim pickings. Work your ass off first year so that you have a chance for a great summer clerkship after your second year, which, if you do a good job, probably becomes an offer after graduation.

like everyone is saying if you want to make serious money go into business, get an MBA. Some of those guys have bonuses that are bigger than a entire year salary for a lawyer. Merrill Lynch just had a record year of compensation, which was into the billions.

From what I understand there are two types of lawyers; the super lawyers (essentially the top 10%) and everybody else. About 95% of lawyers works in a small firms 1-50 people. I'm not sure what the cut off is for "small" firms. It is 50 I believe or 25. That would also include solo lawyers of course.

There are poor lawyers. My neighbor was a lawyer, lost his house and got divorced. Then the DA's office investigated him and I think some ethics board. He had a shitty year. I believe he was a solo, may not have been running his office quite so well.

Law school is the training ground I think for your eventual career. Then again I'm told it is a lot of theory and not enough practice for practicing law. There are always people in my classes who just do not get it. They think that it is some fantastical hard question to answer when the teacher asks for example about some case; what was a legally significant fact? They freeze, totally unsure of their answer or bring some theory out from somewhere that the facts do not even raise as an issue. A judge should tear you a new one if you do not know your case. Law school is not like college. Work like a lawyer, not like a frat boy.

There are a lot of lawyers here, they have said a lot of stuff right on. If I'm wrong I'd like to be corrected.

I had 3.0 GPA in college and average LSAT scores, but was accepted into several law schools because I worked for the legislature, had a ton of volunteer experience and worked with political campaigns. Most people get accepted based on scores, wealth, and powerful connections.

It is difficult to work the first year of law school so do not plan on it. Some law schools are still affordable. Look into Univ. Oregon School of Law.

I ran/raced thru law school, no problem.

Although everyone's circumstances are different, I would not recommend working full-time and going to law school at night. The top law schools don't even have night programs, and even if you find a decent law school with a night program, you're likely to lose out on the value of immersing yourself in the study of law if you try to squeeze law school into an already crowded schedule. For better or worse, your opportunities in the legal field will be greatly influenced by (1) the reputation of the school that you attend and (2) your academic performance in law school, especially in your first year. Don't compromise on those two factors in order to work full-time. Generally, I think that gainful employment during law school, at least during the first year, is likely to prove a bad investment of your time.

Don't worry about "influential people" who could give you an "in." And don't worry about larding your resume with "volunteer experience." Law schools care about undergraduate grades and LSAT scores above all else. Recommendations from professors who really know you can also help. If your background suggests that you may bring something different to the mix of the class, that's generally good, too. So don't be concerned that a "blue-collar" background might weigh against you. It won't -- at least, not in the admissions process. Law schools already have plenty of moderately intelligent young people from upper-middle class families. They'd much rather have a few students who aren't simply following a well-worn path to the practice of law.