Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Seeking Freeper advice on law school?
Me | 8/22/03 | Me

Posted on 08/22/2003 9:04:48 AM PDT by Callahan

I just started law school (packed with liberals, of course) in an evening division program. Combined with my day job, it's alot of work, so I want to do things right. Do any Freeper attorneys out there have advice for me as I embark on my legal career?


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: faq; law; lawschool; lawyer
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-32 last
To: Callahan
Don't you know that all lawyers are evil, wicked, spawn-of-Satan types?

Yes, do develop a thick skin, particularly if you intend on hanging out here.

As for the studies, I suggest that you learn to play the law school game. It matters naught what you learn in law school, only that you can give the professor what they want to hear. That is the key to making law review (the supposed holy grail, which I found to just be more work than it was worth....although I did get many, many free lunches out of it via interviews with BIGLAW). Take a bar review course after you graduate and they will teach you exactly what you need to know to pass the bar.

You will come out of law school thinking that you know the law but, in reality, knowing nothing at all. Law school is an utter failure in actually teaching its students how to practice law.

And, personally, I found law school to be much more fun than the practice of law....because it is not a practice anymore, but a business, and the business aspect sucks.

Hey, other than that, have fun. You may want to check out www.infirmation.com, i.e., The Greedy Associates website. It is alot of fun, offers good insight, and you never know who you will run across over there.

21 posted on 08/22/2003 9:47:26 AM PDT by ContemptofCourt
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Callahan
First, kill all lawyers! ;^)
22 posted on 08/22/2003 9:48:33 AM PDT by 68 grunt (3/1 India, 3rd, 0311, 68-69)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Callahan
Several thoughts:

95% of lawyers give the rest of us a bad name.

If you aren't desperately eager to become a lawyer and to practice law, DON'T DO IT. (It is a waste of time and money to get a law degree just becasue it sounds "interesting" or you think it will help you in businmess or any other career. You wouldn't go to TV repair school to better yourself. Law school is the same.)

Consider going full time and getting on with your career. Borrow to the hilt, and live poor for three years. You will have a better experience, and make more money in the long run.

Don't think locally. Go to the BEST law school that will take you, regardless of region. At least, go to the best law school in your region, even if it lacks national prominence, so that those who hire will respect your degree.

Plan to work for others only for a few years. Most (even the best) law firms are poorly run, unpleasant places to work. "Making partner" is not to be desired. Getting experience and training is. Plan to learn as much as you can, and start your own practice as soon as possible. You will avoid the 95% noted above, avoid (liberal) firm politics, and have the opportunity to make a ton more money. (The only way you will make real money in a firm is when you can persuade them that you can make siginificantly more on your own.)

Trust those lawyers who try to talk you out of this career (even those who enjoy theirs). You should go only if you are so certain it is what you want, that you are willing to ignore the advice of those you trust.
23 posted on 08/22/2003 9:48:55 AM PDT by Atlas Sneezed
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Callahan
Several points:

Don't be afraid to use the Gillies outlines. In some classes those who studied with those came out better than I when I used more sophisticated materials.

Remember that reported cases often deal with a number of issues, including jurisdictional and procedural, that are not relevant to the issue that is under consideration. Try not to waste a lot of time reading and briefing cases, and when you do, skip the irrelevant parts and go right to issue the prof wants you to learn. Often the keynotes on West cases are a help, which are usually not included in the cases in your book. Reading the case in the library in the reporter sometimes saves a lot of time. You can pick out the issue from the head notes. You can also learn more law from reading the digests than you can from your case book.

Don't treat law school any differently than you did in the subjects you studied getting there. If you were successful before, those same qualities that got you where you are now will serve you well in your legal studies.

Finally, don't pay a lot of attention to the anti remarks that you see from a lot of freepers here. Some of the most talented and honorable people I know are lawyers. There is no profession that I know of that adheres to as rigid a set of ethical standards as do lawyers. Sure there are bad apples, as there are in any profession or trade. The profession is getting a little crowded, but there is always room at the top.

Good luck.
24 posted on 08/22/2003 9:51:59 AM PDT by B.Bumbleberry
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Callahan
Re: stress to the relationship....my daughter was born two weeks before I started law school...and I got married between 1L and 2L (yes, I am an evil, evil man). Heck, at least I am still married (to the same woman). I saw many, many relationships implode...law school just has a way of doing that....it teaches you to skip the BS and get to the bottom line...and spouses do not dig being interrogated, or cross examined, or being told that you are "too busy to be concerned with trivial things." Quite honestly, there were many times that I was just too tired to discuss an issue with my wife or argue.

You just have to keep it all in perspective. And it gets much easier after the 1L year. The third year of law school is purely a money-making venture for the school and is basically worthless.

25 posted on 08/22/2003 9:52:08 AM PDT by ContemptofCourt
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: Callahan
Congressman Billybob summed it up pretty well. I just finished my Masters last December while working full time. I didn't have a life for two full years. I used all my weekends, vacation and sick leave to prepare for finals each semester and get caught up on homework. I still get tired just thinking about it.

My wife was really supportive and I couldn't have done it without her (God bless her).

The one thing I can add is to not take any semesters off because it's really hard to get back into it if you do. I started an MBA program at night and on weekends and got burned out about halfway through it and decided to take a semester off. It took me almost a year to go back and then I was so overwhelmed that I dropped out for good.

26 posted on 08/22/2003 9:56:34 AM PDT by mbynack
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: AnAmericanMother
AnAmericanMother gave you Very Good advice. I went to law school by night and worked all day (at a job I hated) and the stress damn near put me in the hospital. If you could get enough money to take just one year off from work and go to law school by day without any distractions or overwork, then make it the FIRST year, because the first year topics (contracts, property, etc) are absolutely crucial to everything else that law school teaches. If you bungle those first year topics, it's nearly impossible to recover.

In addition to AnAmericanMother's advice, I will suggest that you get some of the study aid books that explain the topics you are studying; when I went to law school, 25 years ago, they had Emmanuels, Smith's Digest, and a bunch of others. If you poke around, you might be able to get the study book from a bar exam cram course, which I highly recommend. First year topics hardly change from one year to the next, so you can manage with used copies of study aids. These should help you learn the principles of the topics, and you might want to keep them even after you dump your casebooks.

Focus on learning the law -- and getting good grades. Your gpa will be decisive in getting jobs for at least a decade after graduation. Grades are so important that, for the 3 or 4 years of law school, you should be willing to give up TV, dating, politics, Freeping, and any other diversions and distractions.

27 posted on 08/22/2003 10:00:40 AM PDT by DonQ
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

Comment #28 Removed by Moderator

To: Callahan
See? Who says lawyers don't give free advice. <|:)~
29 posted on 08/22/2003 11:01:10 AM PDT by martin_fierro (A v v n c v l v s M a x i m v s)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Callahan
:-D Smile - just remember that there's life after law school. Keep all your options open, do as many internships and clinicals as you can so you know what the REAL practice of law is like -- there are so many options nowadays. The classic "big law firm" is no longer the only destination.
30 posted on 08/22/2003 1:45:26 PM PDT by AnAmericanMother (. . . there is nothing new under the sun.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: DonQ; Callahan
I absolutely concur re getting Gilberts (or the current equivalent) as well as dipping into the Digests in the law library and snapping up some old BAR/BRI type review books. Those bar review classes are very good - they guard the books like gold, though, and you're going to have to exercise some ingenuity to get hold of them - or else just take the course!

One thing I will note -- I disliked law school intensely (I already knew what real practice was like - I'm a fourth generation litigator if you don't count the third generation, who was female before they could practice law . . . ) and my grades were always just mid to high Bs with a sprinkling of As here and there. I took the Bar Review course in my third year and took the Bar Exam in February (allowed then in Georgia). Of course that meant that I didn't study for my regular courses AT ALL until after the February bar (heck, I didn't even open the books!) But after I studied for the bar and took the exam, in my final semester of law school I booked two courses - Family Law and Commercial Paper. Go figure. I talked with a law professor friend about this, and he opined that the bar review course gave me the "big picture" and enabled me to write exam answers that made coherent sense out of the body of law.

(My personal opinion is that for a question about forgery on the CP exam I quoted verbatim a long poem written by a 19th century New York State convict about being sent "up the beautiful Hudson" for forgery, and the professor was laughing so hard he didn't notice all the mistakes . . . . at least, that's my story and I'm sticking to it . . . :-D )

31 posted on 08/22/2003 1:52:15 PM PDT by AnAmericanMother (. . . there is nothing new under the sun.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: Callahan
Deny the Allegations.
32 posted on 08/24/2003 12:19:56 AM PDT by Rudder
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-32 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson