[Xthe17th]

Paging ya John.

[Larry Lucido]

The first two organizations I joined were Christian Legal Society and the Federalist Society. Turned out the memberships overlapped by about 90%.

[gridlock]

Find your local chapter of the Federalist Society. They won't help you with time pressure or your job, but they will help you keep your sanity!

If you don't have one, start one!

[Porterville]

Go to the registrar office and get your money back.

[paul51]

Find an honest way to make a living.

Sorry. Couldn't resist. Flame retardant suits on. I'm outa here.

[Servant of the Nine]

Being a Freeper won't help.
Before you are allowed to enter the third year of Law School you will have to present a medical certificate proving your Ethics have been surgically removed.

So9

[afraidfortherepublic]

Get used to "lawyer jokes."

[linear]

Develop a thick skin and memorize lots of lawyer jokes. This is the only profession where people feel automatically compelled to denigrate you from the moment they meet you. As soon as someone tells you a lawyer joke, tell one back, that usually makes them stop.

Your first-year grades mean everything, and job searches will be doubly difficult since you are in night school. Since your time is precious, evaluate every activity you contemplate undertaking as to whether or not it will increase your chances of getting a job. One or two leadership/merit positions mean much more than a string of organizations in which you are simply a member. Law review is your top priority - it will open many doors to you.

Finally, never compromise your values, regardless of what the consequences may be. The only clients worth having are the ones that respect that.

[Bohemund]

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?

Study guides are your friends. Don't be shy about using Emanuels' or Gilbert's. Also, try to get your hands on bar review prep materials. These give a good overview of the basics.

Good luck!

[pogo101]

Try to get your hands on some cram-for-the-bar-exam materials, perhaps castoffs from someone who just took the exam. If I could take law school over again, I'd actually TAKE the cram course BEFORE MY 1L YEAR. I'd've aced my law school grades.

[Dog Gone]

Look into this program.

It will help a lot.

[ContemptofCourt]

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.

[68 grunt]

First, kill all lawyers! ;^)

[Atlas Sneezed]

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.

[B.Bumbleberry]

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.

[mbynack]

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.

[martin_fierro]

See? Who says lawyers don't give free advice. <|:)~

[Rudder]

Deny the Allegations.