Advice on going into Law

[Left]

mainly directed at Stalin, but all comments are welcome.
and this isn't for me...got a couple friends going into it.
one of them is very depressed because the schooling is so droll and tedious.

so, advice on going into law, school, and how to get jobs/internships during and after school...

Thoughts?

[Deff Gordon]

most law schools have required internships (hell, prolly all). do well, get on the instructor's good side... they usually are the ones that place the internships. network while in school. don't just do the required work and not network.


works just like college.

[e-brake]

I tried to go down this path once before, few things mucked it up for me.

1. Getting accepted into law school. You gotta have some good transcripts from reputable University to even make the consideration list. A high LSAT score will be needed to put you over the top.

2. Finding a school that you can attend. The only school that was regionally available to me was SMU, and they didnt want me as a student. The only law school in Texas that would take me was in Houston and I was in no position to pack up and move to a new town.

3. Independant income. Law school is tedious and challenging, no way you will be able to hold down a full time job and pull it off. If your not in a position to live the next 4 years off the cash in your bank account, and you dont have the credit to borrow 4 years of living and school expenses forget about it.

4. Quality of life. Do you really want to spend the rest of your life pushing paperwork, writing long verbose papers, and sitting in uncomfortable conference rooms listening to annoying corporate drivel every day? If your the kind of person that cant make it through a two hour church service without getting bored then you will be fucked the first time you need to spend 8 hours in a deposition about lame ass bullshit.

The combination of 1 thru 4 made me change my mind about doing the law school thing.

[PETA]

Originally Posted by Left

mainly directed at Stalin, but all comments are welcome.
and this isn't for me...got a couple friends going into it.
one of them is very depressed because the schooling is so droll and tedious.

so, advice on going into law, school, and how to get jobs/internships during and after school...

Thoughts?

not really srue what you're asking -

Advice? Study hard, get good grades, network your ass off and during OCI do everything possible to get a summer clerkship (those are essentially your summer job between 2L and 3L - it is your dress rehearsal - as a general mater it means you've got the job unless you demonstrate you can't do the work)... oh, and make every effort to make law review.

Give up any notion of a social life, forget about: getting a tan, a vacation, relationships with non law students. Regard school as a full time job that demands oodles of overtime.

Originally Posted by e-brake

3. Independant income. Law school is tedious and challenging, no way you will be able to hold down a full time job and pull it off

Most if not all require you to sign a declaration that you will work at most 20 hours per week during the school term.

[Left]

well my buddy has made it into school (smart guy...he could do it no problem with discipline) but he's having second thoughts and discipline problems because:

1. its boring and depressing
2. he's having trouble finding good jobs/internships...like 20 rejections because he's not in a top percentile of his class + economy
3. his bachelor's is in music. which is what he'd rather be doing, but music doesn't pay the billllzzzzzz.

[PETA]

Originally Posted by Left

well my buddy has made it into school (smart guy...he could do it no problem with discipline) but he's having second thoughts and discipline problems because:

1. its boring and depressing
2. he's having trouble finding good jobs/internships...like 20 rejections because he's not in a top percentile of his class + economy
3. his bachelor's is in music. which is what he'd rather be doing, but music doesn't pay the billllzzzzzz.

1) its only 3 years FT not 4 - but still its too expensive not to be certain its what you want to do

2) it can be boring but if that's how he feels now its not going to get more stimulating later - he needs to find a niche he enjoys or seriously think of getting the fuck out.

3) rejections... I didn't work hard at OCI because frankly I didn't even qualify for most interviewers. My wife on the otherhand who went to a top teir school, graduated cum laude and was on the law review had a stack of rejections at least that high before getting an offer to clerk here in town... we moved to Dallas as a result and she's stayed at the same firm since. if you want more I'd be happy to share but send me a PM