Any Lawyers Out There? Need Some Law School Advice - EDIT: GWU 2014!

[Bliz]

If you do decided to go to law school, it really can't be emphasized enough that first year is the most important year. You have to hit the ground running, and those first exams will be on you before you know it.

Agree 1000%.

There are a lot of people who go straight from college to law school. Consequently they treat it as a continuation of their senior year (lots of drinking and partying). There's a time and a place for that. You will make some of the best friends of your life at law school, and it's not realistic to think you will be completely anti-social all the time. HOWEVER, it opens up a huge opportunity to outwork your classmates first year. Take advantage of it, and start incorporating more social time later on.

Always do your reading even if you know you won't be called on, and take notes on the cases you read - posture, question presented, holding, etc. you will get some info and instruction on doing that at orientation, I would expect. Follow it., even if it seems boring and like a lot of busy work Don't be on gmail chat or this board during class (I would actually recommend not using a laptop at all first year, except for exams. Take away the temptation). Go to class every day, even if they don't take attendance. If you do all those things, even at a top 25 school, you are already ahead of half your classmates.

When exams come around, look for old tests or talk to your TAs. Professors have different approaches to grading, and you need to tailor your essays to what your prof is looking for. Some care most about the right answer, others care more that you are showing critical thinking in your application of the tests and elements, even if you have the elements wrong. Quality over quantity, or "1 point" for each good argument? Knowing their approach to grading can often be the difference between a B+ and an A.

[boobiemiles]

I meant to tell you to look into getting a dual degree. Most JD offer a combination of JD and MBA. That way you have training in a particular field. You should have a better chance to landing a job that way. Also think long term. An LLM certficate can help later on.

[Elessar78]

I contemplated law school and fortunately had a friend who has been a successful trial lawyer for decades. He worked as a trial lawyer (defense attorney), then moved to the Navy to be a JAG lawyer but eventually became some ship's captains XO, and now in his "semi-retirement" moved to a small town and works as the District Attorney.

Anyway, he asked why I wanted to go to law school (mentally rigorous/challenging and money) and he counseled me not to do it. There are easier ways to make good money, he said. And that's where I've left it. He knows me well, knows my abilities, and I trust his counsel.

[boobiemiles]

I contemplated law school and fortunately had a friend who has been a successful trial lawyer for decades. He worked as a trial lawyer (defense attorney), then moved to the Navy to be a JAG lawyer but eventually became some ship's captains XO, and now in his "semi-retirement" moved to a small town and works as the District Attorney.

Anyway, he asked why I wanted to go to law school (mentally rigorous/challenging and money) and he counseled me not to do it. There are easier ways to make good money, he said. And that's where I've left it. He knows me well, knows my abilities, and I trust his counsel.

Man you better go to law school! If its about money then you won't make it. But give it a shot. Shoot I never tghought i would go to Law School. You can't go by some one elses experience. We all have a path, take it!

[Brad_Edwards_Fan]

I will add a slightly different perspective. I went to school knowing that i was not likely to actually practice and have stayed true to that so far. However, i had been with my current company for 10 years before going to school part time (while continuing to work), with the company footing the bill, in order to qualify for a specific area of work which essentially operates as a liaison between our business, legal and government relations teams. Depending on what you think you want to be getting into in the future you may find jobs that you need to be able to read and write the 'language of litigation and legislation" and that you will benefit from a legal education even though you never practice. Just be certain (as certain as you can ever be) that you are doing this to create a career path, not because just dont know what to do next.

[Skinz4Life12]

honestly, law school sounds miserable.

actually, most grad programs sound miserable for that matter

[DCSaints_fan]

@Skins4Life12: You have to really love the subject matter ... especially in fields like experimental sciences where there isn't a set timeline (although 5-7 years is typical) and you have the possibility of not being able to defend your thesis ... the carrot of money/status/career is usually not enough.

[terpskins10]

So I got into Washington and Lee today. Not really sure if I'd want to go there, but does anyone know much about it? I obviously did research on programs and stuff when I applied, but not on job prospects and such.

[terpskins10]

So I'm bumping this to let everyone know I'll be attending The George Washington University Law School in the fall! Thanks everyone for the advice, it played a huge role in my decision to push hard to get off of GW's waitlist and it paid off.

[Tulane Skins Fan]

So I'm bumping this to let everyone know I'll be attending The George Washington University Law School in the fall! Thanks everyone for the advice, it played a huge role in my decision to push hard to get off of GW's waitlist and it paid off.

Congrats dude. Have fun. The next three years will be your last chance to do anything fun.

[Pick6]

So I'm bumping this to let everyone know I'll be attending The George Washington University Law School in the fall! Thanks everyone for the advice, it played a huge role in my decision to push hard to get off of GW's waitlist and it paid off.

Congrats! From one GW grad student to another. I love GW and I know their law school is well respected.

[Prosperity]

congratulations, GWU is a fine school

I just finished my first year at UC Hastings, and I know a thing or two about law school as a whole. If you have any questions send me a PM, I could write treatises on this crap

as for transferring... generally you have to be top 15% or so to transfer a tier up... top 15% of GWU could get you a transfer to Georgetown

transferring is generally a bad idea, I recommend you don't go w/ plans to transfer... it's usually not worth it

[Predicto]

Congrats! Work hard first year, but don't get so obsessed with prepping for class that you lost the forest for the trees. Commercial outlines are your friend to put all of that information back into big picture perspective.

[terpskins10]

as for transferring... generally you have to be top 15% or so to transfer a tier up... top 15% of GWU could get you a transfer to Georgetown

transferring is generally a bad idea, I recommend you don't go w/ plans to transfer... it's usually not worth it

Yeah, I was thinking of transferring if I had gone to Emory as originally planned, since I want to work in DC and Emory doesn't place well there. But if I'm in position to transfer from GW (top 15%) it'd make more sense for me just to stay put rather than risk my class rank dropping at somewhere like GT or UVA.

Thanks for all the well wishes, I'm really excited to get moving.

---------- Post added July-6th-2011 at 01:32 PM ----------

Congrats! Work hard first year, but don't get so obsessed with prepping for class that you lost the forest for the trees. Commercial outlines are your friend to put all of that information back into big picture perspective.

Thank you. If it's okay with you, I'm going to be hitting you up with several PMs from now into November/December, lol

[Predicto]

No problem, but remember, I'm a couple of decades out of law school now. Prosperity can probably give you better up to date info than me.

[Hubbs]

So I'm bumping this to let everyone know I'll be attending The George Washington University Law School in the fall! Thanks everyone for the advice, it played a huge role in my decision to push hard to get off of GW's waitlist and it paid off.

Congrats, dude. GW's a great school.

Got a question for you, now that I'm considering law school myself: What did you find was the most helpful thing you did to prepare for the LSAT? I really need to kick its ass, because when I was in undergrad I never thought I'd want to go to grad school, so I didn't work that hard on my GPA. I'm going to be taking a class of course, but if you have any specific advice I'm all ears.

[terpskins10]

Congrats, dude. GW's a great school.

Got a question for you, now that I'm considering law school myself: What did you find was the most helpful thing you did to prepare for the LSAT? I really need to kick its ass, because when I was in undergrad I never thought I'd want to go to grad school, so I didn't work that hard on my GPA. I'm going to be taking a class of course, but if you have any specific advice I'm all ears.

The biggest thing I did was schedule out what to do every day through my two month(ish) study period. I never deviated from my schedule once. Obviously there were days where I'd purposely schedule a break day or just do one section, but the big thing was I was doing LSAT stuff at least 6 days out of the week. I'd actually recommend AGAINST taking a class, because I know it didn't help me and I spent most of the time zoning out. A structured self-study program helped me more, but then I also had a semi-natural aptitude for the test, as I scored a 154 cold without ever looking at an exam or questions. Depending on your diagnostic score, a class may not be the best option. Especially not Kaplan. Bleh.

Take as many practice tests as possible, and don't be cheap on buying them. A couple hundred dollar investment into practice tests could mean a jump of 10-20 rankings (if not more). Make sure to take them under timed conditions and be meticulous about knowing EXACTLY why you got questions wrong (and I mean for every single question you get wrong).

Another big thing is to stay calm. For me, I actually practiced in the 170s for pretty much the entire two months, ranging from 171-176 and not falling below 171. Test day rolls around and I freak out, get 10 wrong on my first section. I managed to only get 6 wrong the rest of the way, but you can imagine how good the score would have been had I not freaked. Would have been about a 173, based on practices.

If you don't mind my asking, what was your GPA and what school would you like to go to? That way we can figure out what score you'd need to get there. You can PM it to me if that's more comfortable. Also read through this thread because I got a lot of good advice out of it.

[Hubbs]

Especially not Kaplan. Bleh.

Wait, why especially not Kaplan? The two big ones I know are Kaplan and Powerscore. Do you know anything about Powerscore?

Another big thing is to stay calm. For me, I actually practiced in the 170s for pretty much the entire two months, ranging from 171-176 and not falling below 171. Test day rolls around and I freak out, get 10 wrong on my first section. I managed to only get 6 wrong the rest of the way, but you can imagine how good the score would have been had I not freaked. Would have been about a 173, based on practices.

What exactly happened when you freaked out? Couldn't concentrate on reading the questions?

If you don't mind my asking, what was your GPA and what school would you like to go to? That way we can figure out what score you'd need to get there. You can PM it to me if that's more comfortable. Also read through this thread because I got a lot of good advice out of it.

I'll PM you in a bit. Already read through the thread, good stuff here.

[terpskins10]

Wait, why especially not Kaplan? The two big ones I know are Kaplan and Powerscore. Do you know anything about Powerscore?

What exactly happened when you freaked out? Couldn't concentrate on reading the questions?

1) The best companies out there are Testmasters and Powerscore. I did Kaplan and my teacher was a buffoon and was teaching the class how to score in the 150s. Just didn't work for me because I was shooting for a 170. Like I said though, depending on how high your diagnostic is, self study might be the best way to go. But ONLY if you're disciplined enough. It isn't easy but I wasn't the greatest student in college either but I was determined to succeed on the LSAT.

As for Powerscore, I read through the bibles. Pretty good stuff, but the books that helped me the most were ExamKrackers. A lot of people don't like them, but they made a huge difference in how I understood the test. They aren't too expensive, so I'd say they're worth a shot just to see if they help you. The book series also gives you a study guide to follow online, which I used. I credit ExamKrackers for jumping my practice scores from the mid 160s to the mid 170s.

2) Actually suffered a real panic attack but somehow worked through it. I didn't know what happened at the time but I was later diagnosed with panic disorder which is now (thankfully) under control for me. It was a miracle that I was able to scrape out a 167, to be honest lol.

[Predicto]

It's really sad that you can take prep classes for these tests at all. I don't blame you for doing it, but it totally undermines the purpose of the tests, and gives the well-off yet another leg up on the working class. IMO.

[terpskins10]

It's really sad that you can take prep classes for these tests at all. I don't blame you for doing it, but it totally undermines the purpose of the tests, and gives the well-off yet another leg up on the working class. IMO.

Totally agree with you. The LSAT is an extremely easy test to LEARN how to take, which definitely undermines the purpose of it. It sucks that law schools place such heavy emphasis on it, but then again it worked in my favor. If they weighed my GPA more, I wouldn't be going to GW (3.3).

[PleaseBlitz]

I am currently in law school at American. I am actually typing this from my desk at my summer internship. :shhh:

I highly recommend the Kaplan course. It raised my score 5 points, which is the difference between mediocre and 94th percentile.

It's really sad that you can take prep classes for these tests at all. I don't blame you for doing it, but it totally undermines the purpose of the tests, and gives the well-off yet another leg up on the working class. IMO.

I disagree. The advantage only really goes to the people that put the work in and WANT to succeed, which is probably the most vital quality to have going to law school. My Kaplan course was over 50% people that were just going through the motions, had zero focus, and skipped classes regularly. The less well-off folks, for whom the cost of the class actually meant something (like me ), where the ones that got the most out of the course and subsequently crushed the LSAT.

[terpskins10]

I am currently in law school at American. I am actually typing this from my desk at my summer internship. :shhh:

I highly recommend the Kaplan course. It raised my score 5 points, which is the difference between mediocre and 94th percentile.

You lucked out then. I took the LSAT twice, the first time after completing a Kaplan course and got a 162 (8 point increase from diagnostic). Waited a year, studied over a summer and got the 167. Maybe my teacher just sucked, but based on my personal experiences I'd recommend studying on your own over doing Kaplan.

Are you interested in doing the sports law class at AU? I know the teacher there.

[PleaseBlitz]

You lucked out then. I took the LSAT twice, the first time after completing a Kaplan course and got a 162 (8 point increase from diagnostic). Waited a year, studied over a summer and got the 167. Maybe my teacher just sucked, but based on my personal experiences I'd recommend studying on your own over doing Kaplan.

Are you interested in doing the sports law class at AU? I know the teacher there.

My first shot taking the test, without ever having seen it, I got a 161. Almost entirely due my poor performance on the logic games. The Kaplan course taught me how to do those, and a few tricks on the other 2 sections, and i got a 166. My biggest advantage on that test was that i read faster than ****.

I have no interest in sports law. Half of the male students in my section think they are going to be the next Scott Boras, and they are all delusional. My closest friend in school actually worked at the NFL offices in NY and with the Browns, he is the only one that MIGHT have a snowballs chance in hell at getting a foot in the door and being Scott Boras' coffee fetcher.

I am most likely going into commercial litigation or some other business-related discipline. My internship this summer is in securites and commodities law. Next summer I am networking very hard to get into a large biz related firm like Fried Frank where they expose you to corporate law, commercial lit, M&A, securities and more. Failing that, I have a hookup at the DoJ.

[Brad_Edwards_Fan]

You lucked out then. I took the LSAT twice, the first time after completing a Kaplan course and got a 162 (8 point increase from diagnostic). Waited a year, studied over a summer and got the 167. Maybe my teacher just sucked, but based on my personal experiences I'd recommend studying on your own over doing Kaplan.

Are you interested in doing the sports law class at AU? I know the teacher there.

I gotta agree with PB, i took the class in '08 and it was great. The volume of information they have on the most recent testing trends and the ability to give you an almost endless supply of REAL past tests was awesome. I also agree with Predicto... i know there are folks out there that i outscored not because i was any smarter or more likely to suceed in school, but cause i had a couple grand to toss at prep.

Im getting ready for the Bar now and feel the same way about BarBri. Though with them, out here at least, they control such a large portion of the test takers that their material, even if wrong, is capable of moving the curved answers.

---------- Post added July-6th-2011 at 02:01 PM ----------

I have no interest in sports law. Half of the male students in my section think they are going to be the next Scott Boras, and they are all delusional. My closest friend in school actually worked at the NFL offices in NY and with the Browns, he is the only one that MIGHT have a snowballs chance in hell at getting a foot in the door and being Scott Boras' coffee fetcher.

I saw the same thing...everyone was gonna be an agent. Its funny, Lovie Smiths son is in my class and he was joking around that sometimes he doubts that even HE has the right connections to get into that field!