Yes. Then spend the remainder of the last semester doing full-time pro bono work in my school's clinic. It's a relatively new New York State program.

Oye, making you start before Christmas sorta brutal. My brother started the day after Christmas and finished like 97% of Barbri.

I'm applying for the PBS program in April. Not as popular at my new school as it was at my old school. Last year my current school only had 3 people do it - which is kind of ridiculous it really is a no brainer.

MD- Gl. Put in the time, and you'll be fine. I really liked Themis and highly recommend it to everyone. Hit that 75% completion benchmark and you're pass rate is like 90%+ in almost every state besides CA, if I remember right. If it all works out, I think you'll be happy you did it instead of wasting time on random 2nd semester 3L classes imo.

December Update-

Its been insane here for the last three weeks. Pretty much been working 12 hour days every day + weekends trying to stay on top of it, but its definitely a good problem to have

Did an unemployment hearing, more orphans court work, some family law, and some medicare compliance work. Also, signed a new business client who's building a 5 million dollar hotel/bar/restaurant, so we'll be with them from formation onwards. Got a few PI clients as well.

Here's an interesting PI case:

Our CL goes to a bar around Halloween. Flirts with the bartender, who is a 21 yr old pretty white girl. Our CL is a young black guy. Bartender is the owner's daugther fwiw.

Has a few drinks, gets ready to leave, and the bartender says, "no, don't leave, stay and hang out with me, blah blah" and gives our CL a few free drinks. Stays another hour or two.

Around 11:45, he decides its time to go home. Bartender and him are making jokes as he's packing up. Bartender says something like, "what would it take to get you to stay?" and he says, "Idk, maybe a kiss?"

She replies, "Sorry, I don't kiss black guys", but the laughter and flirtatiousness is gone.

CL replies, "Oh yeah? Well your mom does" (Still laughing, probably bc he's slightly inebriated) (Also, smallish town, our CL knows who bartenders mom is, who is bar owners wife, and they are currently divorcing)

Cook at restaurant, who's walking behind bar, hears this and says, "I'm not having a black man talk to a white lady like that" and grabs our CL, physically drags him out of the bar, and starts beating on him as he gets to the bar exit.

Our CL defends himself, and they start fighting outside. Runs away before police arrive, but has some bruising. No medical treatment needed. He is currently banned from the bar and everyone around town has heard what happened by now (according to CL, the last part that is)

So yeah, interesting case. Just walked in a few days ago as a referral from a previous CL for a different type of matter. Injuries not off the charts physically, but the pain and suffering from the embarrassment is staggering.

WUG thread? Anyone handled anything like this before?

Edit: Happy Holidays everyone!!!

I did not personally handle the case, but I am familiar with an Ohio case where a food shop owner humiliated a customer (and this sort of treatment was sort of a tradition in this deli); the customer had no physical injuries but got a substantial award from a jury, upheld on appeal. If you're interested, let me know I'll pm where to look.

Also, in response to your pm, see Meyers v. Hot Bagels Factory, Inc. (1999), 131 Ohio App.3d 82, a google search shows that it has been cited for several reasons in other cases; Terry v. Ottawa County Bd. etc.; used in briefs, Wong v. Hosler; and cited by at least two other appellate courts in Ohio.

Guys,

I'm older, 33, and going back to law school. I've taken the LSAT and have applied to schools. Right now my best options are about 10k total tuition to go to Alabama and about a 5k a year scholarship to Texas, would have like 200k in debt, and will be paying out of state tuition. I've been talking it over with my wife and we are both thinking Texas but just want to get some different input. I would be willing to practice in either state. I'm from Alabama so my relatives and family live there but love Austin and Texas in general. I've been thinking I would like to go to Big Law but I'm not dead set on the idea. I realize Texas pretty much locks me into Big Law until I get my debt load smaller.

Also, I wasn't the best student in undergrad. I had a 3.15 GPA. I'm older now and more disciplined but would I struggle at a school like Texas? Worried my academic pedigree is lacking compared to the young kids that would be entering with me. Also, I wasn't lazy in undergrad. I was on a D1 sports team that competed at very high levels (I was all-Big Ten a couple years). I always said I would have done way better in school if I hadn't played on that team. Now I'm worried I'll be outpaced by smarter kids etc.

If you’re outpaced it won’t be for those reasons. I’m 32 and recently graduated from maybe the most comparable school in the country to UT and my age was a significant advantage.

That being said I’d still vote Alabama. I’m in biglaw with zero debt load and all of the HLS/SLS/CLS/NYU kids say they’re jealous and a bit regretful. $2k/month for a decade is a big chunk of net income anywhere.

gl either way though!

eta: feel free to PM me if you for some reason wanna talk privately

Seconded. Age doesn't matter, and if anything it's an advantage.

No matter how capable you are, I still think that getting big law involves some degree of luck. It's quite easy to get stuck in the median of the law school curve. Especially when 1L grades are weighted so heavily for big-law, so there's not much opportunity to differentiate yourself from the pack.

I personally wouldn't want the added pressure of $200k + accruing interest over my head when trying to perform in law school and make big law, but people obviously do it. Texas would of course provide you more wiggle room in where you have to be grade-wise to be considered for big law, but you'd be somewhat locked in to that career path.

On a quasi-related note: I'll be graduating with $65k in debt while going into public interest, and I am horribly underwhelmed by actual benefits of the federal LRAP. You need a substantial amount of debt for the forgiveness to actually mean something, and regardless of your debt load, the required monthly payment is still crippling (at least in NYC). But alas. It wouldn't have changed my job decision anyways.

In my experience, the "adults" aka people over the age of 25 when starting LS, had a significant advantage. Granted, I was at a T2, but the over 25 crowd seemed to have a more biz-like mindset from day 1 and had less of an adjustment period than the K-JD kids. I know, personally, it took me a good wake up call at end of first semester to realize LS wasn't going to be super easy like school prior to LS was....but the over 25 crowd has probably had that gut-punch moment in other aspects, like a real job.

Idk, just my experience. The top 10% in our class was roughly half non K-JD and half K-JD. Not sure if anything can be drawn from it, but I think the non K-JD crowd did better overall

I'm not sure that UT would lock you into BigLaw in the sense that if you don't finish top half or something, you might not get BigLaw. So I wouldn't assume that, but I could be wrong. Not trying to be a Debbie Downer, just saying. It would suck to take on all that debt thinking you will get BigLaw and then don't, for whatever reason. Also, I realize you meant that you would be "locked" in BigLaw because of the money, but it's good that you're realizing now that that isn't only path. Less debt keeps your options open, and I think this is a huge huge consideration.

Also, you can still end up in Texas by going to Alabama. Don't underestimate those sports connections, which also makes your grades a little less important. So yes, you wouldn't be in Texas for 3 years, but you could probably still get yourself at least one summer gig there. I doubt Bama is that regional that they can't get people into Austin.

This is just a very your mileage may vary statement. What was your major, where did you go etc etc.

As others have said, the time off is really valuable. I took a year off and wish I had taken 2-3 years. I'm sure you will be fine with grades, but also your sports/working background will help a lot (more the sports). Just don't be "great job at the D.A.'s office as long as you never miss a lawyer's league game." (sorry I re-watched it this weekend).

I got into Minnesota law; it's where my mother attended. Is that where you went? It doesn't seem like a bad value. I would have to convince my wife to live in Minnesota though.

I started LS at 29, with most of my work experience being as a paralegal, and I've crushed the K-JD students at two different schools.

Nah, just from there originally. A little better ranked and a lot warmer.

Hey smart law people. Not sure where to post this. Please move/delete/inform me. Looking for a little advice.

I talked to a crypto tax specialist today regarding (online) poker and crypto. Before I could get too far into the details of my situation, He interrupted me to tell me that I shouldn't go into details since we wouldn't have attorney/client privilege. He then advised me to hire a tax attorney who could have me sign a document (that I can't remember the name of) that would extend my attorney/client privilege over to him so that we could talk freely. He seemed to think that the online poker part wasn't totally legal. This is all sounding very expensive to me. Can anyone give me any advice on this? Thanks.

You should probably call back and ask. We don't really like to give advice about specific situations since we don't know all the facts and the state you are in can make a difference.

He may have said to sign a retainer with a lawyer. You could discuss fees with him, or the lawyer, or both.

what type of service are you looking for? if you are simply seeking advice or an opinion letter from an attorney - that really should not be too expensive (although I know price sensitivity for legal services is relative).

lol awesome. I mean...don't do anything illegal or douchey or untoward, but there are judges all over the place who are bitter or who are on some power trip for some unknown reason. You can't back down just because of his/her position as a judge. Especially if you are young, they probably thought they could intimidate you into whatever suited their purpose. F that.

I had a Judge threaten to throw me in jail during a trial a few years back. He wouldn't let me talk about a certain document until "the door was open", and imo, the door was open like 4 times and it's not like they say "OKAY DOOR'S OPEN NOW" so then I would ask the magic question and he freaked out and sent the jury out and cussed me out for 5 minutes. After the trial, I told him where I was coming from and we were cool. He even helped me out about a month later by issuing a super favorable ruling to help me (and my legal assistant) out of a potential jam that was self inflicted, but nonetheless ridiculous.

1. Can't speak for anyone other practice, but personal injury practice thrives in December. All of the insurance companies are trying to meet their quotas/clear a certain number of files. I get more reasonable offers or cold call offers of settlement on random cases during this time. It's tough to conduct actual business because everyone is out on vacation but December is always my best month, by far.

2. I would take your intentional tort case, write a demand letter, and see what happens. Then, if they deny it, I would sue them. I once had a case where 2 groups of people got into a fight at a whataburger at 3AM. One of the guys followed the group home, and as they got out of their car, intentionally tried to run them over, breaking my guy's leg. Guy was even arrested and convicted for assault with a deadly weapon or something...(first element = INTENT) We sued them anyway (my partner did actually), and I was expecting them to deny coverage, they never did and we settled for kind of a lot.

We had another one (all over the news) where an old man intentionally swerved to take out a motorcyclist who was passing him, and he claimed there was a bee in his car. Obviously BS. Insurance company paid policy limits.

I'm not sure what the case law or the insurance policy says (probably excluded), but it could be covered. They didn't intentionally run into your dude's house. Did they deny racing? Did the other guy knock him into the house? Was there something else that caused the car to go into the house? Slick roads, etc.? Different angles to pursue. Also, your client has a homeowner's claim for sure, and you might check into uninsured/under-insured coverage just to be safe...probably nothing there, but maybe.

Probably won't get any bites but I'm sending a demand out on that case where CL's house got plowed into by the 2 tortfeasors. I'm looking for where to specifically send the demand, as 1 of the tortfeasors has a policy with one of the massive insurance companies. I've been looking through their website but can't find anywhere that says, "legal department" or anything like that. I imagine they have more than 1 legal department as well.

Thoughts? My worst-case scenario plan was just send it to corporate headquarters and let them sort it out, but I'd rather not do that. Not even close to the SOL or anything, so I have time to try to find it.

Didn't know if someone had a master list handy for legal departments on insurance companies or anything like that is all.

3 weeks out from the NY UBE. Took a few MBE tests after finishing up the 8 MBE sections, and have been scoring between 65%-70%. I tried to figure out if that is generally sufficient to pass, and of gotten utterly confused by the scaling/equating deal. I'm a decently good standardized test taker, but am not very comfortable with the MEE, due to difficulties recalling rule statements from scratch. Can anyone give me a quick explanation to how scaling would affect my raw practice MBE scores, if it were the real thing (obviously it depends on the particular exam)? Thanks in advance!

So you're getting 130-140 correct on a full 200 set? I guess it depends where the questions are from, but that would put you in the top 10-15% for all BarBri takers (at least in CA, which had the highest fail rate). Scaling--if you're talking about what I think you are--is helpful, not harmful. You should be in good job, just don't **** up those stupid mini-essays.

I haven't done a full, 1-day mock MBE 200 set yet; only 34, 55, and 100 questions per set so far, but have been performing pretty consistently. Themis practice MBE questions. I couldn't find on the site whether they are real past MBE questions, or if they're created specifically for practice, though I should probably ask at some point.

Yes, the mini-essays scare me, since the questions they ask are often very narrow. It does not feel good when you're blanking on a rule statement that comprises 33% of the answer. Though, apparently, due to scaling and the nature of the test, a good amount of points can be earned by making the rule up and applying the facts.

P.S. What a silly, silly exercise the Bar Exam is. I truly feel for people that have this impeding their lives and careers.

Absolutely make it up if you’re unsure and play with the facts.

You will crush the mini essays, just wait until you see the people you’re up against. Half the people in the room either barely speak English or look like they crawled out of a sewer or both. I promise you’re fine.

I did poorly on the multiple choice portion and gained a ton of ground on the essays despite not knowing what I was talking about. Based on your practice scores I promise you will be fine.

MD- Fwiw, I was MBE for PA. I was scoring consistently in the 65-75% range for MBE pre-bar exam. I don't remember my raw score, but I ended up well ahead of what was needed to pass.

I **** you not, guy who graduated with me & passed the bar came out of MBE morning session saying, "I thought you had to intend a tort for negligence" and had answered like half the tort questions wrong bc he thought you had to intend a negligent action.

You will be fine. I get it, I was stressed out pre-bar exam as well, but after you pass it, you'll look back and realize you're fate was probably never in doubt.

Good lord lol.