Luckily, I would say I'm as prepped as possible for wills/trusts/estates. Took WTE + 3 advanced WTE/Probate practice/trusts expanded.


But yeah, property really blows. Starting Civ Pro today which is also my equally as bad subject. I already see some of my classmates falling behind/giving up on bar prep. This sounds really ****ty, but it makes me feel better somewhat. Our bar pass rate is pretty good, usually in the high 80's/low 90's. Still, after realizing like 5-7 people are going to fail in this state every year, you start looking around and being like, oh **** that could be me...but after seeing a solid 10 people already struggling to keep working hard in week 3, you kind of realize, "okay, that's probably not going to be me then".

Long run on sentence, but law school mentality is pretty harsh lol.

Law schools don't care about your major. They'll sometimes give science majors with low GPAs a little leeway because they understand that they're more challenging and that science classes often curve, but there's not a whole lot of flexibility. LSAT and GPA are still king, and if your GPA is too low, that's what's going to matter 1000x more than the difficulty of your undergraduate major. As much as we'd like to hope that law schools would carefully consider the major and school before ruling on GPA, the reality is that the USNWR rankings don't take this information into account, only raw GPA and LSAT scores. Law schools report these raw numbers without context (20% of our matriculating class had the flu on the day of the LSAT - please factor this in, thanks! Love, Yale) and they're what count.

So, my general advice is that you pick a major that interests you enough to stay motivated and that you think you can do well in. Yes, it's okay for you to major in those subjects because law schools really don't care all that much, but just be aware that your GPA could suffer and that'll somewhat affect the quality of law schools you can get into after graduation.

Science majors often go into law, and statistically they are some of the highest LSAT scorers. Engineers specifically have a real edge when competing for patent law jobs.

What you'll find even more surprising is the stuff you randomly remember well after the fact. I took the bar exam in 1997 and have had zero subsequent exposure to criminal law, yet I can still rattle off the definition of larceny from memory. Some sort of bar exam prep earwig, I guess.

Biglaw to $180k, niiiiiice.

MBE Civil Procedure is the death of me

Lol wait till you get to Pennsylvania Civpro

I looked ahead and it looks like a bitch. I'm pretty much not at all familiar with PA civpro either, so that should be real fun

Law School. First, do not be intimidated by the way that sounds and by everything that you hear about law school and lawyers in general.

If you are considering law school, there are a lot of factors that you need to look at. Given your degree, you should already have a good sense of an analytical thought process and a good sense of vocabulary. There is not “right” degree to get if you want to go into law school, although most people do the Poli Sci degree program.

As far as what you can expect, law school is what you make of it and you get out of it just what you put into it. Your first year will be the hardest so you only have to make it through that and then you should be fine.

You don’t need to know what type of law you want to practice (or even if you want to practice at all). Now a days, there are a great number of jobs out there for people with law degrees that do not even practice law or are in the realm of pubic service. Many corporations including Disney, Facebook.com, Myspace.com, Yahoo, ect all hire people with law degrees to be in-house counsel for then to make sure that contracts are good, people are doing what they are suppose to do or even just to make sure that they are not violating someone else’s rights (such as copyright infringement).

So get yourself prepared for the three year commitment and have fun while you do it.

For a light read, I recommend the book “How to get into law school by Professor Susan Estrich.

Who are you talking to?

Both spam accounts? Both have 1 post and may 16' join dates + these rando spam-ish posts

Why would there ever be a law school bot?

TTTT's have to recruit somehow!

And 30k bumps for like 4th+ years

I'm half contemplating going back for a year or two lol

We're getting summer associate bumps too. Works for me.

Sums up my view of lawyers too.

I just got a job networking this past weekend at a graduation party where I'll be working 1 day per week free in a higher-end wills/trusts/estates practice (1 million+ estates usually). Won't be getting paid, but I can start immediately after the bar and the guy I'll be working for is 1. solo at this point and 2. retiring in the next 18 months.

Feeling pretty good today and think I may have fallen into a potential great opportunity, with the setup. Makes bar prep more tolerable realizing that there is light on the other side soon.

Also, whoever said PA civ pro was rough, you were correct lol. Although, I will say, just from my limited exp just learning the material in review, it seems like it is very admissibility friendly, which is cool.

Anyone wanna help me pick a practice area?

halfway through the summer and I still have no clue what type of law I want to practice

I've eliminated all of the smaller groups--but cannot decide between lit and corporate

I like aspects of both and dislike aspects of both. Seems like my life will be worse as a corp associate in big law but better after big law.

Meh

Tell us what your goals are? Sounds like you want to make lots of money and don't care about hours.

I would strongly consider the federal government (where I work) if you care more about having a life and making decent money.

Whats your debt situation? (If you don't mind divulging). Probably plays a big role in your future imo.

To WestLaw or not to WestLaw--that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous BlueBooking,
Or to take arms against a sea of diligences,
And, by opposing, end them.

I definitely care about salary. I'd be very annoyed if I was not making at least low 6 figs 5 years from now.

I care about hours and having a life, and therefore probably won't want to stay in biglaw for the long haul (assuming I even could), but I am definitely fine with working long hours and not having a life for a few years. To me it's like a rite of passage and the money + prestigious firm stamped on my resume is worth it for a few years, especially before I have kids.

I don't know what you do, but Fed Govt. is tough for me because it seems to be mostly criminal work or civil work that to me shares too many attributes with criminal work, e.g. SEC or FTC. I have no interest in criminal law or the any civil agency where my job is to investigate or prosecute people/companies.

And PI work or local govt. stuff pays poorly. So not sure where that leaves me.

I'm luckier than most probably. I have debt, but not absurd amounts. I have a full ride to law school, but had to take out max for cost of living for 1L and 2L. The plan is to use the money I make this summer to last me through next September. Assuming I can do this, I'll be looking at maybe 50k of debt by the time I start working, including interest.

But I'll have a big law salary (assuming I get an offer), and I live with my gf who makes decent money herself (80-100k range) and her salary isn't capped at that and she's only 26, so I expect her to make more going forward, though at some point I expect her to reach a ceiling (maybe at $150kish?).

We have pretty low bills for now too, though hard to say what will happen going forward. We live in Brooklyn and own a co-op and the mortgage + maintenance is pretty cheap. Though it's a pretty long commute into the city and I may not want to do it once I'm working 90+ hr weeks, so if we sell in a year or two we'd probably have to go back to renting and would be paying a lot in manhattan. But between the two of us we should be able to handle it, even with my debt.

I like researching on WestLaw (though I'm more of a Lexis guy even though no one except me uses it). I just don't love writing haha. But there's plenty I don't love about corporate too so idk.

Where's disko when you need him?

i really like litigation. my practice area is administrative law (with some con law). it's certainly not a field that is shrinking anytime soon. i litigate almost exclusively against the federal government. im in a pretty unique spot, though, and dont have to work insane hours outside of the obvious around filing deadlines and stuff.

admin law is the type of field that is always changing with new decisions from the Supreme Court, DC Circuit, etc. coming down every year that alter some part of the practice. very dynamic and exciting for me.

I don't do either of those things, I'm in acquisitions. So buying things for the government (dealing with contractors). You don't have to be a lawyer for my job, but it helps. The position above mine (that I expect to be promoted to soon) basically represents the government by signing off on paying for things, buying things, negotiating things, and writing memos on why you're doing it. I'm into the low 100ks when you consider the public loan forgiveness program equity, but there are also a lot of little perks that mean a little extra money. Probably worth a few thousand dollars that isn't taxed. I expect my salary to be at least 95k within a few years. I work less than a 40 hour week.

You don't have to do what I do, but consider alternatives that are out there.

If the firm is a given (assuming you get an offer) and the question is which practice area, you might consider factors such as the personalities of the people you expect to be working with and for, the availability of mentors, potential for growth (your own and the practice area), culture in general - in other words think about what team you will actually be joining.