I'd probably assume a minimum 15% increase from actual scores to what is self-reported on TLS. I'm pretty sure that Themis provides your percentile upon each exercise's completion, based on all of that year's Themis subscribers.



Also, 2L is in the books. I'm not sure if I tried harder or just picked work-intensive classes, but it seemed a bit more work than past 2Ls expressed to my then-1L self. But had a good time none-the-less.

Very true. I never went on TLS during LS, but it was helpful during bar prep is all.



Absolutely, that's what I was getting at with the warning about stress/anxiety. I assumed that the self reporting was way too high, but I know people who got really concerned over it is all.


Congrats on finishing 2L. Prepare for a relaxing 3L (hopefully)

ok ok ok i actually enjoyed 3L, but i didnt see the need for it academically

i did a pretty useful clinic one semester, and the other semester i actually have no memory of, but i assume i had classes.

Same. Did a clinic + worked for an attorney locally first semester. 2nd semester, I went to corporations like twice and did a ton of golfing/drinking. It was fun.

I've always said if 3L was useless you're doing it wrong. Should be doing clinic or taking bar subject classes or making the most of your time. Just bc it isn't 1L stresful doesnt mean it's useless.

yeah i worked on the hill part time my 3L year too. forgot about that. that was good.

working on an appeal this summer for the firm i am working at; appeals has to be the most miserable work an attorney can do (i guess it will be awesome if we win the thing). there are literally 3 different sets of rules that need to co-exist with each other. first week in i've done 3 pages lol.

Speaking of appeals I randomly checked the status of the bar bri antitrust class action the other day. It's still in appeals and I probably still won't get paid part of the settlement for at least a year one of the websites talked about. Been pending since like 2011 I think.

Graduated today. It felt pretty good knowing that 7 years ago I was a college dropout and today I'm a Juris Doctor.

Congrats!

Next year I'll repeat that exact sentence but make it 11 years ago.

Stories?

I graduated from highschool in 2000. Went to college for 6 years on full ride with stipend. Intentionally avoided some reqs to graduate for free housing and stipend while playing full time. I flunked (just academic probation actually) out finally during a 72 hour tilt session at Borgata... missing a pile of finals that would have allowed me to graduate.

At the time, I literally didn't give a ****.

Lost 90+% of bankroll soon after, had to withdraw from my trading account to pay living expenses and rebuild. Took almost a year of raw grinding Stars/Tilt micro/small/mid before I could play high stakes again. Black Friday, financial crisis, lol oil futures, all conspired to help (even force) me make a bunch of money trading. Then I decided I wanted to do something other than, in effect, take other people's money. That and I wanted to be like the fish (aka, richer than me) who just didn't give a **** about losing.

I couldn't get a job because of the resume gap. So it was either MBA or JD to reset resume. Resume gap prevented me from getting in a good MBA program so I ended up in JD.

Turned down Jones Day offer because after one summer of writing discovery requests and motions to dismiss, I couldn't stand the idea of actually practicing law as junior associate.

Yeah litigation sucks.

Any opinions on total hours needed to prepare for Ohio bar? I didn't get amazing grades, but did just fine in school and it was basically a three year vacation. So if I could get a B in an MBE subject 1L year by learning it all the day before exam, then bar exam can't be much harder right?

I'm not getting a prep course, but I see all my classmates going full time study right now and banning themselves from social media. I figure if I start going over conviser mini review late June and do a bunch of MBE practice questions for a few weeks I should be good right?

I'm sure that situations vary in terms of how many hours a person needs. You can reasonably gauge yourself by how practice MBE stuff goes. You don't need to go balls to the wall right now, but as long as you have access to plenty of materials, it wouldn't hurt to at least start a light MBE practice schedule that ramps up over time.

I took that approach to law school and did fine. However, I put my time in for the bar. I mean, it's the last hurdle really, but if you fail, those previous 3 years are worth like nothing.

Imo, just start studying full-time. If you're absolutely crushing it, you can slow down/ease back some. If, by a slight chance even, you don't have the handle on things like you thought you did, it won't be fun trying to push through 12 hour days right before the day of the exam.

anyone have any experience hanging a shingle right out of law school? i don't know what i'm gonna do yet haven't found a job but i'm fortunate enough that i have 3 close relatives in area who are all attorneys working in small or solo firms...if i can't find a job soon i might have to do it. i think most people prob know jack **** out of law school on how to do it by themselves but maybe with some help it is doable. the people that work wtih my relatives include a couple kids who have graduated in last 3 years who went straight to working in the small firm family business for their parents. i absolutely do not think it is ideal but my mom is about to prob retire and is trying to convince me to maybe take over her practice. it sucks but i have zero qualms about taking advantage of some nepotism


i know it isn't exactly intellectually stimulating but does anyone make okay money doing bs like traffic tickets and DUIs and whatnot? i live in a low cost state and went to a big high school that somehow has no attorneys from any of the last 3 graduating classes so i am sort of winging around the idea of trying to market my way into the area but who knows. the thought of working my own hours and building myself up while playing poker on the side is kind of intriguing but probably stupid

Graduated HS in 2006. Started college immed. after. Dropped out after a year due to lack of motivation which was fueled by success at poker (would stay up all night and FT an mtt for $3k and feel no need to go to class the next day so I'd sleep till 5pm instead).

Played poker professionally for the next 3-4 years or so. Made a lot of money--like more than I'll make as a lawyer working half the hours. Nonetheless, I hated the lifestyle, the people I met, that my job always made me feel like a weirdo when with non-poker players, and that I might wake up one day as a 55 year old who has done nothing with his life other than take money from people (similar to Grizy). I'm sure most lawyers would probably kill to be a poker player and work half the hours, but I found it was actually very detrimental for me. It led to immense laziness, lack of direction, immature decisions, and involved either traveling (to play live) or staying home all day (to play online)--both of which I hated. Color me abnormal but I actually like putting on slacks and a shirt and going into an office more than never. I also kinda predicted Black Friday (though not quite the scope) and wanted to get out before the glory days were over.

Decided that WSOP in 2010 would be my last hurrah. Enrolled in local college thereafter and spent 3.5 years getting my UG degree. Then I went straight through to law school. Knew the legal market was brutal and that all lawyers hate their job, and that if you couldn't get into a top school preferably with big scholly it wasn't worth going, but I always wanted to be a lawyer and had very few other non-law options. Decided I'd go to the best school I could get into that gave me a full ride--a local T2--knowing that I only had to commit 1 year of my life before finding out if I could secure the type of job that would pay well enough for me to pay off any cost of living debt I'd have for 3 years--and willing to drop out if I was at the bottom or maybe even the middle of the class after 1L.

Luckily I was #2 in the class after 1L and it opened up a lot of doors, even from my school. I'll be starting at a big firm in September, and chose litigation, even though I know Disko (and I guess Sam) will throw things at me. I know exit options are infinitely better for corporate, but it just seems mind-numbingly boring to me, and the great exit options in corporate are just to do more corporate work. I also have never met a corporate lawyer who really likes their job. I also really liked law school and I know practice is nothing like it but to the extent they're similar at all, it's going to be litigation based stuff, and nothing to do with corporate stuff.

That's my story for now. Hopefully I don't hate biglaw so much that I'm back to playing poker in a year.

gl man. i'm not smart enough for big law by any stretch of the imagination and it seems kind of miserable but if you can gut it out for a few years it seems like a good path. maybe you will enjoy it

PM me. I graduated in 16' and hung a shingle. In month 4 right now and loving it so far.

TIPS: Take over your mother's practice. Get yourself out there. Pick 3-4 areas of law you might be interested in, and take as many CLE's as possible on them. See if you can get involved in pro bono work. Pro bono clients lead to paying clients in the future. I know YMMV on this, but my local bar association runs free CLE's in certain practice areas if you agree to take on 1 client over the next six months after the training. See how saturated the market is for elder law/estate planning in your area. If your mom is reaching retirement age - she can be a great source of referrals for this type of practice, and it can be quite lucrative for a solo.

Also, ask your mom how long she would like to be involved in the practice. If your mom wants to retire in 3 years and leave it all to you- that's probably a bad idea as you do not have any experience running the business of law. But if she is willing to cut back her work load, hand over the reigns, and she can run the business/administrative end for 10 years (or at least counsel you on how to do it) then that is a better idea.

PLEASE take over your moms practice instead of starting from scratch, the mentorship reputation network infrastructure and systems are priceless.

thanks guys

attorney mentorship is absolutely critical, especially in your first few years of practice. law school teaches you nothing about actually handling clients or even, like, how to file a lawsuit.

No offense, but I'm definitely not taking Pro Bono clients after hanging my shingle right out of school. A nice thought, but usually the people who need pro bono help aren't the type of people to reward you down the line with work. They're pro bono clients for a reason.

Get involved with your local bar association as well. I get probably 50% of my referrals now from my local bar/attorneys in the bar who kick work to me that they don't want.

It's not glamorous, but I love the freedom/being able to be my own boss.

However, take over mom's practice if you can. I started from scratch and we are doing fine, but I also planned for this for a year or so. You'll be set in a few years if you go that route.