Research assistant isn't bad resume material but it's not going to be anything close to a full-time job and will pay little if anything. Troll around some of the smaller firms in your area; they usually hire people for the summer - obv not at big-firm summer associate pay levels, but it's better than nothing, and it's good experience.

op is a genius imo

You should definitely look into this for 1L summer. I did this and (apart from grades) it was pretty much the only thing I ended up talking about during OCIs the next fall. If you live in a metropolitan area with a Federal District Court, do some research: you'd be surprised how many federal judges will take on a 1L for a summer externship.

Edit to add that you aren't going to get paid, so that's an obvious downside. I finagled it so I worked 20-30 hours a week for the Judge and took one summer class each of the two summer sessions, thereby qualifying for financial aid and living expenses. It was also nice to be able to take a slack schedule 3L since I had those extra credits.

does anyone know where i can find a paralegal job in nj or ny?? i am studying for the lsats for the moment.

I did a judicial externiship during the second semester of my second year. I worked for a state supreme court justice, so it was very academic in nature. I liked doing this during school because it left time in the summer to work at firms and make some cash. Either way, I think it's a worthwhile experience.

My biggest advice is to ask around for judges/justices that are known to spend time with their clerks and externs. My justice would pull me into his chambers ask me for my suggestion on how he should rule on certain cases. He took our advice with a very open mind but would also challenge our opinions in cross-examionation fashion (which is very fair since I'm occassionally telling him that some lower judge ****ed up like I know more than that guy...). He took us to lunch about once a week. It's a good experience and also is great to have someone like that be able to actually give a solid recommendation to potential employers instead of some generic letter.

I was an Undergrad Mechanical Engineer (I'm now working at a power plant) with a very mediocre GPA (3.2 at Tufts University). Would I have any prayer of getting into a decent law school if I decided to go that route? Obv I haven't taken LSATs or anything like that, but in general, I've done pretty well on standardized tests. Does anyone know how much schools usually value work experience/a technical degree?

Score 170+ and you'll get into a great school, even with a 3.2.

you can play around with www.hourumd.com to calculate your chances with different LSAT scores.

schools dont value it at all. however, law firms value it greatly (which is what really matters, right?)

Not if I can't get into a decent law school. I mean, Tufts is decent undergrad, but nothing spectacular. So I'm worried that even with decent to good LSAT scores, the lowish GPA would disqualify me from getting into a good school.

I've been working in engineering for 6 months or so now, and not sure if I want to stay with that. So if I look at Law school, it'll be a year from September, after I've been able to save a bit and stuff. But I don't want to give up a decent-paying engineering job to attend a mediocre law school and not end up doing what I want.

Moral of the story is I should have gotten better grades in undergrad.

you are overestimating the importance of your GPA...lots of people with 3.2's get into T14 schools...you just need a good LSAT to make up for it...

seriously, play around with hourumd.com...you will see that a 170+ makes you a very strong candidate despite the low GPA

What type of law would you want to practice? As others have hinted, if you want to do IP-type law in a big firm, your undergrad degree will be a big help. Since you're not in any rush, just buy a couple LSAT sample test books and do a test or two a week, work on some things. Consider it a hobby and work on more than a "decent to good score" and work on getting a great score.

While your background and work experience will only be a minor advantage for law school, the fact that it will be a big advantage for job search means that you don't necessarily need go to a Top X School.

Think about taking the LSAT in June or September, and if you don't get a score you want, which will get you into a school you want to attend, then don't go. You seem to have a pretty solid backup plan right now.

That makes a lot of sense. I do I want to get into some sort of technical law (IP, Enviro, etc) so I'm hoping my degree will help there. I don't want to have suffered through undergrad engineering for nothing.

Looks like LSAT studying it is.. any advice on books to buy? (I'm sure there's another thread for that..)

just get the "10 real lsats" "10 more real lsats" books. those are full length real tests.

if you want help with strategy, i've heard some people say the powerscore bibles (one for each section) can be helpful.

i didn't study too much/enough, but i did a lot of untimed tests and sections until i was getting near perfect scores, then started to work on getting faster (particularly important for logic games. don't underestimate the time crunch. there are a lot of people that could get a 170 w/o limit, but a 160 with the clock running.

i sucked at logic games to start, but ended up getting none wrong on the real deal.

add the LSAC superprep book to that list

also, make sure to get the newest LSAT tests that aren't in the 10 series from the LSAC website or wherever else

i think its funny that with a 175/3.7 it gives you a 45% chance at harvard, but a 3% chance of stanford.