One of my closest friends graduated law school 5-6 years ago and roughed it for several years before landing a job he's very happy with. I do legal research for him. He had handled virtually all the non-classroom aspects of law school horribly -- went to a tier four school across the country from where he moved afterwards and failed to intern at all. So I've gotten an inside look at his practice and have an idea which aspects I enjoy and want to avoid.

I was a finance major -- the major in which everyone thinks they're preparing to spend a career talking currency swaps and futures contracts but ends up becoming a salesman. So I'm familiar with the concept of the career not living up to the excited amateur's hopes. I've built a private practice from the ground once, and while it wouldn't be my preference to do so again I still have the networking tools for whatever degree it comes to that.

I appreciate what you're getting at. I just took exception to the open-and-shut nature of your first response. For anyone who wants to continue this discussion I'll just ask that we skip the talking me out of it part.

Quite a bit of conversation and soul-searching came before my post in this thread. The short list of people who know both me and the legal field very well have strongly encouraged the move over several alternative paths I explored That group includes two current lawyers as well as at least one man who took this process about as far as I have now and then opted against it for the reasons you've articulated.

I took this choice very seriously after investing my twenties in a project I ultimately chose to abandon. The process that led me here involved an executive coach, the former dean of a graduate school, and some very frank conversations with a half-dozen of the people closest to me. If you believe I'm making a mistake here I respect your opinion. I tried to be as honest and as introspective as I could be in making this decision, which is final. So I hope you can respect my request to focus exclusively on looking forward from this point on.

To the poster who sent me the very kind but drunken PM last night: you can't receive PMs for some reason. Hit me up again when you fix that.

dean - what exactly are u looking for here (in terms of advice)?

if ur absolutely dead set on going to law school i would recommend retaking the lsat as there's no real downfall to doing so and upping your score will make you more competitive at the top schools.

Think about where you want to be after school is over. BU/BC place much better in Boston. (I went to BU, and am now in BigLaw in Boston). Fordham and/or GW are the same way with NY/DC, as far as I know. If you are from NY and want to stay, I'd say Fordham is your best option.

Your chances of biglaw are likely not higher than 1/3 at any of these schools regardless. If you want to, feel free to shoot me a PM. I limited my search more or less to Boston, so I can talk best about BU/BC and Boston Firms.

If we're not too fond of law (1st year associate), what do we think of becoming a legal recruiter

Recruiter jobs seem awful. Like barely a step above telemarketers

New LS rankings came out today fwiw. Harvard and Stanford now officially tied for #2 lol.

http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsa...s/law-rankings

It's ridiculous how much law school costs in America

Ended up sneaking into the top fourteen. Still in shock.

work at Westlaw. Minnesota's nice this time of year.

By the way, in all seriousness, everyone at westlaw says "JD" after their names. Are they implying that they didn't pass a bar somewhere with that?

You land a big verdict lately, Poker?

I graduated from GW Law in 2008. Your chances of BigLaw are higher than 1/3 if you have anything going for you (minority, engineer, work experience, hot girl, etc...).

But there is no ****ing way I would pay $52k/yr to go there. Living in DC is very expensive too. Graduating with $200k in debt means you are going to be broke and/or a big law slave for a long time, and if you don't like private practice you might never pay your loans off.

PS Big Law sucks. 80%+ of people that work there are unhappy and will make you hate it even if you would otherwise like the work. I would plan on getting some type of $70-80k job and look at how much debt you could support on that. If you happen to be in a position to get a higher paying job that is a bonus.

Those jobs are mostly commission right? I guess if you don't mind cold calling people all day it could be ok but you might make no money and I'd assume it closes a lot of doors to other lawyer jobs.

I'm pretty sure this has been discussed before, but might as well bump. I've been tossing around the idea of trying to hang a shingle post graduation and I've seen lots of differing opinions about it. Did anyone take this route/know someone who did?

I'll have zero debt post grad (poker's been good) and a mentor/friend who would be willing to rent me some space pretty cheap. I'm still only a 2L, so still have some time, but I was thinking if I decided on this route, I could spend 3L building the firm on the paperwork side instead of worthless classes. Still, it seems like a huge risk.

I know some who've done it, one lady in particular whose parents were judges. It seems to have worked out ok for her afaict. I know quite a few more classmates who have done it without much success.

I think it would be to your benefit to work under a knowledgeable and ethical lawyer's wing for a year or two to get some practical experience under your belt before you venture out on your own. There is quite a lot you do not know coming fresh out of school and learning how to practice from someone who's been doing it for some time will take you a long way. Law school doesn't teach you how to practice law.

I'm in the process of taking this route as we speak. I graduated in 2013, did a school-funded fellowship and had trouble finding a job after that so I opened my practice in January of this year.

I've got a few things in my favor, including a significant other who handles the majority of our living expenses and a part time evening job that pays well.

To be honest, the "paperwork" of starting a firm is fairly minimal. You basically need to register your business entity, get malpractice insurance, office space, bank accounts, and any marketing materials. You can get set up in a few weeks if you hustle, and so there's no reason to spend your 3L working on that.

Decide on a practice area(s) and volunteer to work a few days/week for a local solo/small firm that works in that area. Learn how to file things, how to draft every kind of motion, where things are in the courthouses, and local customs. Develop a network of local lawyers that you can call or email when you have questions, and who can send you business when you start out. Get active with local bar associations (most of them have free memberships for law students).

I, personally, hate networking. But I have to admit that it's very useful and I wish I had done more of it while I was in school.

I'm happy to talk more with you if you want. Feel free to PM me anytime.

Absolutely, i'll shoot you a pm. Thanks!

What do you think a class action law gig is like? Place hiring a 0-5 year associate. Think it's largely commission based?

I think you'll have to plow through thousands of pages of discovery while the partners pay you market rate for doc review for the first few years. But eventually you'll see part of that sweet sweet class action fee money if you can swim there.

72+ billables a week is sustainable, right?

I went over 70 a couple times and wanted to kill myself

If I do all the Barbri **** and am not a ****** I shouldn't really need to worry too much about the bar (NY obv), right?

How often should one expect to drink in law school if they want to be one of the cool kids?

Right. Some people have trouble with the character and fitness stuff, so make sure you knock that part out early.

I wouldn't do the assigned reading from those oversized books before class for barbri. Waste of time. Go to class, pay attention, do practice questions, review your notes, and you'll be fine.