Howdy!

I've decided that I want to enter law school.  (I just completed my undergraduate education with a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration in Management.)  But, for all the nifty books out there, I'm still a bit lost.

What is law school like?  I've heard that the book "One L" is no longer the truth [thank God].  Anyone here go to law school?  Any law school graduates here?  Any surrent law students?  Help!

Next, I'm not sure what type of law I'd like to practice.  I know that I [b]don't[/b] want personal injury; I need to be able to respect my profession.  I'm not sure about criminal law (defense or prosecution), and I'm unsure about entering family practice.  (I'm not so sure about handling divorces, working with disabled elderly folks to prepare wills, etc.  I honestly don't know if I have the internal fortitude for that.)

Any practicing lawyers out there?  If so, what do you practice?  How'd you start in that field?  What do and don't you like about it?

In terms of schools, I'm looking at Arizona State University, the University of Arizona, the University of Texas at Austin, and to a lesser extent Baylor Law School and a few other Texas schools.  Anyone know anything about these schools?  (Undergrad is okay; the more I hear about the school, the better.)

Thanks for ANY information you can provide!

Mike

Screw lawschool,  just sell clever URL names that you have registered to needy people/companies.

Remember that?????

1. Law school is a pain in the ass.  2. Law school does not teach you how to practice law.  3. It is way too early to worry about what type law you will practice.  4. You do not have to be bright, just tenacious.  I graduated in 1982 so my experiences may be dated, but I doubt it since there is nothing that changes slower than the law and it's administration. Concern yourself with finishing.  You will learn what you like/dislike as you go through the process.  You will specialize in whatever helps you pay the bills.

I'm thinking about taking the same step; for now, I'm just planning for the LSAT. The main prep I'm doing is practicing my "logic games" and trying o learn some formal logic; the rest of it I think I've got a decent handle on.

What's the book "one l" ?

Listen to Hoglaw. He is 100% correct. 1. It is a pain in the ass  2. It takes up all your time
3. It is way too early to announce the type of law you want to practice, you may find other areas you like as you study  4. Law school is just school. It does not prep for the business aspect of law and practice of law.

I read the One L book and it was on the mark. You can watch the old Paper Chase movie for a sneak peak at Socratic teaching method...and at Lindsay Wagner.

Pundit. Get yourself a LSAT prep book and work it through cover to cover at least twice. Take a couple of tests each day or night to get the test taking style down. Good luck.

I loved law school.  One of the best times of my life.  Of course, I went to law school in NYC and I love the city so maybe thats part of  it.  Yeah, you've got to work hard, but its all do-able; there is nothing there thats completely beyond your ability.  And no, it doesn't prepare you to practice law, but thats why you do internships and work while you're in school.  My 'specialty' is IP law - intellectual property.  I chose my school based upon their standing and program in IP law (one of the top 10 in the US).  I may go back for the LLM in a couple years...who knows.  Right now, I'm out of work due to some pretty serious health problems, but in a few weeks, if everything goes well with my next surgery, I'll be back on the street.  

What I hate about law?  I can't wear my AC/DC T-shirt to work.  The hours. The world revolves around f-ing billable hours.  The rush; everything needs to be done yesterday, but doesn't hit your desk until 5pm today.  And when its 8pm hearing, "My, you're leaving awfully early today.  Can you stay a few more hours?"

What I love about law? There's no heavy lifting required, and I haven't smashed my thumb with a hammer yet.  The secretaries are cute.  Free coffee.  Seriously?  Its interesting and challenging work, and if you don't like what area you're in you can always try something different or hang your own shingle.

My advice?  Unlike Hoglaw, I say think about what areas you might like to practice in.  Different schools excel at different things.  As I said, my school was perfect for what I knew I wanted to specialize in; if you can nail down what you'd like to do before you apply, you can sort of direct your search for a school better.

My dad's a retired lawyer and his favorite quote is, "After a while, it gets tedious defending one greedy bastard who's getting screwed by another greedy bastard when you know they're both greedy bastards."

Other than that I think the intellectual challenge could be fun (what there is of it).

Anyway, he says law school teaches you how to think like a lawyer. Practicing law in an entirely different subject.

I graduated LSU Law School in the late 70s. If you're interested in either Texas law schools or Arizona law schools, you need to decide in which state you most want to live.

Networking is a big deal in law school. If you want to live out your life in Arizona, go to a
Arizona law school, so you can make the most of your contacts with classmates, etc.

Ditto with Texas, although UT Law School has the kind of reputation as a law school that you could take to another state, or country.

Law school is precisely like that shown in the movie 'The Paper Chase.'  There will be plenty of 'Professor Kingsfields' that will be all too happy to embarrass the crap outa you in front of your peers.  They figure they can weed out the 'nancy-boys' with that stuff and afterwards
you'll never be scared of judges dressing you down in the courtroom.

It's pretty grueling.  Two students in my class committed suicide, one in the beginning, another shortly before graduation, but, hey, they mighta done that no matter what obstacles they came across in life.

I've always thought that English was the perfect major for those thinking of going to law school later.  You will certainly be tested on your memory of crap that you will never need to know again. Trust me on this.[:D]

Get in a good study group, make all the friends you can, live like a monk for 3-4 years, and you'll be jes' fine.

I always vowed that I would continue to be knowledgeable and conversant in all areas of the law.  Forget it, ain't gonna happen.

It's too early for you to decide what kind of law you may practice (if 'Prof. Kingsfield' doesn't blow you out the first semester), just concentrate on making good grades.  The failure rate at LSU Law School is now fifty percent of the entering freshman class!  They are really trying to cut down on the number of lawyers that are graduated nowadays.

I practice mostly bankruptcy, real estate, and corporate law.  I go to Court maybe four times a month on various cases, rest of the time I'm in my office.  Pretty humdrum stuff, but it's kept me in 'chips and dip' for many years, and BTW, I do have an ENORMOUS GUN COLLECTION![:D]

Eric The Hun, Esq.[>]:)]

I graduated last year from the University of Michigan Law School.

One L is totally out of date. For what it is like at a top 10/14/'whatever the number is now' school, read Anarchy and Elegance. Much closer to the 1L year.

Don't worry about what you want to do, it is way too early to even think about it. 1L is 1L, so you are getting the same law classes everyone else is. If you are not going to a top school, get maximum grades and get on law review, or you will not get a firm summer job. Your second year courses will not matter much in terms of what you take, grades will matter a lot.
Third year you should have an idea what you want, so take some courses in that area. Make sure you take a class from all areas, you at least need to know something about a lot of stuff.

If at all possible, if you have good grades undergrad, take review classes for the LSAT. I like Princeton Review. Good undergrad grades and a great LSAT got me into a good school. Good law schools mean grades are less important (in fact there was  strong high curve, and no one failed ever, unlike the lower ranked schools where people were always in danger).
Jobs are always there, and you can pick the firm that fits you best. Much better way to go.

At the higher schools, everyone in the admin is a extreme liberal, and most of the profs are too. The students will be a mix of true lefty hate white/hate straight/hate america folks, high achievers who go left because their ivy school was lefty and they keep getting good grades mouthing the left crap, and a few on the right. Being a Federalist member is like saying you are in the klan or a nazi there. (Big reason I went where I did for my firm, during my swearing in the guy motioning me in said I was a Federalist member and he might as well have said I was max cool).

You are so much better off the better the school you get into. I took my bar review class at a school that is widely thought one of the worst in the rankings. They had some horror stories. Half the people failing out. C averages. All nighters. Being sick waiting for grades to come out. No jobs at all, even for law review members.

Area of law: I am in business law, Health Care/Employment/Labor/some Lit, and I have been offered some Immigration (for Hosptials and the like ) work to learn from, which I am seriously thinking about. It is great. I don't care much for the Lit life style or the attitude, but every once in a while is fine.