Is Law School Your Thing
So, you want to go to law school? I think that is great! Really. There are many people who are down on lawyers and the legal profession in general. We need young, smart, and motivated people like you to attend law school and shake things up. However, law school is no walk in the park, and the most successful students know what they are signing up for before they get there. If you have an understanding of or a plan for the following five things, you’re ready to join us.
1- You enjoy reading and writing
Reading and writing don’t have to be your favorite things ever, but if you generally loathe the idea of spending hours on end reading and writing, law school may not be for you. To put this in perspective, let’s look at an example.
The average first year law student takes about 15 credits worth of mandatory classes. This means that you don’t get to pick your classes based on the professor or the format of the final exam. Of those 15 credits, about 12 of them will be substantive law classes. Usually the homework for these classes is reading case law. That is it. No variety. Oh, that is not entirely true. Occasionally, if you are lucky, you get a very dense statute to read as well. On average, reading and preparing for substantive law classes takes 40-45 hours per week.
The remaining 3 credits usually consist of some combination of legal writing and research. In general, a first year legal writing course will consist of several small writing assignments and one larger brief or memo and usually requires about 5-10 hours of work a week.
2- You are ready to make sacrifices
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Now that I’ve adequately terrified you about the amount of reading and writing you will be required to do, let’s talk about how you will have to give up literally everything else in your life to make that possible. The sad part is, I’m only being slightly dramatic. If you added up the numbers in the previous section (and haven’t fainted) you saw that the first year of law school requires you to dedicate somewhere between 60-70 hours a week. That is significantly more than most students are accustomed to doing.
First, let me tell you that it is manageable. Most students survive and successfully complete their 1L year. But, it isn’t easy, and you have to make sacrifices to make it work. There is little time left over for, you know, fun. Law school can also put a strain on existing relationships. It helps immensely to see this coming down the pipeline and to prepare yourself, as well as the people in your life, for the experience.
3- You are passionate about doing something that a law degree will help you achieve
In order to make the aforementioned sacrifices a bit more bearable, it helps to be really passionate about something. That absolutely does not mean that you have to know exactly what you want to do when you graduate, and it doesn’t mean that your plan may not change. Take me for example. I attended law school with the singular focus of becoming a prosecutor. Ultimately, that never happened. But, having an important goal in mind helped push me through some incredibly long days, nights, and weeks of law school. Having an underlying passion or drive will help remind you that 1. there is an end to this whole law school thing eventually, and 2. you are putting yourself through all of this for a reason.
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4- You have a plan to pay for it
I really cannot overemphasize the importance of having a plan to pay for law school other than taking out $200k in student loans. This is one of those “do as I say, not as I did” situations because 22 year old me blindly stumbled into an asinine amount of law school student loan debt that 30 year old me works tirelessly every single day to get out of. I live with very few regrets, but my law school debt is one of them.
I think the reason I find it so frustrating, is because it was completely avoidable. Here are some things you can do to keep the cost of law school down:
Pick an in-state school that offers reduced tuition to residents
Take the LSAT multiple times to increase your score
Delay law school a year or two, and work to save money for tuition and living expenses
Apply for as many scholarships as you can find (academic and need based)
Consider working at law school and attending part-time for reduced or free tuition
When all else fails, ask the law school for money. You would be surprised how often that works.
5- You are teachable
There are a few reasons why being teachable is so important. First, law school is completely different from any other educational experience you have had. Not only do you have to learn the law, but you also have to learn an entirely new system of learning and applying information. Second, law school skills are cumulative. This means if you have gaps in your first year foundational skills, you will have trouble getting ahead in your remaining years and on the bar exam.
The most successful students approach law school with an “I am going to take advantage of any and all help available” attitude. While those who struggle most think they already know everything and that they don’t need any help.
This article had some hard truths about law student life, but my point isn’t to discourage you from going to law school. I just know, first hand, that the more prepared you are for what to expect, the better your chances are of making it through successfully. Law school is expensive and requires years of hard work and sacrifice. It is crucial that you know what that entails and have a good reason to do it before you get there.
NOVEMBER 15, 2017
