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Re: So I love everything, What type of law should I do.

Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2011 10:49 pm
by Renzo
730 wrote:
dr123 wrote:
730 wrote:
dr123 wrote:Dude, I find it hard to believe you like everything equally. You have to have some sort of preference

I don't.
well what made you want to become a lawyer?

I was turned on by the long hours.
Then you want to do M&A

Re: So I love everything, What type of law should I do.

Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2011 10:49 pm
by Veyron
LLM is not necessary for any field, inc tax.

NYU JD at OCI has a better shot at taxlaw than NYU LLM
paulinaporizkova wrote:so how much better is 1 year of WE than 0, when compared with 2-3 years of WE over just 1. does one year of solid full time employment work in your favor at OCIs or would you need to have more than that?
Depends on the firm I hear tell, but if you can weave it into a good narrative it gets respect. Obviously, more is better up to a certain point.

As far as specializing based on college stuff:

Transactional law thrills me. I was the president of XYZ College investment club, I got a kick out of taking advantage of 123 intricacies of ABC merger to make X profit. I would love to see a deal like that from the inside and help clients avoid Do re me problems like the ones that the parties to ABC merger had.

Re: So I love everything, What type of law should I do.

Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2011 11:12 pm
by 730
Great info so far. So people think if I said I wanted to do tax, it would help me get a firm job? Any other fields?

Re: So I love everything, What type of law should I do.

Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2011 11:22 pm
by ggocat
730 wrote:So people think if I said I wanted to do tax, it would help me get a firm job?
At OCI? No.

Re: So I love everything, What type of law should I do.

Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2011 11:23 pm
by 730
Interesting. So what should I be selling at OCI?

Re: So I love everything, What type of law should I do.

Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2011 11:24 pm
by ggocat
730 wrote:Interesting. So what should I be selling at OCI?
Your personality. Perhaps have a general idea of whether you would like litigation or transactional work, and why. But you don't need to be any more detailed than that, especially if you have limited exposure to any particular area of law.

Re: So I love everything, What type of law should I do.

Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2011 11:26 pm
by 730
I have a while to build a case for why. What has more jobs right now.

Re: So I love everything, What type of law should I do.

Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2011 11:27 pm
by Veyron
730 wrote:I have a while to build a case for why. What has more jobs right now.
It was lit during the recession, prob moving back towards transactional.

Edit: In NYC. Most other places always are more lit oriented.

Re: So I love everything, What type of law should I do.

Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2011 11:29 pm
by 730
Great. I am going to say I want to do transactional then.

Re: So I love everything, What type of law should I do.

Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2011 11:29 pm
by 730
and maybe build a case for tax, if I strike out at oci.

Re: So I love everything, What type of law should I do.

Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2011 11:38 pm
by vamedic03
Is anyone posting in here not full of crap?

On the off chance that OP is serious - you can easily go into OCI and say - "I have a preference for litigation, but all I've been exposed to so far is litigation and I look forward to getting some exposure to transactional work." (this works for pretty much any firm other than Cravath, which makes you choose lit v transactional, and the lit only firms)

Re: So I love everything, What type of law should I do.

Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2011 11:44 pm
by 730
vamedic03 wrote:Is anyone posting in here not full of crap?

On the off chance that OP is serious - you can easily go into OCI and say - "I have a preference for litigation, but all I've been exposed to so far is litigation and I look forward to getting some exposure to transactional work." (this works for pretty much any firm other than Cravath, which makes you choose lit v transactional, and the lit only firms)

I am very serious.

Re: So I love everything, What type of law should I do.

Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2011 11:47 pm
by Veyron
vamedic03 wrote:Is anyone posting in here not full of crap?

On the off chance that OP is serious - you can easily go into OCI and say - "I have a preference for litigation, but all I've been exposed to so far is litigation and I look forward to getting some exposure to transactional work." (this works for pretty much any firm other than Cravath, which makes you choose lit v transactional, and the lit only firms)
Works for most firms. Some do prefer that applicants have a stronger preference. Some prefer that an applicant not have a strong preference. Do your homework OP on all the firms with which you will interview.

Re: So I love everything, What type of law should I do.

Posted: Mon Feb 07, 2011 12:00 am
by vamedic03
Veyron wrote:
vamedic03 wrote:Is anyone posting in here not full of crap?

On the off chance that OP is serious - you can easily go into OCI and say - "I have a preference for litigation, but all I've been exposed to so far is litigation and I look forward to getting some exposure to transactional work." (this works for pretty much any firm other than Cravath, which makes you choose lit v transactional, and the lit only firms)
Works for most firms. Some do prefer that applicants have a stronger preference. Some prefer that an applicant not have a strong preference. Do your homework OP on all the firms with which you will interview.
Honestly, OP should probably avoid the places that expect a strong preference - they probably would be a poor fit for someone who wants to try out multiple practice areas.

Re: So I love everything, What type of law should I do.

Posted: Mon Feb 07, 2011 12:09 am
by Veyron
vamedic03 wrote:
Veyron wrote:
vamedic03 wrote:Is anyone posting in here not full of crap?

On the off chance that OP is serious - you can easily go into OCI and say - "I have a preference for litigation, but all I've been exposed to so far is litigation and I look forward to getting some exposure to transactional work." (this works for pretty much any firm other than Cravath, which makes you choose lit v transactional, and the lit only firms)
Works for most firms. Some do prefer that applicants have a stronger preference. Some prefer that an applicant not have a strong preference. Do your homework OP on all the firms with which you will interview.
Honestly, OP should probably avoid the places that expect a strong preference - they probably would be a poor fit for someone who wants to try out multiple practice areas.
Likely true. You might aim for a firm with lots of rotations and/or a free market system.

Re: So I love everything, What type of law should I do.

Posted: Mon Feb 07, 2011 1:40 am
by theghostofDrewTate
space law
international law
animal rights law
art law
entertainment law
sports law

if you are at a T14, I would suggest transferring to a school that specializes in one of these areas - surely Drexel is strong in them all.

Re: So I love everything, What type of law should I do.

Posted: Mon Feb 07, 2011 1:45 am
by jhett
You don't really "love everything." You just don't have any experience with all the different areas of law and therefore don't have any basis to make a choice. But most people don't and that's OK. There are firms out there that let you be unassigned your first year and let you take assignments from a variety of departments. You should figure out which firms offer that and pursue them.

You can also pursue different opportunities in law school - clinics, seminars, journals, internships. Basically poke around and see if anything stokes you in particular.
730 wrote:I have a while to build a case for why. What has more jobs right now.
While the availability of jobs is a factor in the decision, judging from what you've posted you seem awfully flaky and aimless. You just seem to want whatever has more jobs and pays the most. May I ask why the hell are you in law school?

Re: So I love everything, What type of law should I do.

Posted: Mon Feb 07, 2011 1:53 am
by 730
Why am I in law school? We all need jobs, I think id be good at this one. The first time someone described big law to me, it sounded like the greatest thing in the world.


I really do love all fields of law equally, I am just interested in making myself marketable to employers.

Re: So I love everything, What type of law should I do.

Posted: Mon Feb 07, 2011 3:11 am
by cccZillo
So I didn't know if I should make a new thread, given the high level of weird in this one, but I'm sort of in the same boat.

It seems like the best way to decide what direction you want to go in is to actually do it. Take a couple classes, maybe work in that area over 1L summer. But what happens if you chose wrong, and didn't like that specific field of the law? Isn't it essentially too late at that point, with OCI right around the corner, how are you supposed to develop a new passion without really doing anything?

I wish there was some legal equivalent of speed dating, where you could spend one day each in a variety of different fields.

I guess my question is, before law school starts, what sort of research can I do to figure out what suits me best?

(For the record, I've been a journalist for 3 years between UG and law school in the fall. Communications Law is VERY interesting to me, but it just doesn't seem practical, right?)

Re: So I love everything, What type of law should I do.

Posted: Mon Feb 07, 2011 3:22 am
by Veyron
cccZillo wrote:So I didn't know if I should make a new thread, given the high level of weird in this one, but I'm sort of in the same boat.

It seems like the best way to decide what direction you want to go in is to actually do it. Take a couple classes, maybe work in that area over 1L summer. But what happens if you chose wrong, and didn't like that specific field of the law? Isn't it essentially too late at that point, with OCI right around the corner, how are you supposed to develop a new passion without really doing anything?

I wish there was some legal equivalent of speed dating, where you could spend one day each in a variety of different fields.

I guess my question is, before law school starts, what sort of research can I do to figure out what suits me best?

(For the record, I've been a journalist for 3 years between UG and law school in the fall. Communications Law is VERY interesting to me, but it just doesn't seem practical, right?)
Maybe. FCC hires some folks for its legal department (but federal hiring freeze will make that a bad proposition going forward). Some large firms do 1st amendment/journalism law, especially ones that represent newspapers but this probably won't generate enough work to be a specialty per-se.

The legal equivalent of speed dating is the 2L SA at a firm that rotates you though every practice group.

Re: So I love everything, What type of law should I do.

Posted: Mon Feb 07, 2011 12:43 pm
by JPrezy87
730 wrote:
Veyron wrote:
730 wrote:Let us pretend someone loved everything. What type of law would be good to specialize in at this point. What is in demand. I am trying to find a niche.
IP

Thank you for a real answer but no background in IP. I assume IP is the only field that requires certain UG majors.


edit- Also, no one say Bird Law, I am looking for real answers.
well a "background" in IP isn't necessarily a requirements...although a degree in the hard sciences certainly does help :).

Re: So I love everything, What type of law should I do.

Posted: Mon Feb 07, 2011 9:11 pm
by Veyron
JPrezy87 wrote:
730 wrote:
Veyron wrote:
730 wrote:Let us pretend someone loved everything. What type of law would be good to specialize in at this point. What is in demand. I am trying to find a niche.
IP

Thank you for a real answer but no background in IP. I assume IP is the only field that requires certain UG majors.


edit- Also, no one say Bird Law, I am looking for real answers.
well a "background" in IP isn't necessarily a requirements...although a degree in the hard sciences certainly does help :).
Right, but w/o said background, IP is just as hard to crack as anything else.

Re: So I love everything, What type of law should I do.

Posted: Mon Feb 07, 2011 10:42 pm
by JPrezy87
Veyron wrote:
JPrezy87 wrote:
Veyron wrote:
well a "background" in IP isn't necessarily a requirements...although a degree in the hard sciences certainly does help :).
Right, but w/o said background, IP is just as hard to crack as anything else.
[/quote]

hmmm....you in IP law yourself?

Re: So I love everything, What type of law should I do.

Posted: Mon Feb 07, 2011 11:40 pm
by Veyron
JPrezy87 wrote:
Veyron wrote:
JPrezy87 wrote:
Veyron wrote:
well a "background" in IP isn't necessarily a requirements...although a degree in the hard sciences certainly does help :).
Right, but w/o said background, IP is just as hard to crack as anything else.
hmmm....you in IP law yourself?[/quote]

Nope. Law schools are small places man, so you pretty much get a feel for the prospects of each type of IPer. I've also spoken to biglaw IP associates about their field.

To be fair to your point, however, there are SOME firms where not having an IP background won't necessarily put you at a disadvantage but there are many more where it will.

Re: So I love everything, What type of law should I do.

Posted: Mon Feb 07, 2011 11:52 pm
by GATORTIM
730 wrote:So I love everything, What type of law should I do.
Is this even possible