deciding where to go and what field to focus on Forum

[jrb88]

I just took my LSAT and plan to graduate this fall. My cumulative gpa should be around 3.6-3.7 and I'm wait on my LSAT scores. I'd prefer somewhere on the east coast but anything is possible. Also i didn't really know what area of law to focus on. I thought i may like tax law because I've enjoyed studying tax policy from a political viewpoint, but I don't have an accounting background so I wasn't sure if that was viable. Other then that I was considering patent, international, or corporate law.

[Bosque]

I just took my LSAT and plan to graduate this fall. My cumulative gpa should be around 3.6-3.7 and I'm wait on my LSAT scores. I'd prefer somewhere on the east coast but anything is possible. Also i didn't really know what area of law to focus on. I thought i may like tax law because I've enjoyed studying tax policy from a political viewpoint, but I don't have an accounting background so I wasn't sure if that was viable. Other then that I was considering patent, international, or corporate law.

First off, you don't really specialize in law school. You specialize once you are working at a firm. In fact, you don't even get to pick your classes until second year. So I wouldn't worry too much about that at this point. However, I will address briefly the areas you listed

TAX:You enjoyed studying tax policy? Crazy SOB. Maybe you would like tax. The tax code is really weird, illogical, and corpulent. I know there are firms which specialize in it, but I have a negative interest in tax so I have been avoiding them like the plague.

PATENT: This is what I am doing. What was you major before law school? Unless it was engineering, I would pretty much forget about this. There are some other majors that work, but you almost universally need at least a masters to be competitive with them.

If it was engineering, great. You are going to end up doing one of two things likely: Prosecution (creating the patents) and litigation (arguing about patents). Some people also do patent licensing. As for where you need to go to do this, you can either end up at a GP firm with an IP department, or an IP boutique. Make sure to go to PLIP too. It is the place to get a job.

INTERNATIONAL: International law does not exist.

CORPORATE: Corporate law is pretty much transactional work, and Big Law is the place you have to be for it. You have to do pretty much nothing to specialize in it, just try your hardest to get good grades and get on law review. You are competing with way more people for these jobs than you are the other specialties, and it is much harder to make yourself stand out through anything that is not your GPA.