Being dismissed from law school Forum

[luis.fontanez3]

I was recently dismissed from law school due to bad first semester grades and my GPA being under the requirements to keep studying. Is there any way I can go back to study again or should I abandon my dreams of being a lawyer. During my first semester, I was working around 30 hours a week as a full-time law student until October, and a close family member passed away. I fell during the semester into a deep depression that made it hard to be motivated and be able to focus. When the semester was done I got into academic probation, but the issue is that I couldn't improve my grades enough. Is there any way or form that I could get back in, anything I can do. I know I could do other things with my life, but becoming a lawyer has always been my dream since I was a child, and don't want to live the rest of my life knowing that couldn't be what I wanted.

[cavalier1138]

I'm a little confused about the sequence of events.

You were put on probation after a semester, and then dismissed after a year, right? Your OP says your dismissal was based on your first-semester grades, so I'm trying to confirm whether you finished out the year.

Generally, if you finished out a full year of law school, it's going to be difficult to reapply anywhere right away. But what level of school were you at, and did you actually have a full year of recorded grades? Additionally, what kind of lawyer do you want to be?

[Slippin' Jimmy]

DId you complete the full first year or only one semester? And did you talk to your school about the death in the family/mental health issues? From what I've seen schools are usually willing to work with you on these types of things, perhaps letting you withdraw and re-enrolling at a later date.

However, the working 30 hours thing is an issue since the ABA does not allow you to work more than 25 hours per week while enrolled full time (and most decent school don't allow you to work at all during 1L). And if you did not really communicate with your school about your first semester issues it could be difficult to get the school to help you out.

[luis.fontanez3]

I did a whole year and was dismissed after my 1l year I got a d in one of my classes and got dismissed since my gpa lowered below their gpa requisite to stay. I had to work for those 30 hours because I was dumb and didnt get the full loan amount so I worked until I saved enough. I actually tried to hide the fact that I was working(this part was my mistake). I did explain to them my issues after the first semester. But due to my shitty first semester it was hard to increase my GPA high enough to stay I admit I got mostly Cs

[nixy]

You can talk to your school about what you’d need to do to re-enroll, if that’s a future possibility. Sometimes if you take a certain amount of time off and can demonstrate steps you’ve taken to address your previous issues, you can re-enter.

I think otherwise, like if you want to try to attend another school, you would need to take some time to separate yourself from this year. I’m thinking like at least 5 years, and then going through applications all over again (including retaking the LSAT). I think you can eventually start over but it will depend on a given school’s policy.

Either way, you’re probably best off finding work and taking time to get yourself in a better position. You don’t have to give up on being a lawyer, but more on being a lawyer *now.* and you may find a path that better suits you.

[QContinuum]

However, the working 30 hours thing is an issue since the ABA does not allow you to work more than 25 hours per week while enrolled full time (and most decent school don't allow you to work at all during 1L). And if you did not really communicate with your school about your first semester issues it could be difficult to get the school to help you out.

Not entirely on topic, but minor caveat: I agree that working 30 hours/week during 1L is generally dumb, but there is no ABA rule against doing so. Standard 304(f), which restricted full-time student employment to 20 hours/week during law school, was eliminated in 2014. See https://www.americanbar.org/groups/lega ... questions/ Law schools are, however, permitted to impose an hours cap as a school rule, and some/many do so.

[Slippin' Jimmy]

However, the working 30 hours thing is an issue since the ABA does not allow you to work more than 25 hours per week while enrolled full time (and most decent school don't allow you to work at all during 1L). And if you did not really communicate with your school about your first semester issues it could be difficult to get the school to help you out.

Not entirely on topic, but minor caveat: I agree that working 30 hours/week during 1L is generally dumb, but there is no ABA rule against doing so. Standard 304(f), which restricted full-time student employment to 20 hours/week during law school, was eliminated in 2014. See https://www.americanbar.org/groups/lega ... questions/ Law schools are, however, permitted to impose an hours cap as a school rule, and some/many do so.

Thanks for the correction, wasn't aware of the change!