Working during law school Forum

[Anonymous User]

Who here has worked part time legal job during full time law school? Care to share your experiences?

[Anonymous User]

I'm a student rep for Westlaw/Lexis. It's awesome, basically paid to hang out in the computer lab and do my homework in between random student questions. Plus it's convenient to be right on campus for your job. I'd say get a job with one of these two companies if you're looking to make some extra cash during law school without adding a lot to your already full plate of other things to do.

[Anonymous User]

I've had an externship, clinic, or RAship every semester of law school. The time commitment is obviously serious, but doable if you have great organizational skills and the ability to fit things in whenever (reading for class on the subway, for example). And the practical experience has been fun, helpful in understanding concepts in class, and useful at work.

[Anonymous User]

I worked as an engineer part time (20 hrs/week) for my first two years of law school (fulltime). I did a summer associateship, and and I am now working at the firm part-time(20-30 hrs/week) during my last year. Easy Peasy.

what do you want to know?

[Anonymous User]

I worked as an engineer part time (20 hrs/week) for my first two years of law school (fulltime). I did a summer associateship, and and I am now working at the firm part-time(20-30 hrs/week) during my last year. Easy Peasy.

what do you want to know?

How do you get around the ABA rule that caps work at 20 hours a week? (standard 304(f)) My understanding is, if you are full time (12 or more credits) you cannot work more than 20 hours. I am not asking to be snarky, as I have a job opportunity next semester that could potentially let me work more if there is a way around it.

[reasonable_man]

I worked as an engineer part time (20 hrs/week) for my first two years of law school (fulltime). I did a summer associateship, and and I am now working at the firm part-time(20-30 hrs/week) during my last year. Easy Peasy.

what do you want to know?

How do you get around the ABA rule that caps work at 20 hours a week? (standard 304(f)) My understanding is, if you are full time (12 or more credits) you cannot work more than 20 hours. I am not asking to be snarky, as I have a job opportunity next semester that could potentially let me work more if there is a way around it.

I got around it by ignoring it. Last I checked the ABA doesn't license me for anything and the State bar had no similar requirement, so I paid no attention to it, worked and used that work to obtain a full time job after law school. In short, fuck the ABA. Take the job. The ABA should have much bigger things on their plate than how many hours a LS decided to work. Sadly they seem to not care about the important stuff.

[Anonymous User]

how do you manage the working hours on top of school? How many hours did everyone work?

[MBeezy11]

I worked at a firm 15 hours a week. I wouldn't advise working more than 25 hours a week. Even if you take a less intense approach to law school at a certain point working too many hours will force you to be intellectually engaged constantly. You need time to socialize/waste time or law school will be unbearable.

[Anonymous User]

As a 2L, I work 8 hours/wk for Westlaw, 13 hrs/wk at my internship, and have a full course load and journal. I'm busy and stressed out all the time, sure, but I've also done all the reading for my classes, just took a weekend off because my boyfriend was in town, drank and fair amount of wine, and watched some bad tv.

Know your own limits and time management, and figure out what you can handle and what you want. I could've been in less classes or gotten credit for my internship, but there's a ton of classes I want to take while I'm here. Probably half my school is interning/working in some respect at any one time.

[Anonymous User]

I work 14-20 hours a week at the firm at which I was an SA. It can be stressful sometimes - switching between work mode and school mode can be hard. But the money and opportunities are well worth it.

[Anonymous User]

held two jobs during 2L and 3L plus was on journal. it was tough, but definitely doable. i didnt spend much time dicking around doing nothing, but it's not like i was up till 3am ever finishing work. i still had time to go out but just didn't have many lazy days where i would just watch tv all day, so its not like my social life took a hit or anything. note both jobs were pretty chill and flexible with hours. also i stopped doing reading for classes, so that certainly helped. i found if i just paid close attention in class (also stopped bringing my laptop) there was really no reason to read before hand.

[PeanutHead]

I agree with the people above that have commented that you just have to adjust your lifestyle a little bit cause you will have much less down time. I found that I could still get everything done pretty easily because when I sat down to read I actually focused on getting my shit done instead of dicking off on the internet in between every couple pages.
I think it's definitely doable and it's worth it if it will open some doors or even just to make some money.

Edit: I only worked like 15-20 hours a week while taking 14 credits. I wouldn't have wanted to do a bunch more than that. I pretty much always had time to do my reading for the classes where it was worthwhile to read before class.

[reasonable_man]

During the second half of 1L I worked 15 to 18 hours a week at a small firm and about 5 hours a week in an academic position. By the time I hit my 3L year I was working about 20 hours a week for a mid-sized firm and about 5 to 10 hours a week in the academic position. It was rough, but absolutely can be done. I am employed (graduated 2008), and have been since graduation thanks in large part to the fact that I worked a lot before and during LS in legal positions. I think everyone should try to do it.

[chem]

I worked as an engineer part time (20 hrs/week) for my first two years of law school (fulltime). I did a summer associateship, and and I am now working at the firm part-time(20-30 hrs/week) during my last year. Easy Peasy.

what do you want to know?

Anon, could you PM me? I will also be working 20 hrs a week as an engineer during law school, and have a couple questions