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Curious about this from people who might actually know for sure.. Exactly how career ending is taking a leave of absence from law school?

ETA: for a mental health but otherwise non-medical reason

Mental health is a medical reason. And there's no reason a leave should be career-ending. You do what you need to do to be healthy - it will benefit your career more in the long run than pushing through and doing badly.

But I'll admit I don't know from personal experience. I know someone from my law school who did 1L over again and it didn't seem to hurt her, but that's as much as I can offer. I would just hate to see you put your health at risk - wishing you the best.

A. Nony Mouse wrote:Mental health is a medical reason. And there's no reason a leave should be career-ending. You do what you need to do to be healthy - it will benefit your career more in the long run than pushing through and doing badly.

But I'll admit I don't know from personal experience. I know someone from my law school who did 1L over again and it didn't seem to hurt her, but that's as much as I can offer. I would just hate to see you put your health at risk - wishing you the best.

+1

OP here. Yeah I have a friend who left early last semester (2L) and is going to start over in a different state/law school as a 1L. I just feel like for me personally having completed first semester of 2L and finally having a job, it would raise some serious eye brows that I wouldn't want to explain to if I left. Obviously it is worth doing if necessary, I was just wondering if anyone had experience trying to either do this or explain it away to job prospects, etc.


Thank you Nony.

Anonymous User wrote:OP here. Yeah I have a friend who left early last semester (2L) and is going to start over in a different state/law school as a 1L. I just feel like for me personally having completed first semester of 2L and finally having a job, it would raise some serious eye brows that I wouldn't want to explain to if I left. Obviously it is worth doing if necessary, I was just wondering if anyone had experience trying to either do this or explain it away to job prospects, etc.


Thank you Nony.

i thought this wasn't allowed by the ABA? I'm damn sure that by the start of 3L, if i had to start law school again, I could easily have way higher grades-im sure thats the case with most people, and thats why we have the one bite at the apple rule. Unless of course, there is a specific exception for precisely this situation.

Victorsoi, that is exactly what I thought and why I was confused about it all. I don't want to do 1L again to get ahead. That is not even sort of the situation I am aiming for, but I do understand why there are those concerns and rules etc.
I'd like to leave now and come back to resume where I was -- just feeling like that will obviously have all sorts of shitty consequences later, so I wanted to ask TLS to see if anyone had experience here.

Well, the person who left in 2L gets to pay for 1L all over again, go through apps over again, sit through 1L again, add a year to their time in law school, and presumably explain why they left the first degree program on a regular basis (for ex. I'd imagine that you'd have to submit that transcript at OCI or clerkship apps?). If you're willing to do that for the chance to get better grades by doing 1L twice I'm not sure the ABA's going to stop you.

I know of two ppl at my school who missed a semester for health reasons and were able to get back on track and line up a firm summer. I did something similar in graduate school. I wouldn't look twice at this, personally, though I guess I'm not in the position of hiring anyone either. Talk to your dean of students, I'm sure there's precedent at your school. People are literally paid money to help you with this.

cron1834 wrote:I know of two ppl at my school who missed a semester for health reasons and were able to get back on track and line up a firm summer. I did something similar in graduate school. I wouldn't look twice at this, personally, though I guess I'm not in the position of hiring anyone either. Talk to your dean of students, I'm sure there's precedent at your school. People are literally paid money to help you with this.

you're right. this is solid advice and all too obvious. sometimes things so clear are the hardest to see. thank you

You've done well so far, you obtained a job so far, you recognized a problem in time, and you have ppl that can advocate for you. I think it will be okay. The signs are positive, to me. Good luck.

cron1834 wrote:You've done well so far, you obtained a job so far, you recognized a problem in time, and you have ppl that can advocate for you. I think it will be okay. The signs are positive, to me. Good luck.

Agree. Also, it's better to take care of yourself now. Most mental health problems don't get better on their own.

I took two leaves of absence (2011 and 2014) and it hasn't hurt me in obtaining legal jobs. If employers ask, just say "medical reasons" or "personal reasons". Your health is none of their business. I wish you the best of luck in your recovery. It's better to take time off than "power through" and get poor grades.