Am I screwed? Forum

pepper79 · Post by **pepper79** » Sat Apr 23, 2011 11:25 am

I went to law school beginning in 2003 at a 4th tier. There were many things going on in my life at that time and I was academically dismissed. I retook the LSAT (and absolutely improved on my 145 that allowed me only entrance to the previously mentioned 4th tier school) and got a 90th percentile score. I was then admitted to a top 20 law school and was set to graduate in one month from now. Then, I was dismissed for disciplinary reasons. I had one semester to go until graduation. One. And I wasn't dismissed for anything egregious like cheating or anything else.

Will I ever be a lawyer? And Yes, I want to attend an ABA approved law school, not some online school where I can only get my license in California. Please, if you have any advice. And yes there are many extenuating circumstances that could work in my favor if put down on paper in the right way.

Thanks for any/all advice you can give.

p.s. Should I even think about transferring? They require letters of good standing. And although I wasn't dismissed for academic reasons... I still won't be able to obtain a letter of good standing because I was dismissed for disciplinary reasons correct? Or, do I just need to start all over again.

j7108 · Post by **j7108** » Sat Apr 23, 2011 1:01 pm

What were the reasons for academic dismissal in both instances? For anyone to give advice, they will need this information.

Big Shrimpin · Post by **Big Shrimpin** » Sat Apr 23, 2011 1:06 pm

pepper79 wrote:I was then admitted to a top 20 law school and was set to graduate in one month from now.

Roflcopter. 180 flame.

patrickd139 · Post by **patrickd139** » Sat Apr 23, 2011 1:27 pm

Big Shrimpin wrote:
pepper79 wrote:I was then admitted to a top 20 law school and was set to graduate in one month from now.
Roflcopter. 164 flame (90th percentile, of course!).

FTFM.

OP: if I understand this correctly, you've now defected from two separate law schools?

SilverE2 · Post by **SilverE2** » Sat Apr 23, 2011 1:51 pm

Man, you guys remember when you could get into a T20 with a 164?

Big Shrimpin · Post by **Big Shrimpin** » Sat Apr 23, 2011 1:52 pm

patrickd139 wrote:
Big Shrimpin wrote:
pepper79 wrote:I was then admitted to a top 20 law school and was set to graduate in one month from now.
Roflcopter. 164 flame (90th percentile, of course!).
FTFM.

OP: if I understand this correctly, you've now defected from two separate law schools?

Tyty

concurrent fork · Post by **concurrent fork** » Sat Apr 23, 2011 3:48 pm

Probably a flame - but you need to spend 2 years at the degree granting institution. I can't imagine trying to explain to an employer why it took 5+ years to get your JD. Cut your losses.

Kabuo · Post by **Kabuo** » Sat Apr 23, 2011 4:05 pm

concurrent fork wrote:Probably a flame - but you need to spend 2 years at the degree granting institution. I can't imagine trying to explain to an employer why it took 5+ years to get your JD. Cut your losses.

These losses have got to be extensive now.

LoyalRebel · Post by **LoyalRebel** » Sat Apr 23, 2011 4:07 pm

All I can say is that sucks man.

zomginternets · Post by **zomginternets** » Sat Apr 23, 2011 4:28 pm

pepper79 wrote:And I wasn't dismissed for anything egregious like cheating or anything else.

A disciplinary dismissal is by definition a response to egregious conduct. Also, the threshold for getting dismissed from law school is far higher than it is for failing C&F.. i.e. you'll probably need to wait at least 3-5 years from this dismissal before you would pass C&F.

Edit: also, i don't think you can just "start over again"--I think the ABA has some rules on whether you can restart law school once you have completed portions of it.

rose711 · Post by **rose711** » Sat Apr 23, 2011 4:48 pm

pepper79 wrote:I went to law school beginning in 2003 at a 4th tier. There were many things going on in my life at that time and I was academically dismissed. I retook the LSAT (and absolutely improved on my 145 that allowed me only entrance to the previously mentioned 4th tier school) and got a 90th percentile score. I was then admitted to a top 20 law school and was set to graduate in one month from now. Then, I was dismissed for disciplinary reasons. I had one semester to go until graduation. One. And I wasn't dismissed for anything egregious like cheating or anything else.

Will I ever be a lawyer? And Yes, I want to attend an ABA approved law school, not some online school where I can only get my license in California. Please, if you have any advice. And yes there are many extenuating circumstances that could work in my favor if put down on paper in the right way.

Thanks for any/all advice you can give.

p.s. Should I even think about transferring? They require letters of good standing. And although I wasn't dismissed for academic reasons... I still won't be able to obtain a letter of good standing because I was dismissed for disciplinary reasons correct? Or, do I just need to start all over again.

What question are you asking? Your best bet to be a lawyer would have been to convince your school not to dismiss you -even if you had to hire expensive counsel to do so. Now that you are not even in school, I don't know what options you have.

The only suggestion I have is to contact a good lawyer specializing in representing lawyers with ethical issues and see if you have a chance of getting past C&F - if you do, then you have to figure out how to go to school. I can't imagine a school taking you in these circumstances. I don't think you qualify as a transfer if you aren't even in school. You would have to be admitted somewhere. With the over-abundance of applicants and your track record I don't think you have a chance of getting into a school. I don't even know if the unaccredited schools would accept you.

To be honest, I think you are full of excuses of what happened to you and not really taking responsibility for what happened. I suppose anyone can get academically dismissed, but it isn't that easy. And I am sure that no one gets kicked out of school with only one semester to go unless they have done something egregious. Again, in your post you are minimizing what you did by saying it wasn't as bad as cheating.

So I don't know the answer to your question exactly, but I am thinking that you are screwed ---at least until some time has passed.

uzpakalis · Post by **uzpakalis** » Sat Apr 23, 2011 6:02 pm

Seriously, what did you do?

Miracle · Post by **Miracle** » Sat Apr 23, 2011 6:12 pm

Academic dismissal is not bad. It can happen to anyone. It's not as bad as cheating. It seemed as if you bounces back when you went back to school and managed to go from T4 to T20. Its disciplinary thats bad, and will be questioned at C&F.

ran12 · Post by **ran12** » Mon Apr 25, 2011 12:28 am

Disciplinary reasons could mean some sort of altercation with prof/student or breaking something.

Sandro · Post by **Sandro** » Mon Apr 25, 2011 1:29 am

like he broke a chair

maf70 · Post by **maf70** » Mon Apr 25, 2011 2:52 am

or someone's neck...

random5483 · Post by **random5483** » Mon Apr 25, 2011 12:58 pm

This is the wrong place to ask the questions. None of us know. Being dismissed twice from law school will hurt you when you look for a job. Further, a disciplinary dismissal might prevent your passing the C&F for several years. Unless we know what you did to get dismissed, we can't give you advice. Moreover, even if we did know what you did, you would be better served getting advice from people who know how to handle this.

traehekat · Post by **traehekat** » Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:33 am

+1 to, well... a lot of shit that has been said. This isn't the right place to ask this/you are probably screwed/what the hell were you dismissed for/you probably can't transfer/you probably will have a hard time interviewing even if you do graduate/etc.

I'd be curious to know what it is you did. I have to agree with others that by definition it has to be pretty egregious. Law schools don't just dismiss people for anything, especially after the student has poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into their education.

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