Top Law Schools

So, I'm new to this forum and I have been surprised by the tone of a lot of the posts here. I am a foreign law student going to study at NYU next study year.

It seems to me as though law school is consired all about working as hard as you can, without enjoying the courses you're taking or even law school altogether. Is this truly how the majority of you feel toward law school? Where I live we sometimes hear stories about US law schools and how they function, but they always seemed greatly exaggerated, coming from ill-informed professors with a bias against the US's system. Now though I feel as if they were largely right.

All the posts seem to be about money and jobs, and I don't want to sound like some hippy treehugger but where I attend law school these factors are consired important but not paramount. A great deal of the people I know are actually interested in becoming lawyers, intrinsically motivated to work in some area of law they find genuinely interesting. Is is the crippling debt that takes away all the enjoyment? If so, are people that have been lucky enough to get major financial aid overall more happy in law school?

Anyway, I really enjoy reading these forums even though a lot of the posts try to convince people not to attend a law school at all. It's all been very informative, and I'm starting to get an idea in what kind of atmosphere I am going to end up. Have to say that I'm greatly looking forward to an atmosphere where people at least -whether they like it or not- put in a lot of hard work. Because due to the small financial consequences of mediocre grades in my country, there is often a lack of people actually doing the things they are assigned.

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Law school is the worst thing. I despise law school and everyone associated with it.

I'm a 2L and I have been enjoying law school a lot. I do have a sizable scholarship which helps, but I still get stressed out about loans and jobs. That really can't be avoided. In my opinion, the second year is better than the first because you get to pick classes you are interested in. It is also important to know your limits as to how much extracurricular activities you get involved with. I did moot court, but not a journal. I've found that having time to be away from the law school is very important. For this reason, make sure you live in a place you like.

I should also mention that I am a joint JD / M.S. and will have four years of school total. Also, I have a pretty specific practice area in mind and am quite focused on getting there.

The reason why people are obsessed with finding jobs that make a lot of money has to do with debt. Including tuition, housing, and other fees, it can cost up to $70,000 PER YEAR to go to law school. After 3 years, you will be in debt for over $200,000.

The only way possible to pay off this much debt is to find high paying jobs. If you look at the forums, you will also notice that many people say they hate working for high paying law firms. The ultimate goal is to do something fulfilling, or work at a job that does not take over your entire life. The problem is that before you can do this, you must pay off your debt, so many people want to pay off the debt as fast as possible. So we all want big, money making jobs.

Our goals are not much different than yours. Unfortunately our system is very different from yours, so we have to behave differently.

my brother finished law school doing the part time program and my parents paid for his expenses. He had nothing but good things to say about the law school experience in general and said he really enjoyed it a lot. So i think that minus the stress that might come with the full course load of 1L year and also the horrifying debt that many students face to get a law degree, the whole law school thing might actually be something that you could enjoy and find fulfilling.

one thing he said he liked particularly were all the guest speakers that visit ( I think he said one of his favorites was somebody from the FBI)

My guess is if your country's schools cost what ours do, your view would be similar to ours.

thesealocust wrote:Law school is the worst thing. I despise law school and everyone associated with it.

I am not a huge fan of law school. A significant amount of the professors are arrogant cocksuckers. The curriculum doesn't actually teach you a damned thing. The journals are a complete waste of time and money, as nobody really reads those fucking things. Yeah, I think law school is pretty fucking stupid and a year too long.

Aside from typical things that suck about lawyers and law professors, which I think are present in most professions, the issue is primarily economic.

The problem is that everyone can read the writing on the wall for the U.S. in the next decade. We're living in a society that is increasingly breaking down into two classes: the barely scraping by and the affluent. Many of us are in law school because we want to be lawyers, but we also don't want to be in that first class. We want to be affluent. And even if you have a good finaid package, you can be screwed coming out of school. And that means we're gonna be stressed out. And we're gonna end up hating the work because of the pressure associated with it.

Perhaps for some, barely scraping by sounds appealing. But for those of us who know what it's like to barely scrape by, we can only stare in astonishment at those who seem oblivious to the harshness of reality.

I'm fortunate enough to be graduating with no debt. I also went to law school for a very specific purpose. Even though I like the material, I don't like the atmosphere of law school. Instead of thinking why we are there, people are concerned about grades. All they can talk about is law school. Seriously, I don't think a single classmate really knows who I am as a person. I think law school's concern with prestige (an indirect consequence of needing high paying jobs) creates a bad atmosphere. For example, no one I know in my 1L class eats lunch together just to hang out. Everyone just goes to the library to study. The only social outlet seems to be late-night bar review sessions, but they're extremely inconvenient for older married students.

Meh, it's boring but ok. I am not taking classes this semester (full time job in criminal defense clinic) so its actually been low stress and pretty fun.

I enjoy law school a lot. I like the subject matter, I think class discussion can be interesting, my professors are brilliant, and maybe I got really lucky but the people in my section are awesome.

The thing I hate is graduating with debt. I'm the most debt-averse person in the world. I somehow managed to scrape by in undergrad with only $12k in debt. That's not possible in law school because I'm basically not allowed to have a job first year, and second/third year, I'll be too busy to work during school anyway.

I chose going to a T3 over some good regional schools solely to save money. So far it's paying off, but I won't be satisfied until I have a job out of 2L OCI next year.


Also, keep in mind that this forum is very self-selecting. The vast majority of people here are gunning for top law schools, top of their class, and for the for coveted "BigLaw" jobs. Only so many people can achieve these lofty goals, so there are a lot of bitter people around here. I'm only a 1L, so it's hard for me to comment on this yet. I just hope to get lucky next fall.

Also keep in mind that while some people do like law school, they are also the worst human beings on the planet.

Saying "I like law school" isn't like saying "I prefer red wine to white." It's closer to saying "I spend every day working on my violent kiddy-porn dungeon and plotting mean things to do do puppies."

I like law school.

But then again:
<-----Worst human being on the planet.

For me, it largely has to do with sucking at other things I've tried (math, creative writing, electrical engineering, pol sci) but actually being competent at this law school thing. I don't know if you believe that some people have a calling in life (not the higher-purpose variety). For me, I guess this is close; I'm good at it, and it's fun--some of the time.

I liked law school alright for the first year, then became ambivalent during my fall of 2L year, and then went through a phase like this:

thesealocust wrote:Law school is the worst thing. I despise law school and everyone associated with it.

I think I'm back to being ambivalent, but I'm always on the brink of going back to the hate stage. Not because of the school I go to, but because of the nature of this crap.

I enjoy the study of law, but I hate law school.

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dhgrs wrote:I am a foreign law student going to study at NYU next study year.

I go to NYU for a JD and really like it. And the LLMs — is that what you will be? — have a better time than the JD students.

People eat lunch together just to hang out. As far as I know, no one plots to do mean things to puppies or works in a kiddy-porn dungeon.

Liked 1st semester, ambivalent towards 2nd semester. It's only going to go downhill from here, I'm guessing.

shock259 wrote:Liked 1st semester, ambivalent towards 2nd semester. It's only going to go downhill from here, I'm guessing.

Basically feel the same way. The novelty of the subject matter/people/whole experience has long since worn off. Having to basically start over after a grueling semester is really wearing on me as is having to deal with the law school social bullshit (small school makes it even worse).

On the whole, the scale favors "enjoying" rather than "hating," but definitely like it less this semester. I'd imagine this trend will continue until I absolutely loathe everything related to law school.

^ Really?

I was okay with first semester, hate this semester, but fully expect it to get better. Grades matter less next year, plus we can take seminars without curves. We can also take courses that are actually interesting or get practical experience rather than sit in class all day. It should get better. Doesn't mean I'll ever love the law, but still.

InnocuousDiatribe wrote:I like law school.

But then again:
<-----Worst human being on the planet.

For me, it largely has to do with sucking at other things I've tried (math, creative writing, electrical engineering, pol sci) but actually being competent at this law school thing. I don't know if you believe that some people have a calling in life (not the higher-purpose variety). For me, I guess this is close; I'm good at it, and it's fun--some of the time.

You're a puny human?

Law school itself is pretty fun and beats the heck out of working full time. It's the debt + no jobs + the scarlet letter of the J.D. branding you for life which makes it such a raw deal.

law is interesting, but it doesn't interest me when i'm pitted against a crowd of gunners (who happened to be mostly in my 1L section) and i'm eventually left with nothing but debt