2L Rant Forum

[stillwater]

law school = no bueno.

[Stinson]

You aren't the only one that has ever felt this way.

OP, If you have an SA lined up you needn't be worried enough about law school to hate it. I'm not being glib; it's just that you seem a little hung up on the unfairnesses/absurdities of grading and the whole scam-meritocracy thing. That's all true, as many people have said. But frankly you needn't worry about it. Feeling guilty won't make your unemployed classmates feel any better, I promise.

Law school can be kind of dumb, but the thing is that you are now in a position where it needn't be your life, because you have a job and a LR spot. So bring some other stuff into your life - hobby, dating, pet etc. Put in the minimum at LR (no reward for doing more except more law review!), get old outlines and go to the classes you find interesting and don't worry about the ones you don't. You apparently know how to take exams, so just take them and chill out about them being unfair or arbitrary.

As for biglaw, stop confusing what will likely be your 3-5 year stint in biglaw (this is most people's stint anyway, whether they morally disagree with it or not) with your career. Whatever kind of biglaw you do, I promise you will not work enough evil in the world in a few years (as a junior associate no less) to make you a bad person or whatever it is you're worried about becoming. Many people go into biglaw taking it for what it is - a rough ride that provides experience for the next thing and some nice paydays for a while. If you really want to work for ACLU or DOJ or whatever (though stop listing just the most prestigious stuff - it kind of makes you sound like an ass) go get yourself some litigation experience and do pro bono stuff along the lines of what you want to do later. I know a few people at my firm who wanted to become prosecutors, but the DA offices weren't hiring. So they joined up with the litigation section and did criminal-themed pro bono stuff. When opportunity knocked later, they left the firm and went and did that. Same with some legal aid folks. You're not trading your soul, OP.

[Anonymous Associate]

Law school blows. Being an actual lawyer is way, way better. I liked all the jobs / internships during school where I had to do real, actual legal work. And I like my real job quite a bit.

Real law is very different from law school.

This. Law school was boring and not practical at all.

And also, give big law a shot. I think it unfairly gets a bad rap. Some people actually really love it, and you don't work (let alone bill) 70-80 hours a work on average, at least at most firms. And most work isn't bullshit work (depending on how you define bullshit, but I sure don't think so). The work can be extremely dynamic, meaning varied and fast-paced. If you like researching and writing briefs, for example, you'll probably like doing big law litigation. And you make a lot of money for doing interesting things in a comfy office.

If you really don't like it, see if your firm will hire you during 3L (presuming you get an offer) to be a law clerk. I basically just did this 3L, made $$$, skipped class a lot, and learned more by working than I would have by sitting through class g-chatting and shoe-shopping.

[LSATNightmares]

Law school has many terrible things about it. But honestly, so do many grad programs. If you were in a PhD program, for example, you would be complaining how there are even fewer jobs. Unfortunately, life is rarely about meritocracy, so law school is just a reflection of the real world. So I'll just echo what others said regarding trying to find those aspects of the law that you love, or those people who don't get you down.

[PepperJack]

I don't understand why OP feels justified in analyzing the IQ and merits of his peers based on what are probably a few brief conversations.

[shepdawg]

Drop out. Your rich daddy will save you.

[daryldixon]

I just want to point out that it does not get better as a 3L. That is all. Carry on.

[FKASunny]

Law students are such drama queens.

Oh and lol @ 1/4 of people on your LR or any LR being anywhere close to geniuses.

lol seriously

[Void]

I just want to point out that it does not get better as a 3L. That is all. Carry on.

It did for me, once I decided to stop worrying so much about shit I can't control and just focus on learning stuff that I actually found interesting.

[hyakku]

You guys need to force yourselves to chill out. Some (many) law students suck, sure, but the solution to that is just avoid them. Develop a life outside of law school and don't let it consume you. Don't engage in the petty comparisons of what firms you're going to and what clerkships you're applying to. In law school as in life, living well is the best revenge.

If you're on law review and in the position to apply for clerkships, you've already won. Stop trying to convince yourself your life is bad.

Edited to add: stop expecting your job to validate and fulfill your every hope and dream. You're going to have an interesting job (compared to most) and you're going to make plenty of money doing it. You're going to have (potentially) exit options into govt that you can't foresee now and that are not going to require a SCOTUS clerkship. I'm usually pretty cynical about law school and legal jobs, but law review people with SAs are in a different situation.

This and

It completely astounds me that people make a 3 year, $200,000+ commitment without knowing what they're getting into. Yeah there's luck involved. Yeah journals suck. Yeah the employment prospects are grim. Any amount of research before applying to school would have told you all these things. You have good grades and are on Law Review, stop crying and find the job you want. You can still work for the state or a non-profit, there are loan repayment schemes that will help you if you enter those fields. It's not big law or bust.

Think about the kid who's bottom 1/3 of his class as a 3L at a TTT with $250k in debt and NO job prospects. THAT kids life sucks, your situation isn't bad at all.

This and

Law students are such drama queens.

Oh and lol @ 1/4 of people on your LR or any LR being anywhere close to geniuses

This. Seriously, I don't mean any offense, but how did you make it to 23 and not realize that making a $300,000 commitment with no inkling of what you wanted to do after spending that money was a choice that had a good chance of being unfulfilling?

Not only that, but your complaint is basically that you succeeded and don't feel like you deserve it all that much, but you deserve it more than some of those other "idiots" on your LR? You should probably stop focusing on other people and just worry about enjoying your own life. Most of the issues you listed are under your control.

Edit: Also, you have a job. What are you doing still putting in this much work?

[EtherOne]

All your issues with law school apply to life itself. Just focus on the positive, be grateful, and enjoy, man.

[nebula666]

boo hoo

drop out if it's so bad

[jarofsoup]

It just gets worse when you get to 3L. Get more bitter and more lazy.

[mephistopheles]

It just gets worse when you get to 3L. Get more bitter and more lazy.

can't get much more bitter or lazy than i am now

[Scotusnerd]

can't get much more bitter or lazy than i am now

What, you haven't seen the 3L looks of despair yet?

That shit's scary, man. I had a classmate talk to me about graduating a semester early, then noted that they were not sure they'd have a job and might need more loans. They got real quiet for a moment and then hugged themselves. Sad moment.

[Carlo Von Sexron]

Eh, nothing new there, OP.

Law school was all right. I honestly found a lot of it interesting, substantively, intellectually, I suppose. A ton of work, to be sure, most of it totally pointless busywork (journal, anyone?).

I get that it's all a game. I just wish the Showcase Showdown grand prize wasn't the opportunity to be biglaw Baby Boomer partners' bitch.

[anori]

I hate hate hate 2L. I hate Admin Law and the 1500-page casebook. I hate the jerks on the journal who keep nitpicking about my note/comment topic. "Well, I found two secondary sources that mention that decision...so you can't write about it!" I had to have surgery over the summer and nobody gives a flying fuck.
OK, rant over.

[kykiske]

To OP:

Hey, it could be worse.

You could be juggling all of those things without an offer, which is the reality for a lot of 2Ls.

[spleenworship]

Law school blows. Being an actual lawyer is way, way better. I liked all the jobs / internships during school where I had to do real, actual legal work. And I like my real job quite a bit.

Real law is very different from law school.

[Tiago Splitter]

A few voices of reason ITT but I really wonder if most people here are actually in law school. In the really rough weeks I'm putting in like 25 hours. Nothing could be better. The part that sucks is that eventually we have to graduate and get real jobs.

[brotherdarkness]

.

[Nova]

A few voices of reason ITT but I really wonder if most people here are actually in law school. In the really rough weeks I'm putting in like 25 hours. Nothing could be better. The part that sucks is that eventually we have to graduate and get real jobs.

Exactly

School work is cake. Prospects blow