Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions Forum

[Lovely Ludwig Van]

20 hours to decide, any opinions on Clark for Corporations vs. Cope for Analytical Methods for lawyers?

Haven't taken Clark, but Cope's class is the easiest H you can get at HLS and also will teach you a couple of practical and useful things about accounting and finance. I highly recommend it, especially if the rest of your schedule is hard (e.g. if it's your 1L elective; if you are also taking Fed Courts, Admin, 4th/5th/6th, Corporate Tax, Securities Reg, etc.)

That said, if you are a 3L, you should probably take Corporations before you graduate.

But don't those kinds of classes tend to attract gunners?

Thanks for the advice.

[ebeth]

20 hours to decide, any opinions on Clark for Corporations vs. Cope for Analytical Methods for lawyers?

Haven't taken Clark, but Cope's class is the easiest H you can get at HLS and also will teach you a couple of practical and useful things about accounting and finance. I highly recommend it, especially if the rest of your schedule is hard (e.g. if it's your 1L elective; if you are also taking Fed Courts, Admin, 4th/5th/6th, Corporate Tax, Securities Reg, etc.)

That said, if you are a 3L, you should probably take Corporations before you graduate.

But don't those kinds of classes tend to attract gunners?

Thanks for the advice.

Sometimes. But Cope's class does not tend to have many overt gunners.

[patogordo]

has anyone taken a class with Desan? vaguely intrigued by The Constitutional Law of Money

[Mr. Elshal]

has anyone taken a class with Desan? vaguely intrigued by The Constitutional Law of Money

I had her for Civ Pro. I didn't like Civ Pro as a subject but I liked her a lot. She's really nice and shows genuine interest in her students. She gave my class a talk about her money research and it sounded really interesting.

[patogordo]

has anyone taken a class with Desan? vaguely intrigued by The Constitutional Law of Money

I had her for Civ Pro. I didn't like Civ Pro as a subject but I liked her a lot. She's really nice and shows genuine interest in her students. She gave my class a talk about her money research and it sounded really interesting.

yea the course description sounds pretty cool, and i sort of want to take it and just gun every day with absurd sovereign citizen arguments about the unconstitutionality of the federal reserve. it's either that or Energy and Climate Law and Policy which sounds suspiciously like it might involve actual work.

[Mr. Elshal]

has anyone taken a class with Desan? vaguely intrigued by The Constitutional Law of Money

I had her for Civ Pro. I didn't like Civ Pro as a subject but I liked her a lot. She's really nice and shows genuine interest in her students. She gave my class a talk about her money research and it sounded really interesting.

yea the course description sounds pretty cool, and i sort of want to take it and just gun every day with absurd sovereign citizen arguments about the unconstitutionality of the federal reserve. it's either that or Energy and Climate Law and Policy which sounds suspiciously like it might involve actual work.

You could check out this article she wrote to get an idea of her focus:
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm? ... id=2321313

[094320]

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[094320]

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[gb47]

I am likely attending next fall, and I have a couple of questions.

1. One of my good friends currently works in Boston, and asked if I wanted to live together in Cambridge with him. Would it be a bad idea to live with someone who doesn't go to HLS?

2. I don't have any ties to the Boston area, but I am interested in potentially working there after law school. What type of grades are needed to bid Boston firms? Is my lack of any strong ties problematic?

Thanks!

[owlofminerva]

I am likely attending next fall, and I have a couple of questions.

1. One of my good friends currently works in Boston, and asked if I wanted to live together in Cambridge with him. Would it be a bad idea to live with someone who doesn't go to HLS?

2. I don't have any ties to the Boston area, but I am interested in potentially working there after law school. What type of grades are needed to bid Boston firms? Is my lack of any strong ties problematic?

Thanks!

1. I lived with a non-law person while at HLS and found it pretty nice to have somebody that wasn't going to also be talking about law school all the time. To be honest, though, it really shouldn't be about whether they are a law-school person or not. You can find great friends/roommates at the school and others who aren't there. It is really about a personality fit just like any other roommate situation. Attached to that, though, are considerations such as 1) if you envision yourself being somebody who wants to study all the time, is he going to be trying to pull you out all the time to go party it up on the weekend? (to some degree, that can be healthy of course); 2) Do you have similar thoughts on cleanliness and guests? etc.

2. From my experience, Boston firms tend not to care much about ties. That said, it is common to encounter the "Why Boston?" question in interviews. I feel that my answer pointing to enjoying the local area during my time at HLS was a sufficient answer; at least for the bigger firms like Ropes and Bingham.

[KaNa1986]

I am likely attending next fall, and I have a couple of questions.

1. One of my good friends currently works in Boston, and asked if I wanted to live together in Cambridge with him. Would it be a bad idea to live with someone who doesn't go to HLS?

2. I don't have any ties to the Boston area, but I am interested in potentially working there after law school. What type of grades are needed to bid Boston firms? Is my lack of any strong ties problematic?

Thanks!

2. For selective secondary markets (i.e., Boston, SV, Chicago, LA), high selectivity comes not from high grade requirement but from fit. There are essentially two ways to attend a SA at a top firm in Boston (or SV, LA). First, you have good enough grades (i.e., 2-4 H's should qualify you for the top 3 firms) and either have strong ties or can articulate persuasively why you want to work in the market (e.g., EE UG major wanting to do patent prosecution in SV, strong reason for preferring the New England lifestyle). Second, you have a lot of H's (top quarter of your class) and are applying exclusively to Boston, SV, or LA (so no applying to Cravath, Sullivan, or Wachtell in NYC or Williams & Connolly or WilmerHale in DC at the same time).

[094320]

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[wert3813]

I am likely attending next fall, and I have a couple of questions.

1. One of my good friends currently works in Boston, and asked if I wanted to live together in Cambridge with him. Would it be a bad idea to live with someone who doesn't go to HLS?

2. I don't have any ties to the Boston area, but I am interested in potentially working there after law school. What type of grades are needed to bid Boston firms? Is my lack of any strong ties problematic?

Thanks!

In general I would live with a non LS person over an LS person. But as said above just live with a person you are compatible with above all. Know that you will likely study much more than you ever have so just factor that into compatibility.

Older students can jump in RE grades Boston but my basic understanding is if you have average grades, bid exclusively Boston, and completely strike out, then the grades probably weren't the reason why.

Edit Scooped.

[AllTheLawz]

The top Boston firms are filled with HLS grads with no ties to Boston other than going to HLS.

Lower-ranked Boston firms will be more skeptical. They tend to pick up 0-1 HLS grads a year.

This. Ties don't matter as much for Ropes/Wilmer/Bingham/Goodwin but outside of those they can be huge. A ton of people pull offers from multiple of those four and then completely strike out at the smaller firms.

Also, contrary to what you might hear on the ground, don't be fooled by the high number of HLS people at Ropes/Wilmer. Those two firms are still fairly selective and I know quite a few people who thought they were going to get an offer easy that didn't even get callbacks.

[gb47]

Thanks, everyone, for the helpful feedback.

[starbrite23]

Also considering attending next year - what's the gay/lesbian (mostly invested in the latter) scene at HLS? I'm assuming that because it's Cambridge people are pretty accepting, but is there actually a community?

[GertrudeR]

I'm currently number 1 on the waitlist for a seminar course for the spring but the limit is 6....is there any use in trying to email the professor to possibly get into the class?

[nothingtosee]

Haven't been accepted, but talked about clinics in my interview. She mentioned that they have varying levels of competitiveness. How many would y'all say are competitive vs. "anybody can sign up," what types tend to be more competitive, and how selective are we talking?

[Mr. Elshal]

Do grades come out before SIP interviews start? If I were lucky enough to get an interview but the firm specifies that I should bring my transcript to the interview, could that cause an issue? Interviews start on January 27 this year.

Grades typically come out within first 3 days of Spring Semester. If your interviewers care, you can send it to them later. My 1L summer employer never asked for and never saw my grades. Employers, especially ones that pay to to SIP, are not dumb enough to penalize you for not having something you could not possibly have.

Thanks. I just got an email saying that grades will be out on or before 1/28, which is the second day of interviews, so it shouldn't be an issue.

Another question regarding SIP: If a firm has multiple slots still available but they all conflict with my classes, is there any way to switch spots with someone, or have the interview schedules moved around a little so that I could take a slot that does not conflict? Thank you!

[Eichörnchen]

Also considering attending next year - what's the gay/lesbian (mostly invested in the latter) scene at HLS? I'm assuming that because it's Cambridge people are pretty accepting, but is there actually a community?

It seems very accepting to me. I know that at least in my section we have people from all over the spectrum and nobody seems to be at all judgmental. As for the community aspect, I can't say for certain, but feel free to PM me for more info overall if you want.

[wert3813]

Haven't been accepted, but talked about clinics in my interview. She mentioned that they have varying levels of competitiveness. How many would y'all say are competitive vs. "anybody can sign up," what types tend to be more competitive, and how selective are we talking?

I think competitive is sorta the wrong way to thing about it. I don't that there are many you have to "gun" for (Prosecution? SC clinic?). Often times there are more people than spots, but this is sorta the way you want it. Lots of empty clinical spaces is pretty inefficient. I've been told, and it seems to be true that if you are dead set on a clinical and pref it first sooner or later you will get it. Just my two cents.

Also this happens everywhere (ie ATL had an article on Yale yesterday about this).

[Lovely Ludwig Van]

Has anyone done the Summer Academic Fellowship before?

http://www.law.harvard.edu/academics/fe ... ogram.html

Specifically, is it common for 1Ls to do this over their summer? How much work and how many pages usually go into these papers? Where do these papers usually get published? Do firms frown upon this as showing a lack of commitment to private practice?

TYIA!

[Doorkeeper]

Has anyone done the Summer Academic Fellowship before?

http://www.law.harvard.edu/academics/fe ... ogram.html

Specifically, is it common for 1Ls to do this over their summer? How much work and how many pages usually go into these papers? Where do these papers usually get published? Do firms frown upon this as showing a lack of commitment to private practice?

TYIA!

1. Yes, 1Ls can do it.
2. The goal of the fellowship is to begin to create something publishable - so 30-50 pages for an essay, 50-80 for an article. I don't think you have to finish before the end of the summer, but you get $1,000 more if you do.
3. Where it gets published depends on how it does when you submit the article for publication...we're not talking student notes here.
4. People that I know with academic publications on their record seemed to do just fine at EIP.

[tomwatts]

Haven't been accepted, but talked about clinics in my interview. She mentioned that they have varying levels of competitiveness. How many would y'all say are competitive vs. "anybody can sign up," what types tend to be more competitive, and how selective are we talking?

I think competitive is sorta the wrong way to thing about it. I don't that there are many you have to "gun" for (Prosecution? SC clinic?). Often times there are more people than spots, but this is sorta the way you want it. Lots of empty clinical spaces is pretty inefficient. I've been told, and it seems to be true that if you are dead set on a clinical and pref it first sooner or later you will get it.

There are some clinics that you just need to preference #1 (e.g., US Attorney Clinic). But there are a few clinics (and a few classes) that you apply to (e.g., Supreme Court Clinic, Kagan's class on the previous Supreme Court term).

I don't know very well how hard it is to get into the classes you apply into. I've heard that the Semester in Washington clinic basically takes everyone who has a coherent reason to want to go. Other clinics and classes are much, much more selective. So it varies a lot. But it's not hard to predict which ones are hard to get into — if it has "Supreme Court" in the title, a lot of people want to do it.

I've heard that it's a bad idea to do the Summer Academic Fellowship as the only thing you do during the summer. Have some other law-related job, too, even if it's just 6 weeks or whatever.

[wert3813]

Haven't been accepted, but talked about clinics in my interview. She mentioned that they have varying levels of competitiveness. How many would y'all say are competitive vs. "anybody can sign up," what types tend to be more competitive, and how selective are we talking?

I think competitive is sorta the wrong way to thing about it. I don't that there are many you have to "gun" for (Prosecution? SC clinic?). Often times there are more people than spots, but this is sorta the way you want it. Lots of empty clinical spaces is pretty inefficient. I've been told, and it seems to be true that if you are dead set on a clinical and pref it first sooner or later you will get it.

There are some clinics that you just need to preference #1 (e.g., US Attorney Clinic). But there are a few clinics (and a few classes) that you apply to (e.g., Supreme Court Clinic, Kagan's class on the previous Supreme Court term).

I don't know very well how hard it is to get into the classes you apply into. I've heard that the Semester in Washington clinic basically takes everyone who has a coherent reason to want to go. Other clinics and classes are much, much more selective. So it varies a lot. But it's not hard to predict which ones are hard to get into — if it has "Supreme Court" in the title, a lot of people want to do it.

I've heard that it's a bad idea to do the Summer Academic Fellowship as the only thing you do during the summer. Have some other law-related job, too, even if it's just 6 weeks or whatever.

I have had multiple people including the director tell me the bolded. Anyone know how hard the prosecution one is? And is it just preference or do you have to tryout/write on? You can only take it 3L fall and there are 16 spots for 560 or so.