Will you have much weekly free time in law schol or big law? Forum

[scifiguy]

How much free time did you guys have in law school or working as a lawyer (esp. in biglaw)?

Can you still enjoy like weekly hangouts with friends or play intramural sports?

Oh and how much sleep do you average per night/week in law school? Possible to get the 8-9 hours recommended or do you find yourself doing a lot of all nighters?

Appreciate the insights everyone. Thanks very much!

[Lacepiece23]

How much free time did you guys have in law school or working as a lawyer (esp. in biglaw)?

Can you still enjoy like weekly hangouts with friends or play intramural sports?

Oh and how much sleep do you average per night/week in law school? Possible to get the 8-9 hours recommended or do you find yourself doing a lot of all nighters?

Appreciate the insights everyone. Thanks very much!

Everyone's different I'm a 1L at a T14. I sleep 8 hours almost every single night. During the week I don't have very much free time because I personally like working harder during the week, and taking a more relaxed approach to the weekend. I would say that I put in anywhere from 50-70 hours a week so far including class. I like to go out so I drink both nights on the weekend and workout four days a week. TV had to go from my daily schedule.

[JamMasterJ]

I have 2-3 hours off per night, though I also have a 30 min + commute. I don't do anything on Friday afternoon or most of Saturday, though that will be changing by the beginning of November at the latest.

[Tiago Splitter]

I don't know that I've put in a 50 hour week yet. I certainly haven't come close to 70.

Regardless of the exact number you'll have tons of free time during most of the semester.

[EvilClinton]

I spend about 30 hours a week till finals month when I spend 60-65 hours per week.

[Heat]

I spend about 15 hours a week in class. I spend about an hour for each hour of class, reading (so figure around 10-15 hours a week). I usually outline at the end of each week - another 2 hours or so if done every week but that's done in front of the TV. I sleep 6-8 hours a night but that is by choice. I only do work Mon - Thurs afternoon unless I'm outlining in front of the TV.

So I have all day off Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. On Thursday I am done by 5 so I have the entire afternoon off. So I have plenty of free time.

Also, using this schedule... I work the same amount all year until finals. At which point I work less because I don't have reading or classes (I've never used supplements for more then one class in a semester and even reading a supplement cover to cover will take far less than the 25-30 hours I spend working each week).

I go to UVa.

[005618502]

I guess its all about how "smart" you work. I feel that I use my time very inefficiently, I also get distracted often by Facebook, fantasy football and television lol. So even though I put in a ton of hours, I am not really ahead. I do make sure to go to the gym 5 days a week, and I sleep about 6 hours a night (I could sleep more, but that is just what I am used to from being overworked at my job last year). Also at a T14

[dingbat]

my study/school day is typically 9-5 monday to thursday, with an early finish on Friday (usually around 3) and no work on the weekends. However, there are plenty of days (maybe twice a week on average) that I end up staying much later, but I've also taken a long lunch break here and there. I suspect around exam time my schedule will be far worse.
On the other hand, I have a friend who's already slept in the library.

So it varies. How much free time you have is mostly up to you, how fast you read, how well you take things in, how much time you spend on notes/synthesis/outlining, and how driven/psychotic you are.
Just figure however much work you did in a semester of undergrad is probably equivalent to the amount of work you will need to do per subject in law school, then increase this by a healthy dose, to figure out what life will be like as a student.

Can't tell you about working in biglaw, but when I was the client, I expected the attorney to be available whenever I needed him/her. Around closing time, that often meant being glued to their phone/computer until I said it was ok to go home (and I can honestly say I once worked 100+ hours between christmas and new year)

[dukeblue]

I was a TERRIBLE student as a 1L, because I hate (and always have hated) school. During the weeks in which I did all of the reading for all of my classes and attended all of my classes (perhaps, 15% of the time), I probably put in right around 40 hours a week. Most of the time (65%), I attended maybe 60% of my classes and did about the half of the readings. The rest of the time (i.e. reading week and finals), I put in about 45 hours a week studying. I would've put in MUCH less time during finals if I had actually done the reading at the assigned times.

(Except during finals, I never did work on Thursday or Friday unless I had a LW memo due the day after.)

I didn't land a 1L SA (I didn't really do that part of the process correctly); I ended up about median at a MVP with multiple market-paying offers from OCI.

No regrets.

ETA: Oh, and I got 8+ hours of sleep every night, mostly because I was skipping my "early" classes.

[005618502]

I was a TERRIBLE student as a 1L, because I hate (and always have hated) school. During the weeks in which I did all of the reading for all of my classes and attended all of my classes (perhaps, 15% of the time), I probably put in right around 40 hours a week. Most of the time (65%), I attended maybe 60% of my classes and did about the half of the readings. The rest of the time (i.e. reading week and finals), I put in about 45 hours a week studying. I would've put in MUCH less time during finals if I had actually done the reading at the assigned times.

(Except during finals, I never did work on Thursday or Friday unless I had a LW memo due the day after.)

I didn't land a 1L SA (I didn't really do that part of the process correctly); I ended up about median at a MVP with multiple market-paying offers from OCI.

No regrets.

ETA: Oh, and I got 8+ hours of sleep every night, mostly because I was skipping my "early" classes.

lol, good for you.
(seriously)

[Lacepiece23]

I was a TERRIBLE student as a 1L, because I hate (and always have hated) school. During the weeks in which I did all of the reading for all of my classes and attended all of my classes (perhaps, 15% of the time), I probably put in right around 40 hours a week. Most of the time (65%), I attended maybe 60% of my classes and did about the half of the readings. The rest of the time (i.e. reading week and finals), I put in about 45 hours a week studying. I would've put in MUCH less time during finals if I had actually done the reading at the assigned times.

(Except during finals, I never did work on Thursday or Friday unless I had a LW memo due the day after.)

I didn't land a 1L SA (I didn't really do that part of the process correctly); I ended up about median at a MVP with multiple market-paying offers from OCI.

No regrets.

ETA: Oh, and I got 8+ hours of sleep every night, mostly because I was skipping my "early" classes.

lol, good for you.
(seriously)

agreed thats winning law school right there to be honest...

[bk1]

Law school - lots of free time.
Big law - not so much.