Part Time 1L, Full Time for 2&3L Forum

[0Ale]

Has anyone worked full time and taken two years to complete their 1L year before switching over to full time school for 2L and 3L? It seems like this could work out very well in terms of maintaining an income during the first year and continuing to gain some WE (I work in a pseudo-legal position right now) while having time for internships, SA's, etc. during the last two years to gain some direct legal experience that could also lead into a full time job upon graduation.

The other benefit is that my current employer would be supportive of me coming back after graduating with a step up in pay and such. Given that I enjoy what I do, who I work with, etc. and am compensated well considering my age and background, continuing on for an additional year or two could lead to some long-term incentives as well.

If anyone has done this, I'd appreciate your insight. If you have general advice or thoughts on the idea, I'd be thankful for that as well!

[zot1]

Has anyone worked full time and taken two years to complete their 1L year before switching over to full time school for 2L and 3L? It seems like this could work out very well in terms of maintaining an income during the first year and continuing to gain some WE (I work in a pseudo-legal position right now) while having time for internships, SA's, etc. during the last two years to gain some direct legal experience that could also lead into a full time job upon graduation.

The other benefit is that my current employer would be supportive of me coming back after graduating with a step up in pay and such. Given that I enjoy what I do, who I work with, etc. and am compensated well considering my age and background, continuing on for an additional year or two could lead to some long-term incentives as well.

If anyone has done this, I'd appreciate your insight. If you have general advice or thoughts on the idea, I'd be thankful for that as well!

You mean in a full-time program? I don't think the school would allow you to do that.

[0Ale]

Has anyone worked full time and taken two years to complete their 1L year before switching over to full time school for 2L and 3L? It seems like this could work out very well in terms of maintaining an income during the first year and continuing to gain some WE (I work in a pseudo-legal position right now) while having time for internships, SA's, etc. during the last two years to gain some direct legal experience that could also lead into a full time job upon graduation.

The other benefit is that my current employer would be supportive of me coming back after graduating with a step up in pay and such. Given that I enjoy what I do, who I work with, etc. and am compensated well considering my age and background, continuing on for an additional year or two could lead to some long-term incentives as well.

If anyone has done this, I'd appreciate your insight. If you have general advice or thoughts on the idea, I'd be thankful for that as well!

You mean in a full-time program? I don't think the school would allow you to do that.

I would be attending law school part time during the first two school years (2016-2017 and 2017-2018) while working full time. After having completed my 1L courses, I would stop working full time and attend law school full time for my 2L and 3L years while clerking, completing internships, etc. to gain legal experience prior to graduation.

[Freebot]

Part-time programs take 4 years to complete. If you did part-time for 2 years, you'd have around 50% of your degree done and, therefore, not have enough coursework left to fill full-time 3rd and 4th years. In practice, what you seem to be planning is do paid work for 2 years and unpaid internships, etc. for the last 2 years.

You may want to consider keeping your paid job until your 3rd summer. I.e. do OCI right before your third year and then quit your paid job just before your SA starts at the end of your third year. You can then do these unpaid internships during your fourth year if you like or, even better, do them during your first and second summers so they can help a bit with OCI. If you have the time to stack law school on work, you have the time to stack an unpaid summer internship on work provided either the job or the internship has flexibility in scheduling.

[Hinshelwood]

Has anyone worked full time and taken two years to complete their 1L year before switching over to full time school for 2L and 3L? It seems like this could work out very well in terms of maintaining an income during the first year and continuing to gain some WE (I work in a pseudo-legal position right now) while having time for internships, SA's, etc. during the last two years to gain some direct legal experience that could also lead into a full time job upon graduation.

The other benefit is that my current employer would be supportive of me coming back after graduating with a step up in pay and such. Given that I enjoy what I do, who I work with, etc. and am compensated well considering my age and background, continuing on for an additional year or two could lead to some long-term incentives as well.

If anyone has done this, I'd appreciate your insight. If you have general advice or thoughts on the idea, I'd be thankful for that as well!

I'm just starting my second year of P/T. I'm going P/T all the way, but there are plenty at my school that have done / are doing exactly what you're asking about. P/T the first two years (which covers the entire 1L curriculum) and then switching to F/T for the next two years. Squeeze in a class each summer and you can probably knock a semester off of the total time.

[xeoh85]

You have this backwards. Do 1L full time, then do 2L and/or 3L part time if you need to.