Law school time commitment vs. Full time work commitment Forum

[pej9247]

I'm currently in the application process for law school and am seeking information on the 'typical' time commitment most students devote to class and studying. The recurring theme I hear is that law school "will consume your life". What does that mean exactly? Clearly, if one literally spent every waking moment in class or studying, things like externships, law review, moot court, etc. couldn't exist. So is this 'consumption of life' more a comparison of undergrad to law school? Is the law school time commitment similar to the way a full time job consumes life? For instance, I currently work 40-50+ hours a week. I still have time to spend with my wife and pursue hobbies. I hear a lot of talk that you won't see your significant other or have hobbies in law school. In order for my job to consume my life, I would expect to spend somewhere around 70 hours a week at work. Can I expect to spend 70 hours a week in class and studying?

[Tiago Splitter]

For most of the semester it's less work than a full time job. Towards the end it might be a little more. It's also better than a full time job because outside of 10-15 hours of class time you choose when to put in your work.

[A. Nony Mouse]

A lot of people highly overestimate the amount of time needed. I'm sure some spend 70 hrs a week, but it's absolutely unnecessary. I had plenty of time to see my spouse, and some time for hobbies; 1L I treated it like a 9-5 job, with some studying on Sundays. (Exam period exempted, because that can get kind of crazy, but it doesn't last that long.)

I spent more time 2L and 3L, but that was a personal choice to take on a shitload of extracurriculars/internships/credits.

[bowser]

For 1L I think it's basically a full time job 2 months of the semester, and significantly more during the month before finals. That's assuming all you do is read and show up to class before that last month. For me it was like 40 hrs a week, then like 70 hrs a week the month before finals.

2L was a nightmare for me, mostly because of journal. 60 hrs a week throughout the school year (it honestly would have been 70+ if I kept up with reading the way I did 1L; I found that impossible), 70 hrs the month before finals. I was on law review so it was worse, but a combination of journal + other extracurriculars ended up consuming life for a majority of my class.

3L I cruised. 30 hrs/week cuz I skipped reading when I wasn't on call (still went to class, though).

[BigZuck]

For 1L it's probably about 20-25 hours until the last 3 weeks or so, then it kicks up to about 35 hours a week. Some weeks are busier than other, like if an LRW assignment is due. For 2L and 3L you'll probably work significantly less than that. You can put in more work if you want (whether that means spending more time on Facebook in the library or doing extracurriculars) but that's totally up to you.

It's way, way, way less work than a full time job.

[whats an updog]

As the last two posts suggest, it will probably depend on the type of person you are and how you feel about the material, but will be mostly on par with a full time job imo.

[BigZuck]

As the last two posts suggest, it will probably depend on the type of person you are and how you feel about the material, but will be mostly on par with a full time job imo.

Nah

When people say they work 40 hours a week (let alone 70 hours-lulz) they are way, way, way overestimating the time they are working. Or, like I said, "work" consists of 5 hours a day of Facebooking and "studying" with their "study group."

If you're actually sitting there and working 40 hours a week that means you're going to class for like 12 hours or thereabouts and then for about 25 hours a week you're reading...and...outlining? Reading the stuff multiple times? Briefing? I dunno, but people don't actually do that week in and week out.

Law students are just masochists and like to complain and stress out about stuff so they say they work a billion hours a week but that's almost never actually true.

[pej9247]

Thanks for the information. Even though I was prepared to work incessantly, I'm pleased that that doesn't seem as though it'll be necessary. I'm sure my wife will also be pleased to hear that we'll be able to see each other.

[zot1]

I disagree that it's less time than a full-time job... definitely think it could be less, similar or more depending on your individual story.

I had classes Monday-Friday consistently between 8 and 4 with some breaks in between. The breaks were usually short, so I used them to down more coffee or eat. Nights and weekends were spent on a ridiculous amount of homework. I also did extracurriculars and pro bono as a 1L. So it pretty much felt like most of my time was all about law school.

If I had been more efficient with homework (I did get better eventually) and hadn't done any extras as a 1L, I probably would have had more free time. But it still would have been a bit over 40 hours just in classes and homework.

This of course depends on your school. If you have less classes, then you have more free time and less homework to do.

So these are all factors to keep in mind.

[Tiago Splitter]

I never had a Friday class in three years of law school. So yeah it varies but an hour outside of class (EDIT: for each hour in class) is a good rule of thumb for 1l and you typically only have 12-15 hours in class. Doing non school stuff will of course add more time but that shouldn't be required 1l

[totesTheGoat]

Can I expect to spend 70 hours a week in class and studying?

I would die! I maybe spent 30 hours/week total on 17 credit hours, all while working at a day job 35 hours/week. While 65 hours of work and school is harder than 65 hours of work alone, I can tell you with confidence that you're never going to need to spend 70 hours a week on class and studying, even during finals.

I think that the 1:1 ratio is a good one. However, it implies that you're efficient at your studying. I can definitely see people spending 3 hours "studying" for an hour of class and having nothing to show for it.

[RaceJudicata]

I disagree that it's less time than a full-time job... definitely think it could be less, similar or more depending on your individual story.

I had classes Monday-Friday consistently between 8 and 4 with some breaks in between. The breaks were usually short, so I used them to down more coffee or eat. Nights and weekends were spent on a ridiculous amount of homework. I also did extracurriculars and pro bono as a 1L. So it pretty much felt like most of my time was all about law school.

If I had been more efficient with homework (I did get better eventually) and hadn't done any extras as a 1L, I probably would have had more free time. But it still would have been a bit over 40 hours just in classes and homework.

This of course depends on your school. If you have less classes, then you have more free time and less homework to do.

So these are all factors to keep in mind.

Friday classes? That blows. Also, who gets homework in law school? Or by homework do you mean readings?

[Big Red]

I would add that it also depends on how much reading your particular profs give. I would bet you can get a 5 hour swing either way depending on how much you're responsible for

[zot1]

I disagree that it's less time than a full-time job... definitely think it could be less, similar or more depending on your individual story.

I had classes Monday-Friday consistently between 8 and 4 with some breaks in between. The breaks were usually short, so I used them to down more coffee or eat. Nights and weekends were spent on a ridiculous amount of homework. I also did extracurriculars and pro bono as a 1L. So it pretty much felt like most of my time was all about law school.

If I had been more efficient with homework (I did get better eventually) and hadn't done any extras as a 1L, I probably would have had more free time. But it still would have been a bit over 40 hours just in classes and homework.

This of course depends on your school. If you have less classes, then you have more free time and less homework to do.

So these are all factors to keep in mind.

Friday classes? That blows. Also, who gets homework in law school? Or by homework do you mean readings?

FWIW I believe subsequent classes did not have Friday classes.

Yeah, readings or lawyering skills assignments.

[lawhopeful10]

1L I worked pretty hard but still probably less than most attorneys work. 2L and 3L i stopped doing readings and rarely went to class so it's basically been like a vacation. I'm still in the top 10% of the class going into my last semester for what it's worth. For the most part people work too hard / inefficiently but it takes awhile for most to realize this and 1L you want to err on the side of working too hard.

[zot1]

1L I worked pretty hard but still probably less than most attorneys work. 2L and 3L i stopped doing readings and rarely went to class so it's basically been like a vacation. I'm still in the top 10% of the class going into my last semester for what it's worth. For the most part people work too hard / inefficiently but it takes awhile for most to realize this and 1L you want to err on the side of working too hard.

This is such a good point! I work in government now so 1L seemed like a lot more work than what I do now.

[thetravelinglawyer]

Thanks for posting this, I have been wondering the exact same thing. These answers are super helpful. "Working all the time" can mean a lot of different things to different people, so seeing the hour breakdowns makes it a lot easier to judge how much time I should expect to spend depending on how efficiently I study.

[Auxilio]

I only have one semester of experience but I only spent about 15-20 hours most weeks (not including a couple weekends where I would have to do LRW papers, but they were not too bad). For what it is worth I think I am near the top of my class (after only one semester, does not mean much). The big thing that is important I think is to work efficiently--don't read the book extensively (let alone reread like some do), mostly I would skim or just read a detailed outline (I didn't, but case briefs would work too I am sure) and then (this is important) spent a chunk of time re-absorbing what happened in class, thinking about how it related to the reading if possible, and updating my notes. This only took about 10 minutes a class, but I think it makes a big difference.

[BigZuck]

One thing to keep in mind is that some people are magically just good at law school. They lucked out in that regard so yeah, duh, of course they do hardly nothing and still finish at the top of the class.

For some people I think it's mostly just their skill on law school exams than their efficient study habits or whatever. Most mere mortals probably will have to put in some work. Just not as much as most of the law school complainy braggarts who claim that they TOTES WORK ALL OF THE TIME.

[Auxilio]

One thing to keep in mind is that some people are magically just good at law school. They lucked out in that regard so yeah, duh, of course they do hardly nothing and still finish at the top of the class.

For some people I think it's mostly just their skill on law school exams than their efficient study habits or whatever. Most mere mortals probably will have to put in some work. Just not as much as most of the law school complainy braggarts who claim that they TOTES WORK ALL OF THE TIME.

Yeah I don't want to imply that necessarily will work for all people, just wanted to give another data point. Another important thing that I did not say was I almost never got distracted from work while I was doing it (and part of that probably comes from the method of reading--it is easier to stay really focused when reading a 2 page outline than a 30 page chapter). As has been mentioned in this thread the people spending more than 40 hours are likely on facebook/reddit/staring at the sky within that time allotment. If you can get your mind firmly around the idea that you are sitting there until X is done it is better to do X continuously than do what you want without guilt/distraction/etc.

[Poldy]

1L year is significantly less of a time commitment than a full time job. Anyone who says otherwise is either doing LS wrong or hasn't had a full time job.

[pej9247]

Thanks again for the additional responses. I'm definitely feeling more comfortable about school.