Top Law Schools

If you went to Law School or are in Law School please share what a typical week looks like for you.

How busy are you? Do you have much free time on the weekends?

Depends on the year/week/person

1L is like a part time job (so maybe like 20-25 hours of work) punctuated by busy weeks (like when you have a legal writing assignment due). The last month or so of the semester it's closer to a full time job (so maybe like 30-40 hours a week). You'll have plenty of free time.

2L and 3L is generally a lot less work because people tend to be more efficient and/or they care a lot less. For some people 2L/3L can actually be a lot busier than 1L if you take on a bunch of extra obligations like student groups, law journal, etc.

BigZuck wrote:Depends on the year/week/person

Agreed. Although I thought second semester of 1L was insane. First semester of 1L the way school is structured is to let you just focus on classes. Second semester of 1L, you might get used to what's expected of you from professors, but you feel the pressure to enter into moot/mock competitions, sometimes they add another class onto your load, networking with firms that can suck up a lot of time, applying/interviewing for summer internships, write-on... etc. So you will have a lot less time and a lot more pressure in those 4-5 months.

2L... really depends. Do you have a summer position lined up? If not, then you need to beef up your resume which means you can't slack. Even if you do have something lined up, all those obligations (esp. journal) that you entered into your 1L b/c you felt like you need to will catch up and eat up a lot of your time. But you are more used to the course work, which means you won't do readings until probably two weeks before exams. If you take on a lot of commitments, you won't have time to do those readings until then anyways. Some people also do externships, law clerking, judicial interns, clinics, so you get the idea... there's just so much that you can do and are tempted to do that will leave you with no time...

3L... not there yet, but I'm planning for it right now to be the best 3LOLing ever. I think by the time 3L hits, everyone should be at the "i don't give a sh*t" anymore. I'm already there.

Oh yeah, time flies by really fast, except for when you're in class. That's the only time when there seems to be too much time.

Londonbear wrote:

BigZuck wrote:Depends on the year/week/person

Agreed. Although I thought second semester of 1L was insane. First semester of 1L the way school is structured is to let you just focus on classes. Second semester of 1L, you might get used to what's expected of you from professors, but you feel the pressure to enter into moot/mock competitions, sometimes they add another class onto your load, networking with firms that can suck up a lot of time, applying/interviewing for summer internships, write-on... etc. So you will have a lot less time and a lot more pressure in those 4-5 months.

2L... really depends. Do you have a summer position lined up? If not, then you need to beef up your resume which means you can't slack. Even if you do have something lined up, all those obligations (esp. journal) that you entered into your 1L b/c you felt like you need to will catch up and eat up a lot of your time. But you are more used to the course work, which means you won't do readings until probably two weeks before exams. If you take on a lot of commitments, you won't have time to do those readings until then anyways. Some people also do externships, law clerking, judicial interns, clinics, so you get the idea... there's just so much that you can do and are tempted to do that will leave you with no time...

3L... not there yet, but I'm planning for it right now to be the best 3LOLing ever. I think by the time 3L hits, everyone should be at the "i don't give a sh*t" anymore. I'm already there.

Oh yeah, time flies by really fast, except for when you're in class. That's the only time when there seems to be too much time.

This is pretty spot on. I think the commitments also depend on the school. At my school - T1/T2 - most if not all student have part time jobs at local firms. Even those of us w/ big law gigs lined up tend to work part time to beef up our resumes. This can add an extra 15-30 hours per week in addition to school/journal/moot commitments. This also usually translate to night classes.

That being said, the time commitment is still very manageable...as part time jobs are typically very flexible and classes are much more readily skipped 2L/3L. 1L is a joke, except around exams.

So as others have mentioned 2L & 3L really depends -- you can half ass those years if you have a job.

1L -- depends on the person, but 9-5 during the week and one 4-hour block on the weekend is very doable/ideal if you are efficient: just hit the library between classes. If you find yourself working more than that (as I did), you may end up with counter-productive results due to burnout.

The last four weeks of the semester (two weeks before finals + finals weeks) will be hell, but you will do better if you've paced yourself throughout the semester (I overworked and was heavily burnt out by this point)

Overall, law school is really not that bad: it's harder than college (assuming you weren't a STEM) but way easier than a full-time job.

1L was interesting and intense at times, but manageable. 2L has been hell - currently working on 4 classes, an intensive clinic, 3 part-time jobs, editorial board of 2 journals (LR + secondary), board of 2 student organizations, and at least 7 other ongoing writing projects.

You will be tempted to add everything in sight to your schedule during 1L spring in an attempt to enhance your OCI competitiveness. Do not do that.

Vursz wrote:1L was interesting and intense at times, but manageable. 2L has been hell - currently working on 4 classes, an intensive clinic, 3 part-time jobs, editorial board of 2 journals (LR + secondary), board of 2 student organizations, and at least 7 other ongoing writing projects.

You will be tempted to add everything in sight to your schedule during 1L spring in an attempt to enhance your OCI competitiveness. Do not do that.

Yikes

OP- Your life can be this, or it can be a 3 year vacation. For most people it's somewhere in between, but closer to vacation than Hell on earth

Depends on whether you hav ea job going into 2L. Once you have a job most people jsut relax and the curve goes from enemy to friend. and you can ride the curve to a 3.5 at top schools with minimal work. but 1L is definitely a lot of work if you want to do well even if most of that work is just figuring out what style of studying works for you

BigZuck wrote:

Vursz wrote:1L was interesting and intense at times, but manageable. 2L has been hell - currently working on 4 classes, an intensive clinic, 3 part-time jobs, editorial board of 2 journals (LR + secondary), board of 2 student organizations, and at least 7 other ongoing writing projects.

You will be tempted to add everything in sight to your schedule during 1L spring in an attempt to enhance your OCI competitiveness. Do not do that.

Yikes

OP- Your life can be this, or it can be a 3 year vacation. For most people it's somewhere in between, but closer to vacation than Hell on earth

This is the first time I've heard anyone imply that 1L can be a vacation year. For the money you spend on law school, 1L should NOT be a vacation year. If it is, your time after law school will likely (except for the few who are law exam experts without breaking a sweat, and I do not know very many of them, they all work their butts off) be a very extended unpaid vacation as well.

I think the problem with 2L and part of the reason why it is so busy besides you taking on so many commitments in your 1L year is you still want to explore what law school has to offer. You are paying a ton for it, so there's the guilt of just doing nothing and taking it easy. Just be cautious about it. You don't want to burn out. But by the time you're a 3L, you're pretty worn out so you could careless about the guilt.

Londonbear wrote:

BigZuck wrote:

Vursz wrote:1L was interesting and intense at times, but manageable. 2L has been hell - currently working on 4 classes, an intensive clinic, 3 part-time jobs, editorial board of 2 journals (LR + secondary), board of 2 student organizations, and at least 7 other ongoing writing projects.

You will be tempted to add everything in sight to your schedule during 1L spring in an attempt to enhance your OCI competitiveness. Do not do that.

Yikes

OP- Your life can be this, or it can be a 3 year vacation. For most people it's somewhere in between, but closer to vacation than Hell on earth

This is the first time I've heard anyone imply that 1L can be a vacation year. For the money you spend on law school, 1L should NOT be a vacation year. If it is, your time after law school will likely (except for the few who are law exam experts without breaking a sweat, and I do not know very many of them, they all work their butts off) be a very extended unpaid vacation as well.

I think the problem with 2L and part of the reason why it is so busy besides you taking on so many commitments in your 1L year is you still want to explore what law school has to offer. You are paying a ton for it, so there's the guilt of just doing nothing and taking it easy. Just be cautious about it. You don't want to burn out. But by the time you're a 3L, you're pretty worn out so you could careless about the guilt.

Callout posts are not allowed on TLS and calling out a moderator is really not a good look

Tiago Splitter wrote:call out

I stand by my characterization of 1L year as a whole.

BigZuck wrote:1L is like a part time job (so maybe like 20-25 hours of work) punctuated by busy weeks (like when you have a legal writing assignment due). The last month or so of the semester it's closer to a full time job (so maybe like 30-40 hours a week). You'll have plenty of free time.

What is a good drinking/bar/going out strategy for 1L year?

What about 2L year?

3L year?

BigZuck wrote:

Londonbear wrote:

BigZuck wrote:

Vursz wrote:1L was interesting and intense at times, but manageable. 2L has been hell - currently working on 4 classes, an intensive clinic, 3 part-time jobs, editorial board of 2 journals (LR + secondary), board of 2 student organizations, and at least 7 other ongoing writing projects.

You will be tempted to add everything in sight to your schedule during 1L spring in an attempt to enhance your OCI competitiveness. Do not do that.

Yikes

OP- Your life can be this, or it can be a 3 year vacation. For most people it's somewhere in between, but closer to vacation than Hell on earth

This is the first time I've heard anyone imply that 1L can be a vacation year. For the money you spend on law school, 1L should NOT be a vacation year. If it is, your time after law school will likely (except for the few who are law exam experts without breaking a sweat, and I do not know very many of them, they all work their butts off) be a very extended unpaid vacation as well.

I think the problem with 2L and part of the reason why it is so busy besides you taking on so many commitments in your 1L year is you still want to explore what law school has to offer. You are paying a ton for it, so there's the guilt of just doing nothing and taking it easy. Just be cautious about it. You don't want to burn out. But by the time you're a 3L, you're pretty worn out so you could careless about the guilt.

Callout posts are not allowed on TLS and calling out a moderator is really not a good look

Tiago Splitter wrote:call out

I stand by my characterization of 1L year as a whole.

BigZuck wrote:1L is like a part time job (so maybe like 20-25 hours of work) punctuated by busy weeks (like when you have a legal writing assignment due). The last month or so of the semester it's closer to a full time job (so maybe like 30-40 hours a week). You'll have plenty of free time.

What exactly is a callout post? So it's a post that says hey, I don't necessarily agree with this in my experience, which is exactly what you are doing as well by standing by what you are saying. Oh by the way, I stand by what I said as well. 1L should NOT be vacation. And I don't know why you being a moderator should make a difference? I would say the same thing whether you were a moderator or not. I'm sorry you were sensitively insulted by that?

Londonbear wrote:What exactly is a callout post? So it's a post that says hey, I don't necessarily agree with this in my experience, which is exactly what you are doing as well by standing by what you are saying. Oh by the way, I stand by what I said as well. 1L should NOT be vacation. And I don't know why you being a moderator should make a difference? I would say the same thing whether you were a moderator or not. I'm sorry you were sensitively insulted by that?

I am not a moderator, nor was I sensitively insulted by anything. I was joking about you never having seen that sentiment before. Here is a VERY ESTEEMED purple poster expressing that sentiment in multiple posts

Tiago Splitter wrote:I actually chose this route precisely because I didn't want to compete for shit. Unfortunately no one else is gonna pay for the three year vacation I just took.

Tiago Splitter wrote:I've been telling people for years that I went to law school for a 3 year vacation because it's true. If you think law school is a really easy time where you rarely have to put in much effort, you're right. The real world, unfortunately, requires you to wake up in the morning.

Tiago Splitter wrote:the underrated secret of law school is that it's a three year vacation.

Tiago Splitter wrote:No joke I originally decided to apply to law school because I had run out of sick time for the year and it was only June.

Thank you for the call in Londonbear and BigZuck. I will say that it's probably not smart to go into law school expecting a vacation. If you go in expecting it to suck like Scott Turow's 1L year, you'll be pleasantly surprised. But if law school isn't a big upgrade from working life then you're probably doing it wrong. For many, it's the last stretch until retirement when they will routinely not have to wake up on weekdays.