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[FromMars]

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[Rowinguy2009]

I may not be the exact type of responder that you're looking for, but I had a pretty serious job throughout all of undergrad (probably averaged around 20 hours a week - sometimes more sometimes less, mostly on evenings and weekends, was responsible for supervising some people and doing like tasks) so I'll throw in my $0.02.

Of course having this experience, and thus having a good work ethic, is a good thing. At least some law students are still in the undergrad mindset where they do little more than go to class (and even in class all they do is mess around online). You should almost definitely have an advantage on those people.

That being said, I knew at least a couple people in law school who had some good work experience, and those people often planned to treat law school like a "job" in that they planned to be at school for roughly 40 hours a week or more for the entire semester. Maybe this worked for them (different strokes for different folks and all that) but I personally think this plan is somewhat misguided. The first half or more of each law school semester is really pretty easy. Go to class, do the reading, take notes, maybe spend a small amount of time playing around with your notes and course materials to get an idea of how you will later organize your outlines. In any event, this all takes way less than 40 hours a week. Personally, I don't think that filling your time with extra tasks during the front half of the semester, just because you have a good work ethic and are willing to complete those tasks, yields a substantially better outcome.

Then, toward the later portion of the semester, there comes a time when you need to spend substantially more time outlining/reading supplements/taking practice tests/whatever. It always seemed to me that those who put in a lot of work at the beginning perhaps thought that their work on the front-end prepared them enough that they didn't need to substantially modify their schedule toward the end. Others who put in a lot of work at the beginning were somewhat burnt out at the end.

The end of the semester is by far the most valuable time when it comes to preparing for finals because you are playing with a full deck so to speak.

This whole post may have gone way beyond what you are looking for, but I guess my point is this ---- having a good work ethic is fantastic (and almost definitely an advantage), but you should also work smarter and not just harder.

[Londonbear]

Unless you're one of those who needs a lot on their plate to keep organized and motivated, I would just not work during 1L. It goes by really fast, there's more than enough things for you to be stressed over, worried about (ie. grades, securing an internship, and making sure you get a job after graduation), to do than to add another full time or part time job to it. I worked part time during undergrad, was a triple major, then after that did a full time job for a while, but was extremely glad i did not try to work and do 1L year. It is manageable to work and do 1L, it's just I wouldn't advise it. So unless you have to work, I just wouldn't. You can always work after 1L, but then I would just do legal externships so you can get more experience and have a better idea what other practice fields/areas are like.

[mt2165]

I assume by "full-time" you don't actually mean a 9-5 but something along the lines of 20-30 hours plus whatever academic commitments you had going on. It seems that your question is basically whether the work ethic and mindset of someone who worked extensively in undergrad should give you a leg up. I think the answer is mostly no. It certainly doesnt hurt, but you'll find that by and large most people in law school study hard. While it seems that the majority of those that don't are the KJD crowd, it's not like none of those people had college jobs (though many didn't, cause law students are well off). Moreover, most law students, even KJDs, have been relatively busy at some point and have learned some degree of basic work ethic. Like the person said above, you may have an advantage over slackers, like most would, but I wouldn't say a meaningful advantage over anyone else.