I want to go to court Forum

[user69]

Hello, I pulled the trigger on law school and I start in the fall. I really want to go to court — and that’s really why I chose to go law school. My initial plan was to do public defense, but I’m curious what other options are out there for someone who wants to see the inside of a court room with some frequency. At a T14 with money, and have a relatively large amount of savings so I’m fairly free financially and should have pretty much every option open. Would love firms to look into outside the world of criminal defense. Thanks.

[decimalsanddollars]

Hello, I pulled the trigger on law school and I start in the fall. I really want to go to court — and that’s really why I chose to go law school. My initial plan was to do public defense, but I’m curious what other options are out there for someone who wants to see the inside of a court room with some frequency. At a T14 with money, and have a relatively large amount of savings so I’m fairly free financially and should have pretty much every option open. Would love firms to look into outside the world of criminal defense. Thanks.

Biglaw litigation, especially early on, doesn't see much action in the courtroom. Some elite litigation boutiques pride themselves on giving real courtroom experience to to juniors, particularly the boutiques in Houston (think Susman, Gibbs, AZA, Reynolds Frizzell, etc.). Bankruptcy is a practice area where, depending on your role in the case, you could get significant courtroom experience early on. Certain government roles see high volumes of administrative litigation. As you could probably guess, prosecutors get as much courtroom experience as public defenders (maybe more), but I'm assuming that's not your lane. I can't personally speak to areas like family law, probate, international disputes etc. which I've heard involve live court appearances to some degree.

Side note: if you want to be in court, definitely try to clerk. You'll learn about how court works, and it will make you much more marketable to firms/employers who bring lawyers to court.

[user69]

Hello, I pulled the trigger on law school and I start in the fall. I really want to go to court — and that’s really why I chose to go law school. My initial plan was to do public defense, but I’m curious what other options are out there for someone who wants to see the inside of a court room with some frequency. At a T14 with money, and have a relatively large amount of savings so I’m fairly free financially and should have pretty much every option open. Would love firms to look into outside the world of criminal defense. Thanks.

Biglaw litigation, especially early on, doesn't see much action in the courtroom. Some elite litigation boutiques pride themselves on giving real courtroom experience to to juniors, particularly the boutiques in Houston (think Susman, Gibbs, AZA, Reynolds Frizzell, etc.). Bankruptcy is a practice area where, depending on your role in the case, you could get significant courtroom experience early on. Certain government roles see high volumes of administrative litigation. As you could probably guess, prosecutors get as much courtroom experience as public defenders (maybe more), but I'm assuming that's not your lane. I can't personally speak to areas like family law, probate, international disputes etc. which I've heard involve live court appearances to some degree.

Side note: if you want to be in court, definitely try to clerk. You'll learn about how court works, and it will make you much more marketable to firms/employers who bring lawyers to court.

Thank you! I’d love to clerk, but I haven’t written anything of substance in 6+ years. It’s highly possible I get off to a rough start. Those smaller shops are also very hard to break into — correct? As an additional follow up I have a ton of high end tech experience, will I be able to see the inside of a courtroom in the IP/patent realm? Thanks again.

[decimalsanddollars]

Thank you! I’d love to clerk, but I haven’t written anything of substance in 6+ years. It’s highly possible I get off to a rough start. Those smaller shops are also very hard to break into — correct? As an additional follow up I have a ton of high end tech experience, will I be able to see the inside of a courtroom in the IP/patent realm? Thanks again.

1) Judges are picky, but legal writing is pretty easy to learn. I highly recommend putting in special effort in your legal research and writing classes, try to make it onto law review/a journal, and seek out opportunities after 1L to improve even more (e.g. interning for a judge, taking upper-level writing electives). These opportunities may also supply a post-1L writing sample, which would help immensely for judges who take apps later and want to see recent work.

2) Yes, they are, but they all hire people who clerk, and they all want people like you who want to live in the courtroom. It's harder to get there from a non-T14, but you don't have to worry about that. They are all picky about grades and prefer people on law review/advocacy teams, but if you can clear those (admittedly high) hurdles, it shouldn't be too hard.

3) IP litigation is kind of its own thing, but having a tech background will definitely help you break into that. I recommend talking to people who do that work about how often they're actually in court/PTAB/etc.; it's not really my field.

[user69]

Thank you! I’d love to clerk, but I haven’t written anything of substance in 6+ years. It’s highly possible I get off to a rough start. Those smaller shops are also very hard to break into — correct? As an additional follow up I have a ton of high end tech experience, will I be able to see the inside of a courtroom in the IP/patent realm? Thanks again.

1) Judges are picky, but legal writing is pretty easy to learn. I highly recommend putting in special effort in your legal research and writing classes, try to make it onto law review/a journal, and seek out opportunities after 1L to improve even more (e.g. interning for a judge, taking upper-level writing electives). These opportunities may also supply a post-1L writing sample, which would help immensely for judges who take apps later and want to see recent work.

2) Yes, they are, but they all hire people who clerk, and they all want people like you who want to live in the courtroom. It's harder to get there from a non-T14, but you don't have to worry about that. They are all picky about grades and prefer people on law review/advocacy teams, but if you can clear those (admittedly high) hurdles, it shouldn't be too hard.

3) IP litigation is kind of its own thing, but having a tech background will definitely help you break into that. I recommend talking to people who do that work about how often they're actually in court/PTAB/etc.; it's not really my field.

This was all extremely helpful. I greatly appreciate it. Hopefully this will work out and I can go to court and pull down some $$$$. Enjoy your weekend.

[QContinuum]

Biglaw litigation, especially early on, doesn't see much action in the courtroom.

This can be ameliorated somewhat by getting involved in BigLaw pro bono litigation. BigLaw associates can and do start appearing in court on pro bono matters very early on. These pro bono matters commonly involve non-adversarial proceedings (e.g., uncontested divorces, name changes, etc.), but can also include arguing motions and even trials.

[nixy]

Biglaw litigation, especially early on, doesn't see much action in the courtroom.

This can be ameliorated somewhat by getting involved in BigLaw pro bono litigation. BigLaw associates can and do start appearing in court on pro bono matters very early on. These pro bono matters commonly involve non-adversarial proceedings (e.g., uncontested divorces, name changes, etc.), but can also include arguing motions and even trials.

This is true, but any PD or ADA will spend way more time in the courtroom than any biglaw associate.

[JS623]

While this is somewhat off topic, I also suggest clinics while in law school to confirm your career interests! I did a clinic this semester and I got to appear and argue at over 10 contested hearings in one semester.

[kennj]

I highly recommend getting involved with both clinics and other non-credit student practice organizations early and often in law school. You can get into state court very quickly, as well as develop litigation skills such as motion writing, oral advocacy, etc. that will serve you well in clerkships and in practice.

Also - I'd suggest taking a look at mock trial. It's theater for nerds, but will teach you the rules of evidence and help you learn whether you really want to be a trial lawyer vs. another kind of litigator.

[LSATWiz.com]

It's great you set yourself up with those opportunities. Preferences and wants change over time. You might just apply and see where the chips fall.

There are opportunities to try cases but the reality is the more important and/or lucrative the case the less likely it is anyone will let you take it to trial. PI shops offer the best opportunity to be a real lawyer, and some pay decently. I was offered $80k starting at one of the ones that appears on TV, which was a good offer for someone first starting in that area of law but it's less than 1/2 of big law for just as many hours and the offices are very rundown. It's just hard to take that over something in house that pays more, is less hours, and is a place that doesn't feel gross to work in.

It sounds like you'd benefit from clerking. Judges work on a wide variety of cases and you could at least learn what kind of law you like doing. The better your grades are, the more judges you'll have opportunities to clerk for and the more lucrative your post-clerking options will be. I'd focus on getting good grades and focusing on clerkships for now without stressing about area of practice.