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I'm a 0L who will be attending a T20 next year.

I have some saving and wanted to know how common it is for people to work part time during 2L and 3L years.

I've tried the forum search but the words "working part time" are rather common.

Another 0L so take this with a grain of salt. From talking to 2Ls/3Ls, some of them work as research assistants or teaching assistants. These positions pay them a bit and give them some benefits (i.e. health insurance) too. What types of job do you have in mind? how much money do you think you will make?

Some people definitely do it, but I think anything more than about 15 hours a week could be pretty crazy..

Pretty sure the ABA only lets you work 20 hours/week or less if you are a full-time law student. Some schools have even lower limits.

Obviously a job through the school (RA, TA, office grunt, whatever) would obey the ABA and school rules, but if you look outside the school for a job, you need to keep that in mind.

tea_drinker wrote:Another 0L so take this with a grain of salt. From talking to 2Ls/3Ls, some of them work as research assistants or teaching assistants. These positions pay them a bit and give them some benefits (i.e. health insurance) too. What types of job do you have in mind? how much money do you think you will make?

I have never heard of an RA or TA position paying health insurance or other types of benefits which are typically associated with a full-time job. The 20 hour ABA rule for full-time students is accurate, also.

Wholigan wrote:

tea_drinker wrote:Another 0L so take this with a grain of salt. From talking to 2Ls/3Ls, some of them work as research assistants or teaching assistants. These positions pay them a bit and give them some benefits (i.e. health insurance) too. What types of job do you have in mind? how much money do you think you will make?

I have never heard of an RA or TA position paying health insurance or other types of benefits which are typically associated with a full-time job. The 20 hour ABA rule for full-time students is accurate, also.

So this is your first time hearing it. They don't offer you the plan, they offer you the heavily subsidized money to buy health insurance through the school like any other students. Disclaimer: couple of these students are joint degree candidates, so the benefits may have come from the other schools.

I had RA or TA gigs in mind. Not certain how much they pay. Does anyone have information on how much RA/TA gigs pay?

tothePAIN wrote:I had RA or TA gigs in mind. Not certain how much they pay. Does anyone have information on how much RA/TA gigs pay?

At my school I think you get like $10/hr for being an RA, not sure though.

UC system has really well paid TAs (called Student Instructors or something like that). You get paid and fee waiver (I think it only applies toward the fees portion of your tuition bill). If you search UCLA Law's website you can find info. Boalt also allows you (beyond the 1st semester) but they don't have any info on their site.

tea_drinker wrote:
So this is your first time hearing it. They don't offer you the plan, they offer you the heavily subsidized money to buy health insurance through the school like any other students. Disclaimer: couple of these students are joint degree candidates, so the benefits may have come from the other schools.

I think public systems may have better pay/benefits than private institutions, and most of the time benefits are the same across the whole university. Especially in this financial climate I think state U are going to favor TAs even more.

If you're a research assistant at UTK, you get a 4k stipend and health insurance on top of the tuition waiver.