Law School Advice

[bbgun]

Takes awhile to adjust to law after your undergrad. I studied the same way I did in undergrad during first year and while I did fine, I changed in 2nd and 3rd year and my marks went way up.

The weirdest part is that in law, your entire grade is on one exam. Blow it and you are doomed.

No midterms? No papers to write?

 

[theogt]

No midterms? No papers to write?

Unless it's some sort of clinic or the like, no. Pretty much every school has a legal writing course during the first year in which you write a paper, though.

 

[CanadianCowboysFan]

No midterms? No papers to write?

One course was a writing course where you had to do a moot and a paper for 25%, every other course, 100% finals

 

[CowboyMcCoy]

From a website about biggest college regrets:

“The day that I signed on the dotted line of my promissory note, I didn’t even understand what it would mean to have to pay back more than $40,000 in student loans. I’ll tell you what it means: living in a crappy apartment in Queens well into my 30s. I vaguely remember my dad trying to get the message through to me, but I must have had cotton in my teenage ears.”

What's funny to me is people borrow 30-40k for a car, but somehow borrowing money for education isn't wise. I don't get that unless you're talking from a debt/income ratio for borrowing or credit purposes. Otherwise, I'd much rather be educated than drive a Lexus. That's just me though.

 

[peplaw06]

Unless it's some sort of clinic or the like, no. Pretty much every school has a legal writing course during the first year in which you write a paper, though.

I had a couple of classes where we had midterms. As a 1L they were just for practice. I think I had one or two classes where the midterm would give you a couple of extra points on the final if you did well. If you did poorly, then it didn't hurt you. But yeah most classes, no midterms.

I also had a couple classes where the final was just a research paper. Most of those were the Alternative Dispute Resolution classes. I think two of them were classes for my JD.

 

[theogt]

I had a couple of classes where we had midterms. As a 1L they were just for practice. I think I had one or two classes where the midterm would give you a couple of extra points on the final if you did well. If you did poorly, then it didn't hurt you. But yeah most classes, no midterms.

I also had a couple classes where the final was just a research paper. Most of those were the Alternative Dispute Resolution classes. I think two of them were classes for my JD.

Come to think of it, I had the same type of situation in Contracts.

 

[bbgun]

What about law review? Will it give you a substantial leg up on your peers during the job hunt, or is it more for future academicians?

 

[theogt]

What about law review? Will it give you a substantial leg up on your peers during the job hunt, or is it more for future academicians?

Significant leg up, yes. Everyone who has an opportunity to do law review should do it. It's not at all just for future academicians.