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Started By
Message
re: How tough is law school?
Posted on 12/16/15 at 12:47 pm to blueridgeTiger
Posted on 12/16/15 at 12:47 pm to blueridgeTiger
quote:
undergraduate CHE much tougher than law school
0
Posted on 12/16/15 at 12:52 pm to blueridgeTiger
quote:Former CHE student here with law degree. Undergrad Chem E was 50 times harder than law school. There is no difficult material in law school. There's just lots of good competition and few right answers. Besides, the profs just stack the tests on a flight of stairs and push them over to determine grades anyway.
Chem Engr with a law degree - undergraduate CHE much tougher than law school.
Posted on 12/16/15 at 12:56 pm to AlxTgr
Ahh the mantra of everyone who is still bitter they didn't make law review.
Posted on 12/16/15 at 12:58 pm to CorporateTiger
quote:
As to the whole big law and 100k thing. You can make it into BakerBotts and such from TLS. You will make 160-185 straight out of school, but keep in mind that your life will suck and you will be desperately looking for a parachute out within 4 years.
I will caveat by saying quality of life in big law varies greatly by city and firm and group. I will say that my closest friends probably averaged between 100ish coming out of law school, mostly in Birmingham, Atlanta and Charlotte. In Atlanta and Charlotte only that number rises to 115-130 or so. A lot of the salaries were depressed then.
So most of those firms were reasonably large. Some people at bigger firms making 160 were in good groups with laid back partners and had reasonable hours. Some people at 50 attorney firms making 115 had terrible groups and worked awful hours.
My point being that it does vary in big law, especially in non NYC/Chicago/LA big markets. But it's a crapshoot, you can't necessarily even choose your practice, much less the attitude of your group or partners.
Posted on 12/16/15 at 12:59 pm to AlxTgr
quote:
Besides, the profs just stack the tests on a flight of stairs and push them over to determine grades anyway.
Haha where was this? I admit I had one professor that just didn't like how I wrote exams apparently, but in general better students got better grades.
Posted on 12/16/15 at 1:07 pm to Pettifogger
They definitely vary regionally and by partner/practice. BR and, to a lesser extent, NOLA will provide better work/life balance that Houston. Conversely there are fewer high paying positions in those cities, and Houston is an amazing place to find an in house rolle.
This post was edited on 12/16/15 at 1:15 pm
Posted on 12/16/15 at 1:19 pm to CorporateTiger
quote:
Houston is an amazing place to find an in house rolle when oil isn't 35 dollars a barrel.
Fixed that for you bud.
Posted on 12/16/15 at 1:24 pm to CorporateTiger
quote:
Ahh the mantra of everyone who is still bitter they didn't make law review.
I made it, and for what it's worth, I tend to agree with his statement.
Posted on 12/16/15 at 1:26 pm to lapistola
quote:
This is completely untrue. Like other posters have said, if you finish in the top 10% at LSU you will likely be able to find a job in the $80-90k range right out of school with raises and bonuses. If you finish in the top 20-25% and have good social skills, you will have the same opportunities. Granted, that is a small percentage of the class, but if you dedicate yourself to doing well, you can easily achieve this goal.
I love when people say this. "If you just try, you'll be in the top 10%!"
The major difference between law school and undergrad is that everyone is trying. You can't just "try hard" and automatically be at the top of your class. Your success in law school is dependent on your ability to spot issues on an exam and resolve them--quickly. Your abilities in that arena are unknown to you until you actually take your first set of exams and receive your grades. And the forced curve is something most people have never experienced in their lives. Again, 100% of law students think they're going to just study harder than their classmates and wind up in the top 10%. Ninety percent of them are wrong.
Posted on 12/16/15 at 1:28 pm to BoomerJam
Depends on your practice. My company is desperate for attorneys with bankruptcy experience. Though, yes, overall times are tough here.
Posted on 12/16/15 at 1:32 pm to CorporateTiger
The type of practice is certainly a fair caveat. Outside of a position needing someone with a more specialized set of knowledge, I'd think the competition for in-house positions is tougher than it has been in recent memory in Houston.
This post was edited on 12/16/15 at 1:33 pm
Posted on 12/16/15 at 1:44 pm to BoomerJam
Competition has been pretty high since the '08/'09 crash. Even with prices falling there is still a lot of legal work and a lot of M&A going on.
Posted on 12/16/15 at 1:49 pm to Pettifogger
quote:LSU. The amount I worked or knew seemed to have little to do with how well I did. I knew property inside and out. Poor grade. I was basically guessing in Procedure II and made one of my highest grades. 2nd year, I decided to pick one class to read every word of every assignment and actively participate in class slightly less than the two gunners. Good, but not great grade.
Haha where was this? I admit I had one professor that just didn't like how I wrote exams apparently, but in general better students got better grades.
Posted on 12/16/15 at 1:54 pm to AlxTgr
quote:
Former CHE student here with law degree
Are you in practice?
Also, your "throw the papers down a stairwell" doesn't make sense from a statistical standpoint. If that were true, the number one person would have only a slightly higher average than the middle of the pack. That was not true in my experience.
There is no way grading is random when there is a large grade spread based on an average of 36 exams taken over three years. The odds of that happening under the "stair" theory are impossibly improbable.
This post was edited on 12/16/15 at 1:59 pm
Posted on 12/16/15 at 2:01 pm to AlxTgr
quote:
The amount I worked or knew seemed to have little to do with how well I did.
Some of this shite is just genetic, brah.
Posted on 12/16/15 at 2:03 pm to Boagni Swamp
quote:
Are you in practice?
Also, your "throw the papers down a stairwell" doesn't make sense from a statistical standpoint. If that were true, the number one person would have only a slightly higher average than the middle of the pack. That was not true in my experience.
There is no way grading is random when there is a large grade spread based on an average of 36 exams taken over three years. The odds of that happening under the "stair" theory are impossibly improbable.
I assumed he was being somewhat hyperbolic. Obviously you didn't.
Posted on 12/16/15 at 2:07 pm to Mo Jeaux
quote:
I assumed he was being somewhat hyperbolic. Obviously you didn't.
Nah. I did. I was just kinda being an a-hole. I did consistently very well in law school, and I will admit it irks me to hear those who didn't blame it on the graders.
Law is a knack. It is a way of thinking. It is more instinct than intelligence. Some very smart people don't have the instinct. Some less smart people have it in spades.
This post was edited on 12/16/15 at 2:09 pm
Posted on 12/16/15 at 2:08 pm to Boagni Swamp
quote:
Some of this shite is just genetic, brah.
It is true that some people are just inherently good at law school exams. But because law school exams are nothing like any other exams you've ever taken, you don't know if you're one of those people until you actually take law exams and start getting your grades back.
That's why, if you decide to go to law school, it is supremely important that you go to the very best school you can get into without taking out a shitload of debt. While that seems obvious, it's shocking how many people fail to maximize their potential on the LSAT and end up going to some third-tier toilet, wasting $150k and three years, and getting a job that pays barely more than they were previously making.
This post was edited on 12/16/15 at 2:10 pm
Posted on 12/16/15 at 2:08 pm to Boagni Swamp
quote:Since '93.
Are you in practice?
quote:
Also, your "throw the papers down a stairwell" doesn't make sense from a statistical standpoint. If that were true, the number one person would have only a slightly higher average than the middle of the pack. That was not true in my experience.
ok. 
Posted on 12/16/15 at 2:09 pm to Boagni Swamp
Gunner alert.
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