Letters to the Earth

The practice of law has been called a license to learn.  It is one of the most pivotal experiences in my life and shaped my character.  I count it, along with my going to college at UC Berkeley, as one of the two great adventures of my life so far.  Dad said it was a way he knew for sure that I could make a living.  My Uncle Ray told me I would never regret going.  All of the above is true.  However, when going to law school, I wish someone had told me a few more things to prepare me.   The below is advice I am giving to a buddy with an engineering degree who wanted to know more about what it was like.

1.  To get into law school, take the LSAT prep course.  All the other people getting into good schools will do this. Then take the LSAT and get a good score.  You will also need decent references.  For choice of school, consider how much debt you want to go into (get government loans, not private), and how reputation matters to you.  Public is generally cheaper than private and is usually just as good or better (Univ. of Alabama versus Cumberland, for instance).

2.   Make sure you know why you want to go law school.  "Because Dad wanted me to" or "I can make money when I'm done!" was not sufficient to get me through.  I went because I'd been to a class beforehand and liked both the subject matter (contracts, not that I use it much) and the school.  I stayed because I could sense I was meant to be there.  I fit (even when I had little in common with the other students) because I wanted a career I would love, not just a job.  After all, they were going to teach me how to argue for a living! 

Wanting to help people came later in actual practice for me.  My attitude was that failure was unacceptable; I had nowhere else to go and no fallback plan.  It was win or nothing.

3.  You will become a monk for three years.  Well, you might have a significant other, but relationships tend to either break up under the stress or lead to marriage in law school.  It's definitely a very ascetic life, but has a certain purity and rigor that was good for me at the time.  "The law is a jealous mistress” continues to be true even today, but I have more free time. 

Pick one hobby.  That's all you're going to have time for.  Also, decide which friends you want to keep, because you're not going to have a whole lot of time to interact with them.  I had my regular role playing game, friends outside of law school, and one good friend in law school (Dan), who helped me make it and vice versa.

4.    Make a general plan for what you want to do after school, but be okay with making changes in it.  Realize that what you think you’ll want to practice might change after  you go through the actual classes.  If you can’t stand the idea of defending people who might be guilty (and often are), for instance, don’t do criminal defense.  Recognize that some fields of interest make more money than others (like personal injury lawsuits or insurance defense).  Family law is relatively speaking, a poor cousin to the land of civil law practice, but I find it satisfying.  Just have an open mind.

5.    Do you want to work for yourself or somebody else?  The first is very difficult.  If I wasn’t working with my father, an established name, I’d be struggling.  It wasn’t very easy the first year out of law school until I carved out a niche (criminal defense and family law).  Helping those who were hurt as a practice came later.  Working for someone else is more lucrative.  On the other hand, I do not work well under others, and I’ve grown to love the freedom I have being on my own (though not so much as not knowing where the next case will come from).  It all depends on your temperament.

6.    Learn to game the system.  First semester in particular is when you get lots of dropouts, and second semester is not much better.  This is boot camp for the mind.  I worked 70 hours a week with class and studying first semester and was still not doing well. Second semester, I worked 50 hours or so and did better.  I’d learned to study smarter, not harder.

    I quit trying to read every single assigned case, figure out what they meant, and then laboriously build an outline from the cases and my class notes.  It’s just not possible to read every word your professors want you to.  Learning how to skim a case will be very helpful, as well as just skipping some.  Figuring out what’s important is half the job.
Sometimes I even read the case in class right before I got called on, but I don’t recommend that. 

7.  Learn the class despite your professors.  They assume you’re going to figure out the black letter law on your own.  If you get something out of class, great.  If not, better be working even harder on your own.

I bought a commercial outline from before each class and used that to fill in with case holdings and notes from class.  You will still be reading a lot, but it will make much more sense.  You need to see the broader picture from the beginning and then fill in the smaller bits.  Also, if there is a good hornbook (or treatise on the applicable black letter law), buy that immediately before starting a class.  It will be an invaluable reference guide that you can also use when you graduate from law school.

8.  So what if you’re called on?  You may be called on with questions, particularly in your first semester.  If so, you may not know the answer and may be harassed by the professor.  Don’t let it get to you; now is a good time to develop your thick skin, and grading is anonymous anyway.  If it really bothers you, volunteer when you’re prepared, so you won’t be as likely to when you’re not.

9.  Learn how you study best.  Make a schedule of your time.  Try to spend some time outside the law school.  I had many days when I would go in the early morning, when the sun was shining, and leave when it was dark.  I never studied with a group, instead I had one good friend (Dan) who I studied with.  I occasionally studied with a couple of other students, but I never wanted to be in a group.  So I can’t give you much advice about that.

Oh, and look at the past exams of your professors if they are on file at the law library.  Also, get a copy of old outlines if students are passing them around, but be skeptical about them -- you have to verify the info in them, since someone like you once wrote them.

10.  One test to rule them all.  Did I mention you will only have one test per semester?  That’s right.  One grade, one test, for all your hard work.  I won’t go into the bar exam right now. Those are three days of trials that I honestly remember very little of.  I do, however, remember reading 6-8 hours a day that summer to study for the exam, as well as taking the very expensive bar prep course our school offered.

11.  Take as many law clinics as you can get into.  These will let you practice law under the mentorship of a full lawyer.  This is a great way to learn what actual practice is like.  I took the Civil Law Clinic.  Not only did it give me wonderful experience, I left with a bunch of forms I would use in my own practice.

12.  Go to a public law school if possible.  Private ones are ridiculously expensive, and you're going to have enough debt already.

Recommended reading:

http://www.slate.com/id/2069512/   Letter to a Young Law Student: Don't go to law school: But if you must, take my advice.

Getting to Maybe: How to Excel on Law School Exams [Paperback]
Richard Michael Fischl (Author), Jeremy Paul (Author)
This tells you how law professors want you to answer the test.  It helped save my bacon -- I wish I still had a copy.

"Getting to Maybe teaches how to excel on law school exams by showing the reader how legal analysis can be brought to bear on examination problems. The book contains hints on studying and preparation that go well beyond conventional advice. The authors also illustrate how to argue both sides of a legal issue without appearing wishy-washy or indecisive. Above all, the book explains why exam questions may generate feelings of uncertainty or doubt about correct legal outcomes and how the student can turn these feelings to his or her advantage.