I know nothing of law school, but I have a friend who does criminal law. He does very well for himself, has a good rep, but he has absolutely no respect or liking for many of his clients, many of whom are gangbangers, drug dealers, and the like. He considers most of them to be the lowest of the low. He still manages to successfully defend many of them. It may be one of the reasons why every time I see him, he is in some stage of inebriation. Not, of course in court, where he maintains professional decorum, nor in the office, for the same reason.

1l here. re: games, buy the logic games bible. it covers everything.

http://www.amazon.com/PowerScore-LSAT-L ... 097212960X

there is also a logic reasoning bible.

http://www.amazon.com/PowerScore-LSAT-L ... 097212960X


what i did (and what seems to be the standard advice from people shooting for the top) is to take every practice test you can. you can buy them in sets of ten from lsac's website. i took 30 of them: 10 at my own pace, 20 under test conditions. clearly, this takes a long time. if youre kicking ass at RC, youre golden. the other two sections are completely learnable.

i cannot stress the importance of the lsat enough. law school admissions is perverse. i dont know where youre trying to go, but with the exception of harvard, yale, standard, and boalt, a high enough lsat will get you anywhere. if you dont have aspirations for the top 14, remember that lsat points = scholarship dollars, and no one wants to be 150k in debt.

for general lsat/admissions advice: www.lawschooldiscussion.org
for looking at stats/odds/scholarships: www.lawschoolnumbers.com

with regards to lawschoolnumbers, remember that lsac recalculates your gpa.

time and patience may not allow it, but i recommend not taking the lsat until you have run out of practice tests or have hit your peak (once you learn the tricks, it comes down to how fast you can apply them. im not so sure this can be learned). the difference in your options between a 160 and a 170 is downright huge. even 165 and 170 is the difference between (and ill use chicago) a loyola admit, ding at NU, and ding Uchic and a full ride at loyola, decent money at NU, and admit at Uchic. take it seriously. good luck.

Hey, thanks for the advice, amigos! I will definitely take a number of practice LSATs, and I just bought a "How to Ace It" Princeton Review book that will explain the logic games.

I am really glad that there are a couple stories here from people who are happy in law school, though I have to admit that I am a little bothered by the stories of people who have horrible people as clients, and who hate the work they ended up having to do.

My hope is that, if I apply myself well and work hard, I will somehow avoid falling into a position where I have to do shitty, menial things or represent total cocks. Perhaps this hope is naive, but it's all I have to go on at this point.

I will now read that other thread. Cheers, fellow legal buddies!

"I went [to law school] three years-- three miserable years-- with the worst scum of the earth: children of the affluent families during the height of the Reagan Revolution. It was hell. Just imagine stepping into a sea of pricks every day."
---Big Black's Santiago Durango, Option, 1994

my friend said she became an alcoholic at law school because everyone else was doing it. she's better now and she's a public defender. she gets to take her dog to work and talk to women beaters and drug addicts. she mocks the victims. i'm not sure what to make of her...

fantasmatical thorr wrote:my friend said she became an alcoholic at law school because everyone else was doing it. ..

That's one of the worst excuses for becoming an alcoholic I've ever heard. And I've heard a few.

NerblyBear wrote:

fantasmatical thorr wrote:my friend said she became an alcoholic at law school because everyone else was doing it. ..

That's one of the worst excuses for becoming an alcoholic I've ever heard. And I've heard a few.

it's not an excuse, i'm being bone dry. just think, if you were drunk, you'd find that hilarious...also, alcoholism is a sad and very serious illness. don't beat them down for it. an excuse is what it is; avoidance. have some sympathy if you can't empathize.

my friend, she is not an alcoholic, i was making joke. but, she did drink copious amounts, as did her fellow law students. good luck in law school! i know you're better than those sad drunks!

I`m a honest lawyer.
Thats why I haven`t got many clients now...

I'm a first-year law student here in Cleveland. I enjoy the subject matter quite a bit. The only thing I really dislike is that, because I go part-time at night, and my day job is one of physical labor, I generally am terribly exhausted by the time I get to and get finished with my classes. I've contemplated quitting my job but I don't think its in the cards quite yet.

As for the LSAT, I wouldn't suggest buying any books beyond one that contains sample tests with answers. Take a prep class instead. It doesn't have to be anything terribly in-depth or anything. I took a once-a-week class that spanned four or five weeks and cost something like a hundred bucks (including the cost of the practice exam book), and it helped me to raise my LSAT score by something like 15 points above when I took it with no preparation. As the guy that instructed the class put it, those books try to teach you how to outsmart the LSAT, which isn't how you should approach it. Its really just a matter of knowing how to recognize and reason through different types of questions, and budget your time, and my prep class helped immensely in dealing with both of those.

Good luck!

I work about 45 hours a week. 50 in a busy week. I could get by on 40 if I was a bit more efficient. I don't make that much money, but I really like where I work. It is the best job I have ever had, at least among the jobs where I received a paycheck.
Law school, that was another story. Never, ever should you take law school or the people in it too seriously. When you get out, you will find that many of the people who fancied themselves hot shit when they were in school, are in fact the antithesis of hot shit outside of a classroom.
I made a couple great friends in law school. Hopefully you will be that lucky.