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I'll be going into my second year and I'm looking forward to it. Here's my unsolicited advice to all incoming 1Ls...
1) many many people will try to get you down about going to law school and becoming a lawyer. omgsomuchwork, hatelife, etc. don't listen to them. most of them don't have firsthand experience and don't know what they're talking about. I know some people that are miserable at my school and others who are quite happy.
2) almost everyone will have advice for you on what you "need" to be doing - study groups, outlines, etc. the sheer volume of advice can be frightening. if something somebody says sounds good, try it out. if they sound like they're full of [censored], they are. carve your own path, don't follow someone else's.
3) trust me, no one has any [censored] clue what is going on at first. I didn't really "get" law school for the first 2.5 months.
4) I maintain that law school is as much work as you want to make it. I knew 1Ls who spent hours in the library every night and others who went out 4 nights a week.
5) grades are much more arbitrary than undergrad. typically, 100% rides on a 3 hour open-book, essay final. a large portion is just how good of a first draft writer you are. personally, I have experienced a reverse correlation between amount of effort put into a class and the grade I received.
6) for a unique perspective on law school, read
Brush with the Law
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So you're a 2L and you think you know what you're talking about?
I graduated from law school at the university of Texas and spent nearly four years practicing law at the largest (and best-paying) law firm in Texas, Vinson & Elkins.
The money was very, very good, but it still took me that length of time to pay off my law school loans, so I didn't really get to live like a big shot.
I hated practicing law, hated every freaking second of it. Endless reviewing and revising of documents. Long, long hours. [censored] partners who thought they owned you because you were getting paid so well. And the most tedious kind of work you could imagine.
This was not unique to me. Of the 30 people who started at V&E when I did, all but 2 of them were gone within 5 years. Burned out, mostly.
Many, many of my friends are lawyers. Nearly all of them hate it or just barely tolerate it. The only ones I know who like it are people who always wanted to be lawyers, and one guy who likes the prestige of being a lawyer and all that goes with it.
I got out of the law for almost five years, and now I'm practicing again--not because I really wanted to, but because I was nearly broke as a sportscaster and I was getting married. I've already told my wife that I am only going to do this long enough to get out of debt and to figure out something else, like start my own business or something.
The main problem with practicing law is that lawyers work by the hour and are therefore limited by their own output. The more hours you work, the more money you earn (either for yourself or your partners), so there is ever-increasing pressure to work more more more hours. The partners at the big firms make great money, sure--but they have to keep billing billing billing to keep the money flowing.
It's a terrible way to make a lot of money.