For those who have been to law school

[Scotty.]

Or at least have any knowledge of it.

What kind of social life exists for people in law school? How is the workload compared to an undergrad arts, science, or business degree? Basically, can someone have any fun with their life throughout those years, or is the focus on school just too great?

[miajag]

The workload is what you make of it. If you want to be at the top of your class, on law review, etc., you will have to work really hard pretty much regardless of how smart you are. Though, if you're smart, it's not hard at all to be a relative slacker and still get decent grades.

The social life is pretty similar to undergrad except no one lives in dorms and there are fewer "fun" people to hang out with, though such people certainly exist in law school. It's not hard to balance social life and school, pretty much everyone I know goes out every weekend and at least once or twice during the week.

[nickg1532]

just for some perspective: i'm currently in my first semester of my first year at a top 25 school. so, others with more experience at different schools might have more to say, but here's my take on it....

for the most part, if you manage your time well, i see no reason why you can't have a reasonable social life. obviously you're not going to be quite as free as you were in undergrad. but most of my classmates go out on weekends, do recreational things, etc. it's alot of work, but if you find yourself with absolutely no free time, you're probably doing something wrong.

one caveat, though: this probably all shuts down at about finals time. but assuming you make it through the few weeks of non-stop preparation for exams, the rest of the school year is not so bad.

and of course, alot will depend on how important your grades are to you. if you absolutely have to finish at the top of your class, well then be prepared to sacrifice quite a bit. if you just want to scrape by, then you'll probably have plenty of free time. if you're somewhere in the middle (like me) you will work hard, but keep things in perspective at the same time.

and finally, if it helps: although it varies, i estimate that i put in about 30-35 hrs/wk studying (outside of class), plus 15 class hrs/wk. i know many people that do more than this, and many that do less

[wstaffor]

I'm a first year at a top 10 school, here's my take on things.

It's very easy to get sucked into the whole workaholic culture of law school. The fact of the matter is, the vast majority of people do far too much studying. They get lost in the mundane stupid details of cases and don't realize that what really matters from each case can be stated in about 2 sentences.

To have a life outside of school, you don't have to sacrifice your grades at all. Just do two things: don't brief cases, and be prepared to look stupid in class. I generally do what's called book briefing, which is just using different color highlighters on the case to represent different types of info, and making short notes in the margins. This gives me enough info about the case to apply it to the final without wasting 1-2 hrs struggling with worthless dicta. If the prof mentions in class that something is very important, make a note of it. Otherwise, I basically don't pay any attention. For the most part you should NEVER listen to your classmates. They are almost always wrong, and the gunners who like to hear themselves talk will go off on ridiculous tangents and hypotheticals that are completely worthless. This is where online poker comes in. Ship it.

I would guess that I spend about 15-20 hrs a week MAX studying outside of class. Any more than that and you're probably wasting your time. It's very easy to look around and see the people who sit in the library til 9pm and think you aren't doing enough. Don't fall into the trap.

Any specific questions feel free to shoot me a PM.

[SackUp]

I just graduated from law school. I was on law review, mock trial, and the top % of my class.

First year of law school:

Nothing like undergrad. I was perpetually drunk all of undergrad and partied it up all the time with little studying. You need to study your ass off first year in law school and put partying on hiatus.

You don't want to have a social life. Not that it wouldn't be great, but you really want to buckle down and focus on studies. This is by far the most important year and thus most important to put extra time in studying.

This is not to say you cannot go out at all. I would definitely go to dinner with people, hang out at the beach, workout, play poker, go to bars, etc. The big thing I cut down on was the heavier partying and boozing. You can definitely do some of this, but should be minimal - like once a month or so - obviously varies by person. The reason I couldn't do it anymore is you don't have the same amount of recovery time. You actually need to do work on weekends to stay up with stuff. The full day hangovers just make it difficult.

This is really the only year that is tough socially. I hung out mostly with people who were pretty serious about studying. I would hang out with the partiers on occassion, but those cats had different priorities from mine.

Second and Third Year:

Bring back the social life. Now you should have law school pretty much figured out and can begin having a social life again. You know how to study and what needs to be done, which gives you a ton more free time. I partied a ton more and became way more active in intramurals and stuff like that. These years were much more similar to undergrad. You can study less and party more. I recommend doing tons of extracurriculars and getting real job experience.

[jd2b2006]

I completely agree with what the above poster says about studying too much. I am in my last semester and have learned that all you really need to learn from a case is the rule. If policy is important to your professor, then write that down when they mention it. Do not get bogged down in the details, unless the professor harps on it.

You will spend the most time studying during your first semester since it takes a while to adjust how to prepare for each class. If you feel you have a life now (at least until a couple weeks before finals), you should have no problem the rest of the way. Good luck with your law school experience.

[mlagoo]

listen to sackup guys. dont slack in the first year. youll be pissed if you did.

[Dave D]

totally agree with wstaffor. There's so many people that freak out over everything, and its funny to look over to their laptop in class and see a full page, single spaced, typed "brief" on a case, with a facts section thats like 6 lines long.

To the OP (b/c I think people are getitng a little bit off topic), read How to get into Law school by Estrich. Only about 1/3 of it is about actually applying, the rest is about how to do law school itself, and applying for jobs and such.

As she says in there, too many people write down in their briefs that the defendant was driving a red mustang, when all that matters is that defendant was driving, unless the case was against Ford for faulty fuel tanks, or that Red drove her husband to become jealous with rage as she flew by with a man half her age.

Sackup is right too. Just gotta remember why you're in law school.

I'm in my first semester of my first year. Everything should be reasonable.

[XXXNoahXXX]

yeah i really need to step my game up at law school.

i'm not doing nearly enough, although i think if i can bear down i can get it done.

what most people don't seem to understand yet is class preparation is not the same as test prep, and thats what counts.

i don't get it in civil procedure, people are taking furious stenographer notes on the facts of a case. the course isnt the facts, its the PROCEDURE. nobody cares how a trust is formed and managed as long as u get down the jurisdiction, notice information, etc.

[Colonel Kataffy]

[ QUOTE ]
yeah i really need to step my game up at law school.

i'm not doing nearly enough, although i think if i can bear down i can get it done.

what most people don't seem to understand yet is class preparation is not the same as test prep, and thats what counts.

i don't get it in civil procedure, people are taking furious stenographer notes on the facts of a case. the course isnt the facts, its the PROCEDURE. nobody cares how a trust is formed and managed as long as u get down the jurisdiction, notice information, etc.

[/ QUOTE ]

for the most part, reading the cases has nothing to do with the exam process. you pretty much just need to memorize the rules and if you want a good grade, practice taking exams.

classes can be interesting, but aren't necessary IMO.