Law Advise

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What is law school like?

• How long is law school?
  
  • Law school generally begins in August and runs during the fall and winter semesters for 3 years. Some law schools offer January start dates, and some law schools offer spring courses or credit for internships allowing students to complete law school in 2 ½ years. Some law schools also offer part-time programs that allow students to complete law school in 4 years.
  • When you are enrolled in law school you generally take 15.0 credits. Sometimes students take fewer or more credits one semester (e.g. 12.0-18.0). The most a student can take is 18.0 credits at one time.
• What is the first year like?
  
  • During the first year of law school, law students are generally assigned to take 15.0 credits of core legal courses including constitutional law, criminal law, property, torts, civil procedure, contracts, and a legal writing/research course.
  • The first year of law school has been called by some "the most difficult year of graduate education anywhere." Many law school graduates would agree that this is not an inaccurate statement. The first year of law school is typically very difficult for most students and requires a lot of hard work. While some students survived undergraduate education and did just fine by going to class and studying for a few hours a day, in law school many students invest 50+ hours a week between class time and study time to do well.
  • Because of the intensity of the first year of law school, students are not allowed to work per ABA standards during their first year of school. Additionally, most law schools will not allow first year students to participate in any extra-curricular activities such as club boards, law journals, etc. so that students can be solely focused on their classes for that first year.
• What is the second year like?
                  
  • The second year of law school is typically much less stressful as far as classes are concerned because students have adjusted to the rigorous academic environment. However, many students find it to be just as busy as the first year because during the second year of law school students start to participate in extra-curricular activities such as law review, moot court, etc. In addition, there is a big push for finding a second summer paid job, which will likely result in a permanent job offer. Students start interviewing for these paid summer clerkships as soon as the first week they return from school and will continue interviewing all the way until May if they are unsuccessful in finding an offer. Because students often look for jobs out of the state they are practicing in, this can entail flying to other states for several days of interviews.
  • As far as coursework is concerned, not only is the load lightened after surviving the first year experience, but after the first year, students are generally allowed to take any courses they are interested with only a few exceptions. All law schools require that students take a professional responsibility/ethics course. Additionally, some law schools have a few other courses that must be completed before graduation such as criminal procedure, evidence, and advanced legal research/writing courses.
• What is the third year like?
                  
  • There is the old adage, .In law school the first year they scare you to death, the second year they work you to death, and the third year they bore you to death.. Many former law students would agree that this is not far from the truth. Many students come back from their second summer clerkships with permanent job offers and do not have to worry about the job hunt; additionally after 4 semesters of grades many students are no longer intimidated by grading nor do they feel that their ranking will change much even if they do significantly better or worse. As a result of this, many students feel that the third year is the most relaxed as far as school work is concerned; however, many students choose to work part-time (up to 20 hours) for the law firm they have accepted a job with or as a TA or research assistant for a law professor.
  • Students who do not yet have job offers will continue with the job search during their third year.
  • As in the second year, students continue to have the freedom to choose whatever courses they would like to take, though if there are any required courses (e.g. Professional Responsibility) that the law school requires which the students have not yet finished, they will have to complete those.
• What do you do during your summers at law school?
                  
  • First Summer
    
    • The summer time is unfortunately not a time to relax and take vacations, but an opportunity to get practical, legal experience and apply those theoretical skills you have been learning in law school. Very few students get paid jobs during the first summer because few firms offer first-year paid positions. As a result, competition is very fierce and generally only people at the top of the class will find paid work. However, most law schools do a good job of helping students find unpaid legal work that they can earn school credit for. Students might work for a firm, a judge, or the government. Sometimes these positions turn into paid positions partway through the summer. However, even if students are not paid, earning 1.0 credit for every 50 hours of work can be very helpful in decreasing a student.s course load during the fall and winter semesters or in helping a student to graduate a full semester early.
  • Second Summer
                            
    • During the second summer, many students find paid jobs with law firms or government offices and some will .split. their summers, meaning they spend the first half at one law firm and the second half at another law firm. In smaller legal markets, like Salt Lake City, splitting firms is not allowed, so students will generally split between two geographical locations. The hope of students is that at the end of the summer they will receive a permanent job offer from both of their law firms and be able to choose the firm they liked best to practice at after graduation.
    • For those students who do not have paid jobs during their second summer, they continue gaining legal experience in an unpaid position and can earn more internship credit which will again help them decrease their third-year class load or help them graduate a semester early.
• What kind of assignments do you have in law school?
                  
  • The traditional law school class assigns cases for students to read each day then the students come to class and discuss those cases. There are some less traditional courses that might require group projects, weekly journals, etc., but generally a student will find most of their time devoted to reading.
• How are grades assigned?
                  
  • The traditional law school model is that a student.s grade will be based almost entirely on one 3-hour essay final given at the end of the semester. However, there are some courses that substitute a final paper for a final exam or use multiple choice and short answer questions as well. Sometimes marginal points are assigned for class participation and attendance (e.g. 1-3%). This is a dramatic shift for many students coming from undergraduate programs where they were given credit for assignments, quizzes, etc. throughout the semester and knew how they were doing in the course.
  • Additionally, many law schools use an enforced curve system with a bell curve structure such that the majority of the students will earn the mean or around the mean (for example, a 3.3 at BYU Law School). Only a handful of students will earn grades better than the mean, and only a few select students will earn grades such as a 4.0 in a class of a hundred. This can also prove to be a difficult adjustment to undergraduates who have never before experienced grading on a curve and are used to a scenario where all students can earn an .A. grade so long as they complete the work assigned.
• How hard is law school?
                  
  • The first year of law school is very difficult for many students because of the multiple changes they experience from their undergraduate experience. First, the reading load is generally much more difficult than anything they have ever experienced before (anywhere from 20-100+ pages a night). Second, having one's grade dependent entirely on one 3-hour final exam at the end of the semester can be a difficult thing to get used to. Third, the enforced curve instills a sense of competition and a feeling that one must do better than the next person in order to get a superior grade. Fourth, the weeding out process of law school admissions generally means that undergraduate students who are used to excelling will now be surrounded with other students who have performed at the same level as well.
  • Tough these factors can provide for a stressful first semester and first year, most students are able to adjust to the system and by the second year are very comfortable with the way things are done in law school.
  • However, anyone who is seriously considering a legal education should realize that going into it, it is going to be a lot of hard work. One law school professor said that a student who wants to do well should put in at least 50 hours per week in order to succeed. At the same time, realize that law students do have lives outside of law school and life does go on; people get married and have children and have outside hobbies and are still able to do very well. Think of law school as a demanding full-time job for 3 years, but realize that you are still going to have time and should make time for outside activities as well.
  
  
  What is legal practice like?
  
  • Two Main Types of Law
                                
    • When most people think of lawyers, they think of the people they have seen on TV or in the movies who stand up in a courtroom and make arguments on their feet; however, there are many different kinds of way to practice law, some of which never involve going to court. There are two main types of law practiced and within those two types of practice, lawyers practice in every area of life.
    • Transactional Law
                                          
      • DESCRIPTION: Though this area of law is much less publicized on TV and in the movies, it is equally popular among lawyers. Transactional law involves transactions where a client has to interface with the law and needs a lawyer to help walk them through the legal process. Generally transactional attorneys do not go to court and are not involved in adversarial proceedings. For example, transactional work could include setting up a will or a trust, doing an adoption, or helping someone who has just invented a new product to patent it.
      • PROS: Transactional attorneys generally have a more predictable schedule because they are not at the mercy of court scheduling. Additionally, their work is usually not of the nature that it must be done .yesterday. so to speak. Transactional attorneys are also often thought of as the less-adversarial, competitive lawyers.people who are perhaps happier sitting at a desk, meeting with clients in non-adversarial positions, and avoiding the courtroom.
      • CONS: As with any field of work, those transactional attorneys who have very large and demanding clients can sometimes find themselves working as much if not more than the trial attorneys when they have a big merger or contract coming up. Another con of the transactional practice is that it does tend to be more document oriented meaning that transactional work is usually a desk-job that does not provide frequent opportunities for getting out of the office other than meeting with clients.
    • Litigation Law
                                          
      • DESCRIPTION: Litigation work involves clients who are headed to court for one reason or another whether it is a criminal charge, a lawsuit, or a divorce. Therefore, everything litigation attorneys do is in preparation for trial from interviewing witnesses to visiting accident scenes to drafting motions and arguing them before the court. However, it is important to note that these days because of the expense of trial, 95% of cases settle out of court before going to trial, so even very good private practice trial attorneys might only actually end up going to court for an actual trial a few times a year.
      • PROS: Litigation attorneys are generally of a more competitive nature and enjoy the adrenalin rush of arguing a motion or standing up before a jury and making an opening statement. Because preparing for trial involves a multitude of different things, litigators are often able to spend more time out of the office than a transactional attorney because they do have to meet witnesses, visit accident scenes, etc.
      • CONS: Litigation can be very demanding and unpredictable. The essence of it is adversarial, so there is always a party on the opposite side disagreeing over whatever the issue is. Litigation attorneys are also at the mercy of court scheduling and must accommodate their schedule accordingly even if that means missing a vacation that had been planned for 6 months. Also, when a litigation attorney is in the middle of a trial, they can often work 14-16 hours a day; after the trial they might have some time off, but the actual trial can be very demanding.
  • Legal Specialties
                                
    • General Considerations
                                          
      • There are many different types of specialties within the law field. However, it is a common misconception among prelaw students that they must know before choosing a law school what they need to specialize in. Wherever a student goes to law school, they will graduate with a J.D. There are no majors in law school. The first year all students across the country take the same core legal courses. The second and third year students can take whatever courses they want to earn the credits necessary to graduate. It is generally in the first few years of practice that attorneys develop specialties rather than during law school. With the exception of intellectual property law, legal employers do not care so much about what classes a student has taken but rather what the student.s grades and general background are. Therefore, while the student might find it helpful to take courses in an area they are interested in, it will not necessarily help their marketability upon graduation.
    • Schools Offering Specialty Programs
                                          
      • As a marketing technique, many law schools (especially third and fourth tier law schools) have begun offering .concentrations. or .certificates. in certain areas of law. However, if a student asks the question, .Is it better to go to a higher-ranked school or a school offering a specialty I am interested in?. most practitioners will tell you to go to the better school. This is for several reasons. First, as with undergraduates who change their majors many times after coming to college, so do many law students change their minds about working in a certain specialty after taking some classes in that area. Second, law school is not meant to teach students how to be a specific kind of lawyer, but to teach them how to .think like a lawyer. in any situation, which means that the skills learned in law school are transferable to any area of law. Third, many times the area that a student is interested in is so general (e.g. corporate law, criminal law, family law) that any law school will likely have several courses covering that area.
      • If you are very interested in working in a specific and narrow niche (e.g. sports law), it might be worthwhile to look at specialty programs; however, you will need to critique the programs very carefully and make sure that they really are offering more than what any other law schools could offer you. To find a listing of law schools that specialize in a certain subject, come visit the Prelaw Office and look at the NAPLA/SAPLA Book of Law School Lists. Unfortunately this text is not available online at this time.
    • Information on Specialties
                                          
      • Because students often know what kind of area of law they want to generally practice in but really don't know that much about it, below are links to 2-page handouts on the major areas of legal specialties that give basic information about the specialty based on phone interviews conducted with attorneys currently practicing in that field. Questions include things such as, "What is the current demand for corporate attorneys? What is an average day like for a corporate attorney? How much is the average salary for a corporate attorney?"
        
        

What is legal practice like?

• Two Main Types of Law
                  
  • When most people think of lawyers, they think of the people they have seen on TV or in the movies who stand up in a courtroom and make arguments on their feet; however, there are many different kinds of way to practice law, some of which never involve going to court. There are two main types of law practiced and within those two types of practice, lawyers practice in every area of life.
  • Transactional Law
                            
    • DESCRIPTION: Though this area of law is much less publicized on TV and in the movies, it is equally popular among lawyers. Transactional law involves transactions where a client has to interface with the law and needs a lawyer to help walk them through the legal process. Generally transactional attorneys do not go to court and are not involved in adversarial proceedings. For example, transactional work could include setting up a will or a trust, doing an adoption, or helping someone who has just invented a new product to patent it.
    • PROS: Transactional attorneys generally have a more predictable schedule because they are not at the mercy of court scheduling. Additionally, their work is usually not of the nature that it must be done .yesterday. so to speak. Transactional attorneys are also often thought of as the less-adversarial, competitive lawyers.people who are perhaps happier sitting at a desk, meeting with clients in non-adversarial positions, and avoiding the courtroom.
    • CONS: As with any field of work, those transactional attorneys who have very large and demanding clients can sometimes find themselves working as much if not more than the trial attorneys when they have a big merger or contract coming up. Another con of the transactional practice is that it does tend to be more document oriented meaning that transactional work is usually a desk-job that does not provide frequent opportunities for getting out of the office other than meeting with clients.
  • Litigation Law
                            
    • DESCRIPTION: Litigation work involves clients who are headed to court for one reason or another whether it is a criminal charge, a lawsuit, or a divorce. Therefore, everything litigation attorneys do is in preparation for trial from interviewing witnesses to visiting accident scenes to drafting motions and arguing them before the court. However, it is important to note that these days because of the expense of trial, 95% of cases settle out of court before going to trial, so even very good private practice trial attorneys might only actually end up going to court for an actual trial a few times a year.
    • PROS: Litigation attorneys are generally of a more competitive nature and enjoy the adrenalin rush of arguing a motion or standing up before a jury and making an opening statement. Because preparing for trial involves a multitude of different things, litigators are often able to spend more time out of the office than a transactional attorney because they do have to meet witnesses, visit accident scenes, etc.
    • CONS: Litigation can be very demanding and unpredictable. The essence of it is adversarial, so there is always a party on the opposite side disagreeing over whatever the issue is. Litigation attorneys are also at the mercy of court scheduling and must accommodate their schedule accordingly even if that means missing a vacation that had been planned for 6 months. Also, when a litigation attorney is in the middle of a trial, they can often work 14-16 hours a day; after the trial they might have some time off, but the actual trial can be very demanding.
• Legal Specialties
                  
  • General Considerations
                            
    • There are many different types of specialties within the law field. However, it is a common misconception among prelaw students that they must know before choosing a law school what they need to specialize in. Wherever a student goes to law school, they will graduate with a J.D. There are no majors in law school. The first year all students across the country take the same core legal courses. The second and third year students can take whatever courses they want to earn the credits necessary to graduate. It is generally in the first few years of practice that attorneys develop specialties rather than during law school. With the exception of intellectual property law, legal employers do not care so much about what classes a student has taken but rather what the student.s grades and general background are. Therefore, while the student might find it helpful to take courses in an area they are interested in, it will not necessarily help their marketability upon graduation.
  • Schools Offering Specialty Programs
                            
    • As a marketing technique, many law schools (especially third and fourth tier law schools) have begun offering .concentrations. or .certificates. in certain areas of law. However, if a student asks the question, .Is it better to go to a higher-ranked school or a school offering a specialty I am interested in?. most practitioners will tell you to go to the better school. This is for several reasons. First, as with undergraduates who change their majors many times after coming to college, so do many law students change their minds about working in a certain specialty after taking some classes in that area. Second, law school is not meant to teach students how to be a specific kind of lawyer, but to teach them how to .think like a lawyer. in any situation, which means that the skills learned in law school are transferable to any area of law. Third, many times the area that a student is interested in is so general (e.g. corporate law, criminal law, family law) that any law school will likely have several courses covering that area.
    • If you are very interested in working in a specific and narrow niche (e.g. sports law), it might be worthwhile to look at specialty programs; however, you will need to critique the programs very carefully and make sure that they really are offering more than what any other law schools could offer you. To find a listing of law schools that specialize in a certain subject, come visit the Prelaw Office and look at the NAPLA/SAPLA Book of Law School Lists. Unfortunately this text is not available online at this time.
  • Information on Specialties
                            
    • Because students often know what kind of area of law they want to generally practice in but really don't know that much about it, below are links to 2-page handouts on the major areas of legal specialties that give basic information about the specialty based on phone interviews conducted with attorneys currently practicing in that field. Questions include things such as, "What is the current demand for corporate attorneys? What is an average day like for a corporate attorney? How much is the average salary for a corporate attorney?"
      
      

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Non-Traditional Legal Practice

• A Juris Doctorate is widely considered as one of the most flexible graduate degrees available because above all else it is supposed to teach students how to think and write clearly, which are skills that are useful in many areas of life. Because of this, there are many people who choose to pursue a non-legal career. The following is a list adapted from a survey of 34,000 law school graduates of ABA accredited law schools who accepted non-legal positions in business, education, government and industry in recent years. Though the list is not exhaustive, it gives an idea of how broad the market is for someone with a JD.
  

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How can I know if law school and legal practice are for me?
    

• An Important Question Many Students Don't Ask
              
  • Law school is a huge investment of time and money so it is very important to know beforehand that it really is something you will be happy doing. Unfortunately, many students base their opinions of what they will do as a law student and attorney off of what they have seen on TV or read in a John Grisham novel and naturally assume that they will enjoy law school and a legal career. Do not be one of these students! If you were going to buy a $80,000 car or boat or vacation cabin, you would probably do a lot of research beforehand. Law school is no different; with the average debt being $80,000 by graduation, you must do the research before you invest! Additionally, though law school is only 3 years, legal practice is a career choice and for most becomes their profession for the rest of their lives so make sure it is something you will ultimately enjoy. By following the steps listed below, you will be equipped to comfortably make the commitment to law school and legal practice, knowing that you have done your research.
    First, Ask Yourself 3 Basic Questions
    1. Do I like to research, read, and write?
    Law school requires a lot of reading. Legal practice requires a lot of researching and writing. If you like neither, pursuing a legal education and career might not be the right choice for you.
    2. Do I like to solve other people's problems?
    At the heart of legal practice, you are solving other people's problems.your clients. problems. Their problems can range from .how do I get a divorce?. to .what kind of a contract should I enter into with foreign suppliers?. In order to excel in legal practice, you should find satisfaction in taking the problems of other people that they cannot solve themselves and solving the problems for them.
    3. Do I enjoy being presented with a new question and finding out the answer?
    Legal practice requires that you constantly be on your toes because each new client usually has something new or different in their particular situation that will force you to go back to the books and find a new answer or make a new argument specifically for their situation. This means that as an attorney, you are constantly intellectually challenged, which can be good because it means life doesn.t get boring, but bad because you will likely never have the kind of job where you get to sit back and do the same thing every single day.
    
• Second, Take a Career Fit Test
              
  • BYU's Counseling and Career Center, located on the second floor of the Wilkinson Center, has counselors and advisors who can meet with you and help you find a career fit test that will allow you to identify your strengths, weaknesses, and natural interests.
  • If you are not in the area, find a career fit test online, or visit your local library or bookstore to find one in a book.
• Third, Find Out if LAW SCHOOL is For You
              
  • Observe a First Year Law School Class at BYU Law School During fall and winter semesters, the Prelaw Center coordinates with BYU Law School to arrange for prelaw students to be able to sit in and observe first year law school classes. If you would like to sign up, come to the Prelaw Center and ask the receptionist for the sign-up sheet. There is usually one class available every day of the week. If you are not in the area, call a law school in your area and ask if you can observe a class there.
  • Register for St. Dev. 214, "Introduction to Law School" This course simulates many of the activities students will participate in during law school from briefing cases to preparing opening statements. The lectures, assignments, and exams are all geared towards allowing undergraduate students to get a glimpse of what 3 years of law school is like and allow the students to better evaluate whether law school is an environment that they will enjoy and do well in.

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Fourth, Find Out if LEGAL PRACTICE is For You
        

• Legal Practice is Different from Law School --Many students believe that if they enjoy law school, they are sure to enjoy being a lawyer. However, law school is very different from what lawyers do in the real world. To make sure that pursuing a legal education will lead you to an ultimate career path that you will enjoy, make sure you also spend some time finding out what legal practice entails by following some of the suggestions below.
• Register for St. Dev. 198, .Law Lecture Series. --This course is a lecture series where each week an attorney comes to lecture about their legal education and practice. The purpose of the course is to allow students to learn about what being a lawyer is really like. The speakers come from all areas of legal specialties. Grades are based solely on attendance and a 7-10 page legal research paper due at the end of the semester.
• Shadow an Attorney for a Day --Though this opportunity is not available through the Prelaw Center, many students have contacted friends or family who are practicing attorneys and asked if they could come .shadow. them for a day. This gives students an in-depth look at what the day-to-day tasks of an attorney are and allows the student to better understand what a legal career entails.
• Apply for a Legal Internship through the Prelaw Center --Each fall and winter, the Prelaw Center accepts applications for legal internships throughout Utah Valley that the Prelaw Center has set-up. Students who are chosen for the internships will work 3-5 hours a week as a legal intern at a local law office and receive internship credit. For more details, inquire at the office or simply make sure you are on the weekly email so you will receive announcements about when applications are being accepted.
• Attend Prelaw Events --See above.

Fifth, Come Talk to the Prelaw Advisor The Prelaw Advisor is not only an advisor, but also a former law student and a former prelaw student. She is always happy to meet with students and discuss their questions and concerns on an individual basis. She has walk-in hours year-round. Please inquire at the front desk for specific days and times of the current walk-in hours.

After the Research is Done, Determine if this is the Right Choice for You After you have gone through these steps, you should have a very accurate idea of what law school and legal practice will be like and whether they are a good "fit" for you. Though these steps do take time, it is much better to invest 30 or 40 hours researching the field now then realize one or two semesters into law school or one or two years into practice that you don't like what you are doing. Every year prelaw students finish a legal internship or a prelaw class and say, "I am so glad I did this internship/class because I realized that law is definitely not for me!"

xiaolongnu

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