Sunday, September 14, 2008

What do I need to know about becoming a lawyer? -

How many days a week do students go to school for becoming a lawyer? Do they have breaks? How many hours a day do they study?

5 days a week in school, breaks depend on the school, 6-8+ hours a day (average) studying, weekends included. It is a LOT of work.

Days a week is just like undergrad. If you take 15 credits you are in class 15 hours a week, usually over the course of Mon-Fri. You get breaks just like any other school, 3 weeks for X-mas, Thanksgiving ect. On average I study, outside of class time, about 40-50 hours a week (which is during the semester, during exams at the end of the semester this total can easily reach 80 hours a week, but this is only for a 2 week period) Overall law school consumes about 50-60 hours of my life each week, not as bad as many people make it out to be, but it is very challenging and takes a lot of self discipline.

This depends on if you are a 1L (a first year) or further into your law school career. The most important part is to understand HOW to study for lawschool. (which I will address later) But first..you go to school depending on the number of classes you have and your status(full/part time). As for breaks, thats up to you, are you getting the info and concepts or do you need to study more. No one person can say how many hours a day to study, it depends on each person.Most schools rarely allow you to work during first year for this reason. The way to study for lawschool is different from undergrad. You need to be prepared on day ONE. Don t go to your first class unprepared. You will find the syllabus for class during registration. To study for lawschool read the first chapter to get an idea of what you will be talking about. Then identify the cases you will discuss by writing in a lawchool notebook(has a column on the left which is narrow for your study notes and a wider section for class notes on each sheet of paper. On the leftside, write the relevant case name, the plaintiff, the respodendant, the issue they are in court over,the finding by the court and the courts reasoning along with any relevant caselaw. Should it be a concept you are covering like civil procedure you should also know what the concept means. No one expects you to know it all, so use those book they sell in the bookstore which follow the textbooks. They will help you find some basic answers. For example few first years can even find out who the plantiff is in the case Pennoyer v. Neff (spelling may not be correct,been a longtime for me). Dont expect direct answers from a law profesor, they use the Socratic method. That is, you answer yes the issue is...and they continue to question you, never telling you right or wrong.The reason is the law is rarely absolute and the best argument can win. So keeping this in mind how long and how much do You need to study. It is a matter of individual ability to convert a smart mind into a smart legal mind...good luck hope this helps.

While you are in law school, you can pretty much depend on devoting almost all of your waking hours to classes and studying. You do get breaks like any other college but even then, you need to review and write papers. It is a very tough 3 years.

I find that you are already much too concerned about how much you have to study. In such a case, becoming a lawyer is not for you.

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