Law School Discussion

I just wanted to warn people who are thinking about buying Dells for law school.

I got mine last August - it has crashed 3 times since then.  It's a lattitude.

So, if you are getting a Dell, at the very least get the 3 year protection plan!

I think you are confusing what you learn from a commercial outline and what you learn from a casebook.

Commercial outlines give you the "law" - the elements whatever issue you are looking at.

For example - negligence is the breach of the duty of reasonable care that causes damages.
1.  Duty is...
2.  Breach is...

A casebook usually gives you a brief rundown of the elements in the intro material, but then the cases give you the reasoning behind why an element is or is not present.

It is important to know the black letter law - what you get from the commercial outlines.  Basically everyone goes into a test knowing this.
It is more important to know the reasoning behind the law - what you get from casebooks.  This is what seperates the A's from the C's.

Different people learn from different methods, and there is no one right way to study, but what you definatly don't want to do it go into law school with a set method - you need to try different things to see what works for you.

Personally, I read the cases, make a few notes in the margins, and then read that section of an E&E - I don't really use commerical outlines at all (gilbers, etc.) - I just learn better from explanations and problems than from elements laid out - some people are the opposite.  It is different for everyone.  And different methods will work better for some classes than others.

Just don't try to go into lawschool thinking that you know what will work - try different things to find what is best for you in each of your classes.  This year it has been very amusing to watch the people that had it "all figured out" before law school started - first semester, they thought they were guaranteed LR.  After grades came out, in second semester, there was a lot less bragging...

Quote from: queencruella on May 05, 2007, 02:29:42 PM

The median salary for people with a bachelor's degree in the US is $38K for women and around $51K for men. I'd say it makes sense for most people since coming out of law school you'll probably make that much to start. You are just out of touch with reality.

um.

http://bwnt.businessweek.com/bschools/undergraduate/07rankings/index.asp
http://www.ere.net/blogs/Looking_Toward_the_Future/99F80AB060844B5EB6BAEAAA47C2693C.asp

Mechanical Engineering graduates - $54,587 (up 7.7 percent from last year’s average)
Chemical Engineering graduates - $60, 054 (up 7.4 percent from last year’s average)
Electrical Engineering graduates - $54, 599 (up 3.2 percent from 06)
Computer Science graduates - $51,070 (up 2% from last year’s average starting salary)
Civil Engineering graduates - $47,145
Finance graduates - $47,905
Economics Majors - $51,631

Um.  $51k median?  So what?  Above are STARTING SALARIES.

I wonder what the percentage of engineering/econ majors is to liberal arts majors?

Surely you don't think the average english lit major is going to earn 50K to start?

Quote from: waitlisted on May 05, 2007, 01:51:04 PM

Quote from: Tulane1L on May 05, 2007, 01:45:27 PM

Especially when you haven't been to a single day of law school yet, and seen that it is *not* exactly like 0Ls on a message board would have you believe.

My friends at a middling Tier 1 school have basically confirmed that what is said on message boards is by and large true. 

The ones with median GPAs have nothing even 2L summer, ones in top 20% have local biglaw lined up.

t3.  state school.  top 50%.  summer clerkship as a 1L.

Yeah...there are plenty of 1Ls at my school that are not in the top of the class, or even in the top half, that have good summer gigs lined up.  I am not in the top 10%, or even close, and got plenty of interviews, and am doing exactly what I want to do this summer.

Grades are important.  So is personality.  And so is who you know.  Really, at any given school, there will be top students that don't get the jobs they want, and bottom students who do.  And it will seem like a mystery as to why if you think that *all* that matters is school ranking and grades.

Methinks the importance of rankings is blown out of proportions on these boards.

Obviously there is a difference in job opportunities between Harvard and East Boise Law School.  But surely very few people are chooing between Yale and Southern University....If you get into a top school, great, milk it, you will have lots of amazing oportunities.

If you don't, or you have to go to a lower ranked school for family or money reasons or whatever, great, go, you will still have some great job oportunities.  Yes, there are people who regret going to a lower ranked law school.  There are people that went to top schools that regret going to law school at all.  And there are people that do borrow $150k to go to tier 4 schools, and they handle it and end up just fine, just like there are people that wish they had made other choices.

So stop all the hate between the top schools and "bottom" schools - be happy that everyone is getting to pursue the career/degree that they want, whether it be from Cooley or Stanford.  There is no reason to try to make someone feel bad about the school that they are attending, and moreover, there is no reason to "open someone's eyes" to the debt or lack of job opportunites that they might have.  Especially when you haven't been to a single day of law school yet, and seen that it is *not* exactly like 0Ls on a message board would have you believe.