Petition for readmission - help?

[Denny Shore]

Howdy,

I've been lurking for some time now and am pretty sure that this isn't going to be pretty.  I need some help and I'm hoping to get some here.  Be gentle.

When I was 19 or so, I was diagnosed with ADHD (maybe ADD, I wasn't paying attention).  I was placed on meds and had bad reactions to them.  Besides being somewhat opposed to the idea of medicating my problem, the drugs made my heart race and I found myself focusing too much on meaningless nonsense.  For example, during logic classes I'd focus on writing examples of common fallacy arguments and, inevitably, my teacher would ask me a question that would require that I had been listening to a word he'd said.

I stopped taking the meds and forced myself to concentrate.  The first few years of college were awful, but the last two were all A's and B's, and I was on the dean's list every semester.  When I got into law school, I was sure that I had figured out how to cope with the distraction and frustration that had made my education challenging.

While I was at law school, I thought I was doing well.  My prof's liked me and when I was called upon to participate, I usually sounded like I knew what I was talking about (except the first time, of course).  I studied hard and worked with other students to make sure I had a good grasp on the subject matter. 

Halfway through the semester (the morning of my only midterm), my grandfather died.  No *&^%.  I took the test and got a C+ on it.  I told my Prof about my grandfather because I had to take a class day off to attend to family stuff.  He was nice about it, but didn't adjust the grade (not my expectation, but some friends think he should have).  The loss of my grandfather hit me hard and I really didn't know how to deal with it.  Being a busy law student, I didn't really have enough time to spend with him as I knew he was dying.  I tried to ignore the loss, and I didn't have time to deal with it until after the semester ended.

When finals came about, I turned into a machine.  I studied every day, 12 or so hours a day Monday through Friday, and spent every waking moment on the weekends eating and reviewing everything about my courses for two weeks.  For the last two weeks before finals, I started a small study group with two guys I know and believe to be smart and capable.  We ran E&E's, law in a flash, commercial outlines, various other problem books, and general on topic discussion.  We did this every day.

My first final was my favorite course, Contracts I.  I knew this class cold and had spent close to half a day teaching a friend how to apply the statute of frauds.  I was confident and calm.  I was also the first one out of the test.  Immediately, I began to wonder if being first out was a good thing or a terrible, awful thing.

The next final, Torts, was the same.  First out.  I was solid in torts, but details are the essence of proper tort analysis.  Uh oh.

My Property final was brutal.  I was the second person to leave.

I figured that I had over prepared and at worst, I'd pass but not by much.  Then I tried to analyze my test performances and realized that one reason I was the first out was that I was anxious, wanted to finish as fast as I could, and felt frustrated throughout the tests.  It took forever to get my grades, and they were a huge shock.  My GPA was below the schools academic dismissal threshold and I was dismissed.  I spoke to every Prof, and none of them were permitted to change my grades (literally, if one prof had raised a grade by half a letter, I'd still be in school).

When I knew nothing could be done, I accepted it an reached out through family and friends to find anyone at my law school that could help me sort through this.  I met with one of the Dean's who is a close friend of a close friend and he put me in touch with a person who has helped other dismissed students get back in.  I made an appointment to see her, but she was all emotional and weird when what I wanted was advice and guidance.  After listening to her shtick about it not being so bad (it is) and how everything is about perspective (mine is that I want to be a lawyer and the school kicked me out) and blah blah.  So after half an hour of her verbally hugging me, she gave me some ridiculous advice that would have me working full time, taking more undergrad course full time, volunteering full time, and who knows, writing a book.  Seriously, I did the math and her idea would have me working, studying, going to school and volunteering 90-100 hours a week.  She did offer to read my petition and give suggestions/advice, which I'll take her up on in a few weeks.

After sulking for a few weeks, my Dad asked me to help out for a few days at his law firm, which was busier than normal.  Three days later, his receptionist quit and he asked me to stay and answer the phones, do some filing, etc until he found a replacement.  Inside of a week, I was working on petitions and expungements.  On the side, I upgraded all their computers and handled a lot of their IT issues.  They found a replacement receptionist and asked me to stay on as a law clerk/IT guy.  For the last few months, I've been busy drafting motions and petitions, doing document review, handling expungements and combing through transcripts looking for issues that can be challenged (on top of implementing a new billing system and fixing various other IT problems).

SO, what I am hoping is that someone out there either submitted a successful petition for readmission or knows someone that did who can dole out some advice or provide me with their winning docs.  Essentially, I think I have a good idea of what to write about, but I'd appreciate any help possible.

I plan on saying that my past performance is not indicative of future results because
- I had been untreated for ADHD (I have since been to a doctor and placed on different meds that don't weird me out at all and seem to be just mild enough to be comfortable, but effective enough to make me more productive and patient) and have corrected that.
- My Grandfathers death had an enormous impact on my ability to perform well.
- I've been working in the legal field since leaving law school and it has increased my desire to become an attorney while improving my skills and knowledge.
- I truly want to be a lawyer and am willing to work at a law firm for bupkies when in my previous career I had been making a high five figure salary and could be doing that now.

Any advice?  What should I emphasize?  Does anyone have a copy of a petition for readmission that worked?  Is anyone else working on one that would be willing to share?

PM me, post it here - whatever you are comfortable with....

Thanks in advance.....

[TheDudeMan]

Dude if you were that close to failing (likely at a T4), then why are you bothering?  You aren't likely going to have job prospects, what do you want to do as a lawyer?  What's the point?

Not trying to be mean, but seriously....

[Denny Shore]

Dude if you were that close to failing (likely at a T4), then why are you bothering?  You aren't likely going to have job prospects, what do you want to do as a lawyer?  What's the point?

Not trying to be mean, but seriously....

You haven't been mean (and I appreciate that).
So, as you requested, here's the point:
- I want to be a lawyer.
Good enough?  No?
Okay, here's more:
When I decided to go to law school, it wasn't motivated by money (I had an awesome job, tons of skills, and made high 5 figures, well on my way to six figures).  I was inspired by actual service on a jury.  This is a personal journey.  I have a job waiting for me when I pass the bar.

If you read my long, detailed story, you should see that there were factors that led to testing issues.  Bear in mind that I was the class 'expert' that people bothered (every day) in the library to explain and discuss complex legal concepts.  It got so bad that I would find myself spending more time teaching the law than studying it.  At first, I tried hiding in the library in areas where no one seemed to go.  That didn't work.  People would find me.  Then I started studying in classrooms that weren't being used.  That didn't work either.  Invariably, someone would run into me then email others who would also come find me and I'd be back talking about proximate cause or SOF or UCC.  It got so bad that I had to schedule time to be free for discussions, then would head home and study by myself with my phone off so no one could get to me.  One student who happened to live by me started 'stopping by' randomly and would end up keeping me away from my work to help them with theirs.

To sum up, I understood the material very well and found school to be rather enjoyable.  I'm sick.  I know that now.

I don't think for a second that I can't do it.  I believe, completely, that my test performance was not indicative of my ability.  Every Professor I went to speak to told me that my scores were a complete shock to them.

So the point is - I want to do it because I know I can.  Now that I have the ADD thing managed, I don't think there's a chance I'd do poorly in law school.

Thanks for the post.  I get where you are coming from, really I do.  Many who fail out delude themselves into thinking it was a fluke.  Many who fail out deserved to for one reason or another.  I'm not in the category of people who shouldn't go back.  For some, it's best to let it go and move on.  For me, it would be a waste to do so.

Now, if anyone would like to help, I'd appreciate that too.

Any suggestions as to form, focus, or approach would be great.  I'd absolutely love it if someone who weathered this storm could PM me and shoot me over a copy of what worked for them.

[TheDudeMan]

What do you want to do with the JD though?  Jury duty inspired you?  Sounds like you have watched too much law and order.  I mean, odds are you aren't ever going to get into a reputable prosecutor's office with crap grades and how do you plan on paying off your law school loans with a low paying job?

Finally, I'll be honest.  A lawyer is a powerful profession and I don't think that people should be represented by failures.  You had your chance and blew it.  Move on.  Any school that lets you back is a joke anyway.

I mean your friends thought you should have your grade changed?  Give me a break.  This is law school, not kindergarten.

[Denny Shore]

What do you want to do with the JD though?  Jury duty inspired you?  Sounds like you have watched too much law and order.  I mean, odds are you aren't ever going to get into a reputable prosecutor's office with crap grades and how do you plan on paying off your law school loans with a low paying job?

Finally, I'll be honest.  A lawyer is a powerful profession and I don't think that people should be represented by failures.  You had your chance and blew it.  Move on.  Any school that lets you back is a joke anyway.

I mean your friends thought you should have your grade changed?  Give me a break.  This is law school, not kindergarten.

Seriously, I don't think people read what others write and choose to answer based on what they think instead of what is.

So, I'll answer:
"What do you want to do with the JD though?"
Criminal defense work.

"Jury duty inspired you?"
Yes.  My father is a lawyer.  I grew up with it and decided to ignore it.  Jury duty opened my eyes to the beauty of the legal profession that I long ignored.

"Sounds like you have watched too much law and order."
I hate law and order.  Watched it once and thought it was boring.

"I mean, odds are you aren't ever going to get into a reputable prosecutor's office with crap grades and how do you plan on paying off your law school loans with a low paying job?"
Well that's good.  I don't want to be a prosecutor, though if I wanted to I could because my dad knows every prosecutor in my area and is close friends with the States Attorney (who has been to my house for dinner).  Another thing that I guess needs explanation is that I won't have 'crap grades' if I get back in - I would start over as a new student and believe I could get decent grades.

"how do you plan on paying off your law school loans with a low paying job?"
First, I don't plan on getting a low paying job.  I have a decent paying one waiting for me that would evolve into a partnership in less than 5 years.  Second, my law school loans will end up being less than $50k.  So don't sweat how I'm going to pay that off.

"A lawyer is a powerful profession and I don't think that people should be represented by failures."
This illustrates your youth and inexperience with life.  Some of the world's greatest successes failed, and many many times.
Isaac Newton did poorly in grade school.
Beethoven's music teacher once said of him "as a composer he is hopeless."
When Thomas Edison was a boy his teacher told him he was too stupid to learn anything.
F.W. Woolworth got a job in a dry good store when he was 21, but his employer would not let him wait on customers because he "didn't have enough sense."
Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team.
A newspaper editor fired Walt Disney because he had no good ideas.
Winston Churchill failed the 6th grade.
Steven Spielberg dropped out of high school in his sophomore year. He was persuaded to come back and placed in a learning disabled class. He lasted a month and dropped out of school forever.
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/26591

Failure makes you stronger and teaches lessons.  I know far too many incredible and successful lawyers who almost failed out of law school, took the bar 5 times, etc.

"You had your chance and blew it.  Move on."
Now you're just being a male private part.

"Any school that lets you back is a joke anyway."
That's a bizarre statement.  Virtually every law school has a readmission policy in place.  Likely, even yours.  This is an 'elitist' argument, and one based on your personal opinions, not fact.

Thanks for sharing, but I'm not really interested in an argument over whether I should be readmitted or if I am wasting my time.  Unlike the person you THOUGHT you were talking to, I've already made up my mind.  I will be readmitted.  If you want to help, feel free.  If you want to discourage me from trying, you will fail and will be wasting your effort.  So do us both a favor and ignore the thread if your only response is going to be that I should give up.

You will have more time to leave comments on other threads and I won't have to skip over your posts on this thread or form an opinion about you and your level of maturity and understanding of the world.

Thanks!

:-)

[Matthies]

I was going to post this before, but Denny already did it. 3Le for a law student you made a lot of assumptions not in the fact pattern. T4 assumption, lots of debt assumption, law and order assumption and completely missed the fact that he was working as a law clerk now for his father, which sounds like a job to me. At least to me his response was what I thought it might be. Don’t just assume everyone is like you because most people you know are. Anyway, good luck OP.

[ByronHadley]

Finally, I'll be honest.  A lawyer is a powerful profession and I don't think that people should be represented by failures.  You had your chance and blew it.  Move on.  Any school that lets you back is a joke anyway.

There are 1 million lawyers in the US.  The law of supply and demand negates your point about power. 

[TheDudeMan]

I'm not even reading your ramble.  You must have a great job now if you have time to sit around writing 5 page novels on discussion boards.

Also, I love your 5 years to partner comment lol.  LoL.  Daddy being a solo with a small firm hardly leads to greatness.  If you are as dumb as your first go with law school proved to be (and likely at a *&^% school at that), then no amount of connections will save you from yourself.

Good luck.  

[TheDudeMan]

Finally, I'll be honest.  A lawyer is a powerful profession and I don't think that people should be represented by failures.  You had your chance and blew it.  Move on.  Any school that lets you back is a joke anyway.

There are 1 million lawyers in the US.  The law of supply and demand negates your point about power. 

By power I mean the ability to screw up a person's life.  Lawyers are entrusted with that power.

[ByronHadley]

Finally, I'll be honest.  A lawyer is a powerful profession and I don't think that people should be represented by failures.  You had your chance and blew it.  Move on.  Any school that lets you back is a joke anyway.

There are 1 million lawyers in the US.  The law of supply and demand negates your point about power. 

By power I mean the ability to screw up a person's life.  Lawyers are entrusted with that power.

That is not much power.  If you screw up someone else's life you will be sued for malpractice.  Unless you are interested in career suicide the power is mostly myth.