Do people actually work during law school?

[BarbellDreams]

Hi guys, I am a law student to be and was wondering with all the heavy workload and studying for 14 hours per day that I hear so much about, do full time law students ever actually have jobs? If they do, can they actually get good grades while working (even part time obviously?

I am under the impression that to get good grades there is no time for working but my dad seems to think if I don't work I am just being lazy... thoughts?

[Thistle]

ABA rules allow a 1L to only work 20 hours a week as a full-time student, but many law schools do not permit their 1Ls to work at all.

[,.,.,.;.,.,.]

Hi guys, I am a law student to be and was wondering with all the heavy workload and studying for 14 hours per day that I hear so much about, do full time law students ever actually have jobs? If they do, can they actually get good grades while working (even part time obviously?

I am under the impression that to get good grades there is no time for working but my dad seems to think if I don't work I am just being lazy... thoughts?

I can only speak to the 1L year, but I can say with absolute confidence that having a job is practically impossible, or, at least, extremely ill-advised.  (You seem to know why--at worst, a job would distract you from studying or physically exhaust you, and at best, it would just take a couple hours out of your day that you should absolutely spend studying if you want to succeed.)

I'm sort of pissed at your dad, actually.  He clearly has no idea what he's talking about.

Agreed.  This man is obviously an idiot.  I bet he also thinks he knows everything about law school because he caught the Paper Chase at a Motel 6 once.

[OingoBoingo]

You know, give the guy a break. As a 3L looking back on a 1L year, I wonder how I managed to waste so much time. I had a few friends doing engineering and web development work during their 1L year and they did fine. Although ill advised, it is not impossible, especially if you enter law school with good time management skills.

Most people do not get time management and law school until their second year. Perhpas this is the reason for the policy.....

Oingo

[Terrible Ivan]

It all depends on your ability to manage your time and resources. Working might be ill-advised for most 1Ls, but there are plenty who do it and still do well. I worked ~8 hours per week for much of my first year, taking time off only for the two weeks preceding finals. Sure, I miss out on happy hour runs and most of the lounging I see around the school, but it has served me well. I'm in the middle of my second year and have two part-time jobs (one at a firm and one where I worked before I enrolled in law school).

Do my grades suffer? I don't know. I worked full-time through all 4 years of undergrad and did great. I'm on law review at T10, so there certainly aren't any bells tolling for me.

But the credited response is to ask your old man to get a second job to help pay your way.

Ivan

EDIT: here's an earlier discussion on the same topic: http://www.lawschooldiscussion.org/prelaw/index.php/topic,4010070.msg5089365.html

[AFever]

As others have pointed out, working during 1L year is probably ill-advised, even if not disallowed by your school. However, I'm a 3L who has been working 15 hrs/wk this year at my job from last summer, and its been great. My grades have never been better, and the money is obviously nice. I should note, though, that my employer is super laid back and understanding that my school comes first, and I probably wouldn't be working there otherwise.

[bt]

Job opportunities during the summers seem to be enough to make up for not working during the school year.  At the very least, I would never dream of working during 1L since that seems to be the most important year.  Any extra cash you may bring in is not worth whatever study/leisure time you've missed out on during 1L.