1Ls: Are You Happy You Went to LS?

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

My classmates actually complain that I talk about law school too much.  I don't get it.  If anything, we don't talk about it enough.

I don't necessarily disagree with you here.  It scares me that some people don't ever want to talk about the law--what are they going to do when they're doing this for their career?  (Some of them will enjoy it still, when they find a job that matches their specific interests.  However, many of them will be unsatisfied--and that's a shame.)

And that's why I think there are so many unhappy lawyers.  You really need passion to grind through literally thousands of pages of law under pressure and still stay sane.  How are you going to read cases, take depositions, and prepare motions for days on end who you can't handle a few hours of it in the library?

But I shouldn't judge, lest I be judged.  (And people do tend to judge.)

[dischord]

  How are you going to read cases, take depositions, and prepare motions for days on end who you can't handle a few hours of it in the library?

I'll be the first to point out that the bolded, especially the stuff that isn't reading cases, isn't really all that similar to exam prep.

Anyway, I'll bite. 

I'm ambivalent about 1L.  In some respects I'm very unhappy --  I don't do well with this much stress and structured time.  I can't help but feel that this is all for naught, as there's no way I'm going to be employable IN THIS ECONOMY, and the crushing sense of futility and defeat has started to make it difficult for me to motivate myself to do work.  I also have been spending the little bit of free time I have trying to pretend that I'm not in law school and reconnecting with my old life -- going to shows, hanging out with creative/musician types, etc.  But this has been making me feel like law school may have been a bad choice for me.

But I still like the content of the readings (just not the amount), and I'm psyched for my summer job.  So I think I either am going to be one of those people who prefers practice to law school, or I'm just going through growing pains realizing that maybe Biglaw isn't for me and that I'll be more at home doing public interest stuff, financial ruin be damned.

[UnbiasedObserver]

And that's why I think there are so many unhappy lawyers.  You really need passion to grind through literally thousands of pages of law under pressure and still stay sane.  How are you going to read cases, take depositions, and prepare motions for days on end who you can't handle a few hours of it in the library?

But I shouldn't judge, lest I be judged.  (And people do tend to judge.)

It's not just your conjecture; studies show that lawyers (and law students) are depressed at higher rates than the average population. 

I know that personally I am NOT judging them.  If you don't like the law, you don't like the law.  Everyone has different interests/goals/etc.  In fact, I feel bad for them, and I really hope that they will enjoy practicing much more than law school. (And there is hope; I have a good friend who is a lawyer who HATED law school, but loves practicing law.) 

[just some guy]

I'm happy all of you went to law school.

[no634]

Yes. UMN Law = the business.

[Matthies]

Christ I can’t wait for it to be over. Granted I have been in law school since some of you were seniors in high school. I think back to 1L and I think I remember enjoying it. It’s not that I don’t enjoy law school now, I do, I’m just burnt the F out after five years of it. I have not been to class in two weeks, likely will skip tonight. I just can’t get myself to care at this point what with nine inches of fresh pow in the mountains tonight. I will say I’m not looking forward to the bar exam, I’d rather stay unmotivated in law school for another year than try to remember all that crap right now. It is what it is at this point for me.

[Contract2008]

Christ I can’t wait for it to be over. Granted I have been in law school since some of you were seniors in high school. I think back to 1L and I think I remember enjoying it. It’s not that I don’t enjoy law school now, I do, I’m just burnt the F out after five years of it. I have not been to class in two weeks, likely will skip tonight. I just can’t get myself to care at this point what with nine inches of fresh pow in the mountains tonight. I will say I’m not looking forward to the bar exam, I’d rather stay unmotivated in law school for another year than try to remember all that crap right now. It is what it is at this point for me.

What's your story again?   Part-time, right?  Which law school are you at?  How old are you and what kind of job do you have? 

[Matthies]

Christ I can’t wait for it to be over. Granted I have been in law school since some of you were seniors in high school. I think back to 1L and I think I remember enjoying it. It’s not that I don’t enjoy law school now, I do, I’m just burnt the F out after five years of it. I have not been to class in two weeks, likely will skip tonight. I just can’t get myself to care at this point what with nine inches of fresh pow in the mountains tonight. I will say I’m not looking forward to the bar exam, I’d rather stay unmotivated in law school for another year than try to remember all that crap right now. It is what it is at this point for me.

What's your story again?   Part-time, right?  Which law school are you at?  How old are you and what kind of job do you have? 

Part time plus an LLM/MLS, Denver, old enough, offers but not doing what I want to pratcice so have not accepted anything yet, I'm pretty picky about what type of law I'll do, if I can't do that I'll go back to my old proffesion.

[stricly bricly]

yes.  and on days that are not the days before a final draft of a brief is due, i would even describe myself as "thrilled."

[Eugene Young]

Brief due tomorrow,  so at the moment, no. But usually, yes, but not because I particularly enjoy  law school. I've met some really good people, and there are others I'd gladly push into an oncoming locomotive and hope they end up like the one-armed kid in Erie. OK Maybe not that harsh, but you get the point. But right now with this friggin' brief deadline staring me in the face, I rue the day I sent in my seat deposit.