CALI's Pre-Law Blog

9 Apr, 2008

...to make its second to last post.

Let me explain. I think this blog has run its course now that I am no longer in law school and the Illinois bar is successfully behind me. I’m just not sure there is much I can add to a conversation about being a pre-law or law student at this point (and I’d rather not share my upcoming job search experiences on the internet for obvious reasons).

So I’ll make one final post summing up this blog soon. And I’ll leave this blog up for whomever happens to find it in the future until CALI decides to take it down.

Thanks to those who were paying attention.

11 Feb, 2008

The pre-law blog will be going on hiatus until at least after the 2008 February Bar Exam.

The last piece of advice I have is to those thinking about working and studying for the bar (below):

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4 Feb, 2008

I've always been an advocate of telling future law students never to assume or count on the ability to transfer up to a higher reputation law school.

It takes top grades/high class rank to transfer up to a higher ranked school most of the time, so you never where you'll end up in the class rankings among your peers with basically everyone gunning for the top of the class. Assume you will graduate from the school at which you start.

But Prelaw Advisor writes about a deal between a waitlisted applicant and a law school that created a creative way to almost assure a transfer up: if the student got better than a 3.0 at another law school, the highly ranked law school would accept that student as a transfer going into 2L.

Pretty nice deal for the student! Although it's too bad that schools aren't able to take chances on an applicant like this out of the gate because of the strict focus on LSAT numbers.

I don't know how prevalent offers like this are, but if you can work a deal like this with a law school at which you have been waitlisted, especially if one of your top choices, you should take it. At which point the prospects of transferring would become a much more likely.

31 Jan, 2008

Legal bloggers are talking about a recent state university that punished a student for an extremely inflammatory teacher evaluation.

Problem is, of course, most schools promise anonymity with regard to student evaluations of teachers.

So what should this tell you, as a student, about student evalutions?

See the list below...

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28 Jan, 2008

As first semester grades roll in a month after finals, students are FINALLY receiving, for the most part, their first real feedback of law school. Congratulations to those of you who met or exceeded your expectations!

But unfortunately for a lot of students, with grades comes a bit of a (or a big) disappointment.

One reader sent this:

I just received my 1st semester grades at Boston College Law...I cannot believe I got a 2.55 gpa. I thought I knew my"stuff" I wasn't lost in class... What happens to the students that graduate in the bottom of the class? Everyone told me that where you place in the beginning is pretty much where you stay. I would love to hear from any BC graduates that weren't in the top of the class Where are they now and how did they get there?

Click below to see the response...

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23 Jan, 2008

Professor Bowman of Law Career blog has some more good advice for law school exam takers after reflecting on last semester's batch of exams.

18 Jan, 2008

It's been done several times in the past year...a legitimate news source does a write-up on law school, citing the high tuition, high student loan debt, high expectations law students have to make a lot of money (many feeling misled by law school marketing material touting high average salaries), and the disappointment of so many law students in discovering the two-tiered nature of starting salaries.

Professor Caron posts a useful roundup of the latest reactions to another one of those articles.

I hate to keep posting this sort of stuff, but it is important for law school applicants to fully comprehend the risks before deciding to go to certain law schools. So it is good we are seeing this sort of discussion.

But I, like Carol Elefant at Legal Blog Watch, wish there was more discussion among academic insiders.

Surprisingly, I haven't seen much discussion about this topic in the academic blogosphere. Surely, most law professors (who generally have top credentials that would qualify them for jobs at large firms) must realize that the job prospects for lower performing students are dim. Yet, I've not seen any law professors offer advice on whether to attend law school.

15 Jan, 2008

Well, it's 10 days into Bar/Bri. The strains of working while taking a comprehensive bar review course are about what I expected. At this point I'm making flashcards like crazy and keeping some pretty strange hours.

Last time I checked in, I was trying to follow the course exactly as instructed.

That went on for about two days. On the advice of friends who took and passed the Illinois bar, it occurred to me that any return brought about by reading the extensive outlines of an entire subject before lectures is probably outweighed by the large chunk of time it takes to wade through such an outline.

It was nice to hear that from people who have passed the bar because reading the extensive outlines before lectures is nearly impossible for someone who is working full-time. I definitely don't want lecture preparation time to cut into the practice or reviewing that definitely needs to be done.

A lot of studying for the bar while working full-time is about being efficient with time, so I basically cut the large outlines out of the plan. Most of my time is spent condensing the short outlines and lecture notes into flashcards right after the lecture, and then doing the assigned practice problems and essays. Hopefully this works!

11 Jan, 2008

If you're a 1L you will soon, if you haven't already, get your first semester grades. As the blog Out of the Jungle points out...

[M]any got a shock. For the first time in your life, as a 1-L, you are running with a whole pack of the folks who were at the tops of their class. And, law school is different from any other school you may have had before. Even MDs, engineers and PhD holders can get a shock at their first law school exam and grades.

Yes, the first time with a strict grading curve which is derived from a single final exam, meaning no feedback throughout the semester, can result in a big disappointment for many first year law students.

See their list of tips for law students entering their second semester in this post.

I will add that you have to take first semester grades in context, as well. While your GPA may be lower first semester 1L than you had become accustomed to in undergrad, you still might have a great GPA for your law school class, depending on how your school curves.

This is especially true for all of you former straight A students in undergrad. All A's is nearly impossible in law school. It is your standing (class rank) amongst your peers in the class that is important. And without knowing that, your GPA is really meaningless.

7 Jan, 2008

This winter's Pre-Law Magazine is now available for free online in digital format. Here is a sampling of the content:

• Most Political Liberal or Conservative
• All Night Law School: What part-time law students are finding
• Advocacy & Dispute Resolutions
• Law School Applications Decline
• Innovative Bar Exam Prep
• AutoAdmit.com Lawsuit Revisited

The National Jurist (it's sister magazine aimed at law students) is worth a look too:

• How Much Will You Earn: Large law firms are now paying $160,000.00 to new associates. See how your school compares.
  
• Experience Studying Abroad: Check out our annual guide to programs and hear as law students recount their experiences.
• Off The Bench: A law student's final revenge.
• For The Record: Find out who's been arrested, who's caught up in controversy and who's been recognized.
• Trends & Profiles: Most political law schools.

5 Jan, 2008

Law.com points us to the Law School Survey of Student Engagement. Here is the link to a .PDF roundup of the survey findings (which Law.com may have accidentally left out of their post).

I think the most interesting to future law students is the comparison of 1L's to 3L's (taken from the .pdf above).

This really highlights a problem that many note with the third year of law school (see this article as an example). Many of the best students have virtually locked up big firm jobs after graduation on the basis of their first year grades when they were hired as a summer associate in the fall of their second year. And successfully completing the summer associate position without messing up too bad in the summer between second and third year is a virtual guarantee of a job offer. So many are obviously less motivated.

Moreover, the classes are often not curved as harshly after the first year. And many students are just looking for the easiest classes to pad gpa or relax a little before going into the working world.

This is why many call for a more practical, skills-based upper level classes and some even call for the elimination of 3L entirely.

3 Jan, 2008

Bar/Bri started yesterday for many students (at least students in Illinois). What to expect on the first night of Bar/Bri? See more about the first night of Bar/Bri by clicking below...

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2 Jan, 2008

Hope everyone enjoyed their time off from work and/or school! After a brief hiatus, the Pre-Law Blog will resume posting...

The Frugal Law Student (last day to vote for FLS at the ABA Blawg 100, so go do that real quick) student points us to a relevant new site. AlreadyBored.com looks to be a great and free new tool for future law firm associates

Click below to learn more...

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21 Dec, 2007

Well, the pre-law blog has unofficially graduated from law school, pending passing grades in two courses. Thus, it is on to the Illinois bar exam in February.

I try not to make this blog too much about me, I don't think I'm an especially interesting person and don't have a special need for attention like some bloggers. I enjoy my privacy and luckily not enough people likely read this blog to matter anyway. But...I think the experiences involved with the bar exam review course (Bar/Bri) and the bar exam itself are worth chronicling here. So I'll try to post updates on some of my experiences along the way.

Click for more below...

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20 Dec, 2007

Here is WSJ Law Blog post on students suing law schools. As always, it elicits some interesting comments from the WSJ law blog readers.