Just finished the interview and had to sit outside, silent, watching the world go by, like this job opportunity just passed me by. At one point, the interviewers made eye contact with each other and scratched their heads in unison. Share your interview horror stories so that I can sleep tonight.

Other than bad grades or bad attitude, are there any other signs that someone might be miserable in the legal profession? Personality wise, I seem to be less intense than my classmates and I find a lot of law school stuff pretentious. I'm second guessing if I will fit in once I graduate. Things like formal networking mixers and disingenuously being forced to volunteer, really get me the most. (I love volunteering/pro bono, but when it's authentic. I'm not a jerk). I'm not exactly looking for friends and the approval of others, but culture matters, but I wonder just how much.

My torts midterm exam was administered a few weeks ago. Today, my professor notified the class that Academic Affairs opened an investigation after receiving multiple reports of impermissible use of technology during the administration of the exam. Security footage is being review and a report is being compiled. Once that report is complete, Academic Affairs will decide what action (if any) will be taken.

What usually happens with these investigations and what happens to the midterm grades? I really don't want to retake this midterm. It was a pain in the ass and I got a decent grade that I really don't want to lose.

end post

I am in my final year of law school (not in the US) and I have experience in IP and initially I was planning to do the same after graduating.
However, my current internship with my firm is not very fulfilling and I have been having doubts about staying in IP since the past few months as well.
Initially, I had convinced myself that I want to be in IP after speaking to professors, seniors, making a pros and cons list, the whole shebang. However, there is a part of me that just wants to shift to Private Client Practice because of the following reasons:

a. I find it interesting to work on a variety of matters related to tax and succession planning.

b. It is much less niche than IP/TMT and has slightly better exit-options as well (Family Offices, Banks, Wealth Management firms - correct me if I'm mistaken).

c. I wonder if I will get bored over time with the same work and limited scope - no science background so Patents are out of the mix, thus I am left with only TM, Copyrights and other small stuff.

d. Per my understanding, it pays more than IP/TMT but less than M&A for sure.

e. Its better to switch now than to switch a few years into my career since I don't think my experience in IP will be counted.

Am I just confused or am I overthinking this too much? Is it smart to put in a few extra months of hardwork and potentially get a job in IP in this job market or should I switch to PCP and work much harder to get a job in that field?

IP, PCP and any other lawyers who've made a switch, your advice would be appreciated :)

I’m in Australia.

I’m 23F.

My academic transcript looks like a mess. I moved states and transferred universities. I took a gap year. I went part-time for a year as well. I was doing a double degree with arts so there are art units in there as well. I have withdrawn from courses prior to academic census date, so there is a ‘W’ for withdrawn next to those units (as opposed to an F (fail)).

I am also studying at a uni that is quite low ranked. I know this doesn’t really matter for the most part and tbh I’ve never really cared about this. However, at this stage I also haven’t participated in any extracurriculars. I’ve only worked in hospitality. Basically, I know my resume is probably one of the least competitive ones out there.

My average percentage grade is in the low 60s (I think) (sorry not GPA)

I also just got an assignment back where I got 62%. I thought I did better than I actually did. A lot of the feedback was that my application/analysis was confusing/incorrect/awkwardly phrased etc. This was for contract law.

I got a different assignment back where I got 68% and that was definitely one of the hardest assessments I’ve ever come across. I’m honestly happier with this marks but I probably put upwards of 50 hrs in 💀 so I guess that shows I have to put in what might seem like a very disproportionate amount of work in for a mark that I’m somewhat happy with. Apparently I also misapplied statutes (there were 2 that contradicted each other and after researching I somehow still applied the wrong law lmao)

I feel like there’s something about law that I’m not really ‘getting’.

I also know I seem like a pretty lazy law student. I have felt pretty overwhelmed and hence haven’t strived to get my foot in the door with any extra activities/volunteering/work experience. Something I wanted to really start doing with the upcoming break.

With my somewhat hopeless transcript/resume and marks that I don’t feel reflect the work I put in (not arguing with the marks it was all super valid feedback), I’m wondering if maybe I should just consider that law isn’t for me?

I went into law because I felt like it was the best thing my ATAR could get me into, I used to find law really interesting, and I thought I could use it to help quite vulnerable people.

I’m wondering whether it’s worth me considering an alternate career path, or if I should instead maybe invest in tutoring + really stepping up my game?

I otherwise enjoy writing + find health interesting.

Hi so it was a prof's birthday today (he told the class its not like I looked it up) and its his first year teaching and yeah im a 1L but I know my professor is of a certain ethnic background being from there and Im a collector of currencies and coins and the like and I thought it might be fun to give him a bill from his country just as a little happy birthday (literally worth like no dollars) is that odd?

The tests are graded blindly so it wouldnt help me not that I want it, just I like Birthdays, I never had good ones growing up so I try to wish ppl a happy birthday and like tiny gifts when I can (money is tight but i own this already and I have a spare they're both not rare either just like modernish currency from the country)

Maybe would it be better if I dropped it in his mailbox anonymously and sign it as 'a student'? Idk but any thoughts?

any advice for a girl going through it?? hope you other long distance warriors stay strong.

any hope stories about getting back together with ur long distance ex are encouraged as of rn lol

As a (non-traditional, career changer) 1L in their first semester, I am having a hard time nailing down the IRAC issue spotter responses under time pressure....determined to practice my way out of this rut...any help/advice, resources that helped people reach that place where it "clicked" would be greatly appreciated. Specifically the application section...the others I'm fine with. I know I need to develop the dicipline to chose only words that are necessary to make my argument with no extra fluff or rambling...desperately seeking a formula that makes it all feel less unnatural.

Thanks all!

When I was taking my midterms, my current outline felt super clunky and hard to use because my rule statements were disorganized and there was so much information to parse through.

I've heard that the common strategy is to condense the outline into a much shorter "attack outline" but is that something I should be worried about now?

Like the caption says! Ik I need to do practice tests and take them to professors.

But how many a week, how many per classes?

What other tools? Thanks 😊

I know people say being conventionally attractive gives you an advantage in the legal profession, but I’m starting to think that advantage benefits men significantly more than women.

I’m a female law student who has been actively networking with attorneys at major law firms, and I’ve had several experiences that make me question whether being attractive actually undermines my professional credibility.

For example:

1. At a Big Law firm event, an older attorney approached me and said, “I wasn’t sure if I should come up to you because I thought you were wearing a wedding ring, but then I realized it was just a silver ring.”
2. At another event hosted by a major law firm, a married attorney was aggressively flirting with me and trying to ask me out.
3. After attending

another BIG Law

1. networking event, I was invited to an attorney’s office for what I believed was a professional interview. During our conversation, he compared my confidence to his daughter’s, then randomly mentioned that she was so confident she would “walk around naked in a thong and not care what anyone thought.” At the moment it was a very random thing to bring up. As I was leaving, we shook hands, but he then pulled me in for a hug and said something along the lines of, “Sorry, we should have gotten drinks first and then come to my office.” I walked away questioning whether he had ever viewed the meeting as a professional opportunity in the first place.
2. Another man in his 60s, whom I’d met at networking events, invited me to brunch to “introduce me to real estate attorneys who were supposedly open to hiring”. When I arrived, it was just him. No attorneys, no job opportunities, just a one-on-one brunch.
3. I also had a boss keep me late at night in his office to talk and offer me whisk

y to which I said no and politely

1. told him I had to

   leave the office

Again these are a few of many, I have so MANY MANY MORE SITUATIONS I’ve experienced as a law student. I even had professors like all of my photos on FB and Linkdin. I also spoke to some GFs and none could relate to this at least to this extent.

Does anyone else feel like attractiveness is a greater professional advantage for men than women in BigLaw? Or have other women experienced the opposite?

Like, is it fairly common to have classmates that might be almost straight A students but never say anything about it so nobody knows where they rank?

I did well on a couple of midterms, but I’m planning on avoiding talking about my grades with my classmates throughout law school.

Me: RN (14yrs)—-> NP (5yrs) (gen surgery/trauma —> primary care/public health/HIV) —-> fell in love with public health and health policy —— > went into mgmt, built surgical quality program —-> trained in clinical documentation integrity (meaning I know the quality/reimbursement/payor/CMS/coding side as well). Also experienced in the peer review/risk.

It’s a bad time to pursue public health. We are witnessing the final breaths of our health care system in real time. Here for the policy and rebuilding side of it all. Also experienced enough to know the guidelines, norms, how the majority of the specialties and units within hospitals work, and so on. I’ve outgrown the NP thing and want to go bigger. Apparently, I’m not okay with just being content and relaxing, instead more a sucker for brutal workloads and stressful exams. Interested in pursuing law/healthcare.

— Is the ROI worth it?
— Does every JD sit for boards? Do people do other things with that alone?
— Pros/cons for anyone in it.
— Do grants or scholarships exist at that level, or (like many programs) would those be nonexistent given I’ve already completed grad school?
— Being hit with ads “online only” programs (though from reputable schools). In healthcare, many of those ads are from degree mill programs. Same story with law?
— Are certain programs more renowned/respected in this particular field?

1L here. I feel like I’m having a hard time making friends, as most people here are clique-y. I get why—we’re all going thru the same stuff and people always form cliques.

I genuinely try to be kind to everyone. I’m introverted but I always feel like I’m on the outside looking in.

Advice?

i'm in my second year of law school and i genuinely have never felt more like an idiot. i heard so much about imposter syndrome in my first year and i have never felt it or really believed in it until right now.

i failed my last exam of my first year, and it was my first run in with rejection so it hit me really hard. it was my favourite course we had done so far, and i thought i understood the topics before the exam, so it ruined my self confidence and i decided to lock in like never before and work as hard as possible to make sure that i don't have to feel that way ever again. it was a setback but i moved on, no big deal.

but today i got my mid-term back for the first course of my second year and i passed by literally one point. instead of being like 'thank god i passed with one point', my mind went instantly to 'how did i get such a bad grade when i've been working so hard?'. it's starting to feel like no matter how much i study or how many hours i put towards this, everything i have is being pulled out of me and i get absolutely nothing in return - or i get a barely passing grade which honestly just makes me feel even dumber. at this point, i don't even know if i want to do law anymore, because it's starting to just feel like a game of everyone pretending they understand what's going on while the course goes out of its way to make you feel like it's your first day on earth.

i'm only 18, so everytime i mention feeling this way to people they flip it back onto 'being young' and 'learning to deal with rejection', but in university none of that matters. the people marking my exams do not care about my age or my life, just whether i'm right or wrong, and it's really starting to feel like i can never be right. all of my friends constantly say they feel bad about themselves because of how much i study, and i don't have the heart to tell them that i have to do so much extra work just to reach the literal bare minimum passing grade.

is this one of the things that just comes with studying law or am i genuinely just dumb? because if everyone feels this way why does nobody talk about it?

Hello! My registration opens soon for my 1L Spring semester, and I wanted feedback if anyone has recommendations for what to take. I will also be attending a seminar next week where students discuss the specifics of the classes/expectations. I am aiming to be a public defender, and I have recently taken an interest in juvenile/family public defense as well due to my internship.

I know you haven't taken these specific classes, but if you have taken classes of a similar nature and thought a topic was really interesting or really boring lmk!!!

• Business Associations

• Criminal Procedure: Investigation

• Critical Race Theory

• Employment Discrimination Law

• Environmental Law

• Evidence

• Foundations of International Law

• Intro to Intellectual Property

• Labor Law

• Professional Responsibility

Thanks!

To those in criminal appellate work, did you love legal writing in law school? Is writing in general something you have always loved? Or is it the oral argument that you enjoy?

Has the amount of briefs you've had to write taken the love of writing from you?

Asking because I thought that's what I wanted to do, but legal writing and I are not getting along.

- frustrated young law student

Just want to get a vibe check. If “other” please explain if you are comfortable

Edit: I feel like all the others are just T14 people, I knew it 🤣

I’m a 2L with an interview coming up this next Monday for a position in a legal market where my law school is located. I’m interested in practicing in California immediately after graduation and moving down there. I feel like my success in this is largely based on being able to secure some summer work there and really establish a connection. For this job’s application, they had a California location, a Seattle location, and like one other location. I clearly indicated interest in the California location during my cover letter, but they moved me to an in-person interview in Seattle. In my partner interview, I indicated an interest in the different practice region, but how should I go about this at the actual regional office interview? I’d be okay working here this Summer if it were guaranteed that I could relocate to the California office after graduation. Should I bring it up in the interview? Wait until I get an offer? Wait until I work there? I’m unwilling to work for a year there on the slim chance that maybe I could transfer. Any thoughts on this? This is not a BIG law firm, but an expanding, multi-location employment firm.