Law School and Mists of Pandaria

Well, today they announced something that I have been waiting a while to find out.  The release date to the latest expansion to World of Warcraft!  I am stoked.  While I have beta access, due to my subscription to the annual pass, I have not taken advantage of playing it much (part of the blame belonging to Diablo III).  I started a monk but thought I would rather wait and see the finished product.  Well, it happens to be that the finished product comes out on a Tuesday (which I knew), and that Tuesday is when I have law school classes.  

What is a 3L to do?  I remember Cataclysm came out when I was a fresh faced 1L and I ignored it as best as I could.  While I was stoked about Cataclysm, I rarely took advantage of raiding (except for the Raid Finder in which I downed that jerk of a dragon, Deathwing).  Further, I was gung-ho about law school and wanted to do my ultra-very-best. 

So here I am, on the verge of a new expansion and wondering what expansion-ready toon I want to play.  Is it my gnome mage, my undead mage (sadly I have 2 of these), my worgen mage, my undead warlock, my undead priest, or my troll druid?  And since I will be busy with my last year of law school and the job hunting that goes with it, I won't have time to have multiple toons.  Further, I doubt I will do too much raiding in this expansion.

That being said, I am excited to see this new expansion.  I am sure I am not the only one of my readers who indulges in the nerdyness of World of Warcraft.  In fact, someone else has to be pretty stoked at seeing the graphic above.  And it's a nice break from law school.  In fact, that's one thing I have always loved about WoW -- the fact that it lets me forget about the stupidity of everyday life.  It's kind of an escape, but one that lets me think about something new, even if it is silly. 

I guess the question is: is it bad I'm thinking about skipping class to play this game on Tuesday September 25th?

Student Loan Debt | Law School Suicide?

I have read that suicide in the law profession is one of the highest amongst all professions.  I am no lawyer yet, nor do I know if I ever will be one.  However, I must say that as of late, the thoughts of suicide have come into my mind.  Late at night, lingering in my mind.  Consuming my thoughts.  Penetrating my psyche.

First, I don't think of myself as a suicide risk.  I have played with the idea years ago of ending my life, but now I have things in my life that are too precious to kill myself for.  My family, my pets, my friends, my World of Warcraft account with a level 85 Restoration Druid, Warlock, 2 Mages, and a Priest.  The Warlock alone probably makes my life worth keeping around, as I have gotten immense pleasure off leveling him.  For the Horde!

When I was very young, around 18ish, I once played around in a chat room, depressed out of my mind about a girl that I thought I loved who dumped me.  I told the chat room that I would kill myself!  Later that night the police came by to check up on me.  I told them that I was not going to kill myself.  It seems that some woman in that chat room called the cops on me.  That's when I realized that it was not good to even talk about suicide.  No one in my family ever found out about this dark event.

For the last few nights I have found myself awake late into the night, depressed out of my mind.   I have read things on these scam blogs that people in society do not understand.  I started college a few years ago hoping that I would one day make a decent living.  I thought I would be happy with around $50,000 a year.  In fact, coming from a very poor background, that seemed like a huge amount of money to me.  As I graduated with a bachelor's degree, I realized I would be happy with $30,000, but the chances of me getting it seemed nil.  So, I went on to law school, figuring I could make at least that amount and have a "respectable" career.  Now, it turns out, that dream was not really viable.  In fact, while I may find a job that pays decently, chances are I won't.  It's not a good bet.  And not one that should be taken lightly.  It's a losers game. 


Anyway, late in the night, while staring up at the ceiling, trying to focus my mind on something besides law school I found myself playing with the idea of offing myself.  I realized that this was not something I should be thinking about, as I have much to live for, and it made me feel even worse.  How could I have gotten to this point?  How could I, during 1L, have had so much hope for the future, and now, being a 2L, feel that it's all a waste?  It's all dismal.  It's not worth it.  I feel that I am going to, in the end, only have debt to show for my accomplishments.  I feel in the end, all I will be remembered for is that guy in the family who got so much education but had so much debt and never could find a real job.  It's a sobering and depressing thought, and perhaps my greatest challenge-greater than the torts final and corporations final, and taxation final will be learning to live with the fact.  The fact that I am doomed to failure.  The fact that I really had no chance at all. 

I made a mistake.  And a costly one.  One that will surely haunt me for the remainder of my life.  Keep this in mind, 0L's, as you begin your education.  Think about taking a couple years off, trying to find a decent job, and forgetting about law school until some changes are made.  You have all your lives to go to law school.  It will be around in a decade.  Until then, get some good experience in the real world, and try your hand at paying back that undergraduate debt.  Chances are you will realize that you were better off not going to law school.  Chances are you will find something more valuable than learning the coveted black letter law.  Your time, dear reader, is better spent than learning how to brief a one hundred year old case.

Crusaders of Justice

Can redemption be found within the hallowed halls of law school?  Is there solace in learning the great laws that have been passed down from generation to generation?  Does the title, esquire, bestow upon thee some magical power?  Some higher purpose?  Are lawyers truly called to lift the world from chaos and create order?

Mort de Roland

If a lawyer is truly a crusader of society, and if the ABA wants to continue to further this vision, then one must ask: does law school go along with this ideal?

In order to be a member of the almighty bar association-earning the coveted (and ultra-expensive) title of esquire-one must pass not only a so-called grueling bar exam, but also pass a character and fitness evaluation.  The bar association demands that its members be fit in morals and personal character in order to represent clients in the courtrooms of this country.

However, according to the magazine “The National Jurist”, two new law schools are planning on opening soon.  The University of North Texas will be opening in 2014, adding another school to the lone star (not lone law school) state.  Indiana Tech in Fort Wayne, Indiana will be opening a new “three-story law school building” around August 2013 if things go according to plan.  Does the United States need two more law schools within the next two years?  

If a baby faced graduate of law school must pass a character and fitness evaluation, shouldn’t the same exacting standards be expected of the law school system?  Should there be so many law schools?  And if so, should not the incoming class sizes be regulated?  Should thousands of people be able to flood the market, making it so that few can find actual legal jobs?  I believe that people should have the chance to do what they want with their lives.  At the same time, student loan money is easy to get.  In fact, it is effortless (almost-I knew someone who did not go to college because he/she did not know how to fill out a FAFSA and refused to learn).  Otherwise, one can have access to hundreds of thousands of dollars for school and living expenses.  While I think that school should be available to everyone, student loans should be capped and schools should follow suit if they want students.  Schools raising tuition every year and loan caps being raised takes advantage of those who are seeking a better life for themselves-the student.

The student is often a young individual who is freshly out in the world.  In fact, the first real scam that the student will face in their life may be the tuition scam.  The result is a lifetime of huge debt and very few ways to get out of it.  Visions of stability and wealth, something that universally almost human being craves, is held out in front of the student.  The student pushes forth, towards that vision, in hopes of attaining it, being told, just a couple more years of school, and you'll be done.  Just another year at $40,000 and you shall be a self-sufficient and productive member of society.  A crusader of justice, who will make your families and communities immensely proud. 



Coming up with a solution to the problem is not easy.  The ABA could state that law schools should cap their class sizes each year, especially when the economy is in a huge downturn.  The ABA could state that the current law school model of learning three years of theory is a broken model that does not do much good for teaching law.  If a person is not ready to represent a client on their own after law school, then the system has failed them.  Imagine a doctor graduating medical school and did not knowing how to operate on a patient.  Imagine a dentist getting out of dental school and not knowing how to do a root canal or a filling after joining a dental office for half a decade?  However, that is where law schools are placing their graduates. 



Some schools have mentioned creating in house law firms in which their students can learn how to represent a client.  Why has that not been implemented from the start?  If dental school charged $30-50,000 a year to teach students ‘dental theory’ and said ‘you will learn the real medical stuff through a future job’, people would revolt.  Yet us law students as a whole go through the motions, not questioning anything.  We are taught to question everything; yet we do not.  Why is this?  Perhaps it is time for the students to start writing the ABA and telling them that the system needs to be changed.  It may not do anything; but the people need to know that we, as a class, need to make our views known.  Many are not going to speak out against the system, but some of us should start taking our thoughts directly to them.  Perhaps it is time to be a real Crusader of Justice.

Should You Skip Law School Class?

Sometimes I find myself becoming depressed about law school and figuring "what's the point?"  The jobs are barely existent, the economy is in shambles, and law school testing falls short of actually gauging a person's skill in legal knowledge (more on this in a future post).  Last semester I found myself missing a lot of classes, and I noticed my grades took a dive because of it.  Thus I realized, even though law school can be hell at times, I should not skip class.

Back when I used to go to top-law-schools.com I read divided posts saying either, do not skip class, or don't worry about going to class.  You can pass if you don't go to any class and study the book.  While that is true, you can pass, I think going to class and at least listening to the professor's long winded rants count for something in terms of grades.  I am not saying that listening to the professor's talk is worthwhile for anything else, but, hearing what they lecture on will give you an edge on finding out what you should be focusing on when it comes to reading.

Let's face it, by 2L year nobody really wants to go to class.  Anything else sounds funner.  Well, almost anything else (scrubbing walls for experience in a legal internship is not as fun as listening to a professor's antiquated jokes).  Law school is in many ways like a prison, and as I have signed up for my sentence by choice, I should be willing to do my time, lest I drop out.  Paying money to not go to class doesn't hurt the schools at all.  Sure, if you don't get a job it might hurt them, that is, only if you would have gotten a job the other way around.  There are chances you won't get a legal job of any kind whether or not you skip class, but skipping class only hurts your grade, and makes you feel like more of a douche during the end.  And let me say, when it comes to law school and looking back on your experience, one of the most important things is minimizing that feeling like a douche. 


By your second year, most of your highlighters have dried up and you have no motivation to buy more.  The classes don't seem as important.  The big theory courses have already been taught to you, and the competition has simmered down some.  Many people are in a state of absolute depression because they are now fully aware of their job prospects.  They have their first year grades, which has set the tone of where they expect to place when it comes time to graduation.  Many say that these first year grades are the most important, and I will say that I agree.  It is very hard to reestablish your GPA when 1/3rd of your grades are set, and it's very hard to do that first OCI unless you invent a time machine.  And if you can do that, you may be like me and wish you could travel further back and do something else with your life.

This is not my first post about skipping class, and for some reason, that post is quite popular.  In fact, many people search "law school skipping class" or "skipping class 2L" on Google and reach my blog.  But, like I said, skipping class may hurt only you and not the law school.  Also, once you miss a few classes, it's too easy to not go back, or to be scared to go back.  I fell victim of being scared that the professor would say "you've missed way too many courses," or that when I reappeared my cohorts would think "where has this loser been?"  Perhaps that would have happened, but it looks a lot better than a C or worse on your transcript (depending on where your school grades). 

The Law School industry, in my view, is quite broken.  However, there is no reason to make your life there a bigger hell than it already is.  You might as well at least try to make it to class, lest you're sure of dropping out. 

Unless, of course, enough students would be willing to 'walk out' and show the system that they need to change.  In fact, a law school walkout is something worth talking about in a future post as well...