Law School Attitudes

There are many attitudes regarding the law school system.  They range from the attitudes of the scam bloggers, who tend to be angry at the system which pooped them out with less than they entered with.  Big debt and little job prospects are the issues that the scambloggers seem to take.  Further issues include a total disregard for economic principles by a system known as the ABA.

There are some who love the law school system.  The deans and many of the professors (but not all) seem to really enjoy it.  And why would they not?  It seems like an easy enough job.  Maybe not as easy as some say.  However, to be paid $100-200k a year, and sometimes more, to teach a few classes and correct some essays once a semester doesn't seem like a bad gig.  To be honest, I'd take it. 

Then there are the lethargic students who I come in contact with.  They are very quiet about a lot of things, so I can't really gauge what they are thinking.  Many seem to not know about the real job market, although many are scared.  However, few are at the point as another scamblogger, JDPainterGuy, where they wish they never went to law school in the first place.

Some individuals are very depressed.  They are at the point of suicidal thoughts and thinking that their life will never be the same again.  One individual posted a comment on another law school blog relating to a plumber friend he knew that made an exceptional amount of money. 

Times have changed. I would trade my degrees to be able to have a job where I know things will get better, where I know I will not be replaced by a slave from the third world, and where I know that some political force would intervene on my behalf when things looked bleak. I would do this even if it meant working physically hard.

There are worse things in life than working with your hands, and when I finally decide to blow my brains out to end my mental anguish, I will have been living proof of it.

This is where I do not want to be.  However, at the same time, I understand that it is very hard to not feel down sometimes when you expected life to turn out a lot differently.  Many of the lethargic students at the law school where I attend will probably one day feel this way.  They still have expectations of law being a glamorous and wealth creating profession for anyone who can get a 148 on the LSAT. 



Many of these students have not looked at a 'scamblog' nor have they really got to see the life of a lawyer after law school.  Before I enrolled I had no idea what a lawyer did (other than what I saw from a couple episodes of Perry Mason.  Plus, Captain Picard in Star Trek the Next Generation does a bit of lawyering in a couple of the episodes).  Sadly, the big feeder web forum for law students, Top-Law-Schools, will stop at nothing to block links to scamblogs.  Nando's opus, ThirdTierReality has been redubbed "T14 Paradise".  If anything, it is a tyrannical mockery of the intelligence of a breed of people who has been told over and over that they are some of society's smartest individuals (a point that I seriously question -- many law students I have come in contact with show no more intelligence than many undergrads).  If anything, TLS (the dungheap of the law world) is doing their students an injustice by not allowing them to see alternative facts and make up their own still-developing and often childlike minds. 

I think that there is some importance to the power of positive thinking.  I think that telling yourself day after day that your life is worthless is not the right path to take.  Just because you did not do well in the legal field after believing you would does not make you a bad person.  There is still much that a person can do to better themselves and live a great life.  Although you may not make $160,000 a year in law, nor do you have any connections, you can still contribute something to the world.  I am saddened when I see a person state that they want to off themselves because of law school.  While three years and $200-300k is a lot of money, a life is worth much more.  I would propose taking some time out of your day and forgetting about law school and asking yourself what you want to do with the remainder of your life.  It is hard with student loans and debt, but nobody can take your life from you.  Why would you take it away from yourself?

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By the way, for some reason this blog was not allowing comments.  It now allows comments from anyone (anonymous included), so if you want to say something, feel free. 

Banned From Top-Law-Schools

LOL I was banned from TLS, reason: "Stop spamming sh***y websites".  Seems that they don't like to know the truth.  Sadly, those kid$ think that they will be rolling in money once graduation comes, and nobody can say otherwise. 

Is it wrong to mislead a person?

TLS is no different than the deans and the schools.  They keep the false hopes of these unattainable dreams alive for many.

Why should my TTTT be thought of in a negative light?

Because, someone on TLS might have their feelings hurt.  Instead, these kids should be spending upwards of $50,000 tuition alone to attend a school that later on they may wish they would have not went to.  Further, if they had the full information, these kids would have probably done something else with their lives. 

How many law students wish they majored in something else?

A lot, probably.  In fact, I do.  I wish I would have known the truth about the numbers and the rankings and all that other crap.  However, truth is, I never learned about it.  Some of these people will only find out when it's too late, as sites like Third Tier Reality and others are marked as SPAM on the site, hiding the links, hiding the information. 

What is the point of Top-Law-Schools?

It's the number one site on the internet to stroke your own ego.  People love to post topics such as "in at Harvard" or "top 5% at Georgetown".   Also, while some recognize that the job market is bad, they will act like they are golden and everyone else is doomed.

In conclusion, Top-Law-Schools is trash.  It's no better than the law schools or the deans as far as I am concerned.  The admins are power hungry lemmings who refuse to allow any contrary information to flow.  Hiding information from the people is no better than tyranny.  Top-Law-Schools is a tyrannical website that should not be used in conjunction with one's "law school experience".  The truth is, I see a bunch of kids that are going to have a miserable life ahead of them, or some that are already so miserable with themselves as human beings that they treat others like garbage, including the naysayers who have an important message.  Any website that REFUSES to show contrary information should not be consulted for lifelong advice on anything that could cause a person to go $100-200,000 in debt.  Top-Law-Schools is TRASH. 

A new forum has been created for this site, feel free to begin posting.   You can post as a guest and do not need to register to enjoy it.  http://lawschool.myfreeforum.org/index.php

Spring 2012 Grades

Well, I got my grades back, and I must say I have shown an improvement.  Perhaps there is hope for me yet.

I want to take the time to share my grades with my readers, in case they are curious.

Corporate Finance: C+
Law and Economics: A+
Copyright Law: A
EU Law: B+

Other than the Corporate Finance, the grades are not too bad.  In fact, I think that gives me around a 3.4 GPA.  The average at my institution is a B+, so the C+ was quite rotten, but after last semester, I don't feel too bad.  I didn't really try this semester, and it shows that I may still have a chance at getting some good grades.  However, that being said, I still feel law school grades are somewhat arbitrary and have done tests in the past in which I felt like I did amazing on, only to find out that I did quite bad.

Last semester my GPA was around a 2.6, and right now I believe I have a 2.9.  I hope to graduate with a 3.2, but I know that is going to be tough.  I have 2 more semesters, and to graduate with such a GPA will mean I will have to work hard.  Further, I still plan on leaving the US to teach English after law school, so I wonder what the point of this all is.

Some may call me crazy for giving up law before even trying.  Truth is, I think of it as crazy sometimes.  However, I feel that I am not cut out for the profession, nor do I want to sell my soul.  Yes, I should have researched this in advance more, and the scam bloggers who say that the current students deserve some of the blame are in many ways right.  As law students, we should research, and we must be held somewhat accountable.  Not accountable for deceptive business practices and the state of the law school educational machine, but for not being savvy enough to realize how messed up it is.

There are many blogs on here that do a great job of exposing that system, and I can't devote the kind of time or energy in uncovering the system as they do, so I will not try.  Instead, I am here to show the kind of fear that is pretty commonplace today.  Even though the kiddies on Top-Law-Schools act smug, the truth is, they are scared to death and, in reality, look quite pathetic.  

We are being made to be the bottom feeders in society and paying dearly for the privilege.  We should sometimes feel pathetic.  Especially those who have over 1000 posts on TLS.  

Prestige Whoring | Law School Maths

If you are going to law school or are thinking about going to law school, you have probably heard the term "prestige whore".  While I do not particularly care for the term, it is a reality of the legal world, and you had better get used to it. 

Lawyers and law students are generally obsessive about prestige.  One look at top-law-schools will tell you that from 0L, students are riled up over where they are going to be going, how much they plan on making, and how much better their school makes them than their competitors.  Law school applicants go crazy over LSAT scores, undergraduate GPA's, and other 'soft' factors that they use to size each other up.  If you get into the T14, T10, T6, or T3, as they are called (and this is just another example of how number-obsessed law students are), you consider yourself 'set for life'. 

Then, there are the other T's.  The Tier 1 (T), Tier 2 (TT), Tier 3 (TTT), and Teir 4 (TTTT) law schools.  As you can imagine, to the new law school applicant, this is really confusing at first.  However, in a couple days time, you'll learn it because everyone is talking about it. 

What are the difference between law school tier rankings?

First, the Tier 1 is the top 50 law schools.  The top 14, 10, 6, 3, 2, 1, etc. are in this list, but are considered in a league of their own by many.  The tier 1 schools are considered by many to be quasi-elite (the top 14, etc. are considered by many to be elite, even though that may be changing as job prospects are turning out to be not as AMAZING as the students that go to these schools are realizing).   Schools like the mighty Cardozo, University of Washington, UC Berkeley, Boston University, Boston College, UC Hastings, Michigan, etc. are on this list.  Everyone coming out of here makes $160,000!  Right?  Right?

Second comes the Tier 2 (TT) schools.  These are the schools ranked 51 to 100.  Such schools include St. John's, Brooklyn Law School, University of San Francisco, Seattle University, Lewis & Clark, University of Oregon, among others.  Such schools are seen as quasi-quasi-elite (law students always like to put the word 'elite' into everything, as you will notice).  These are schools that are considered to be 'up and coming' or 'gaining speed' by their deans.  These are the schools that you can still get a fine legal education (whatever that means to you) and not have to feel (too) dirty inside.

Third is the third tier (TTT) schools.  Schools like the infamous Drake University, Gonzaga (what's a Gonzaga anyway?) New York Law School, CUNY Law, and a host of others line this classification like the plaque lines your teeth.  Basically it's schools that fall out of the top 100 to 150ish (even though they are not ranked in order by US News).  As you will be realizing, there are a TON of law schools out there, each pumping out hundreds of graduates every year.  Third tier schools are generally considered (or touted) to be quasi-quasi-quasi elite. 

Next and last is the quasi-quasi-quasi-quasi elite fourth tier schools -- Cooley, Florida Coastal, Western New England, Golden Gate University, etc.  Although they are in the bottom of the barrel of accredited law schools, they are still somewhat elite to their students because they seen as better than unaccredited law schools, they cost a lot (and if something costs a lot it MUST be good, right?), and they are law schools, and just being in law school makes you a wonderful human being!  Oh, and these schools are the ones in your e-mail and in your mailbox trying to get you in with fancy pamphlets and smiling faces of intelligent and sexy looking students who are making big money.  Who would not want to go?

"Give yourself a pat on the back, you're law students now!"
-Obligatory speech fodder at a convocation/welcome ceremony for lower ranked law schools.

The Law School Transfer Game

If you did not land in the top school (Yale), there's always the idea of transferring.  You see, law students want to be the very best (like no one ever was), and the hundreds of thousands of students are all vying to be the top student of their graduation year at Yale.  That's the game (with a couple of exceptions).  The game of transferring up the ladder has been introduced, and law schools LOVE it!  Why?  All those scholarships that they give away do not go to transfer students.  That means a student that climbs up from Phoenix School of Law to Touro or makes that arduous climb from Florida Coastal to New England Law: Boston will give up any scholarship money they had AND have to pay full price at the new school.  The schools see this is a great way to make an extra bit of cash.  And thousands of law students want to transfer.  Many will give up scholarships at a school ranked 150-200 to go to a school ranked 97th.  It's a climb up the elite ladder.  Why would you not want to transfer from Cardozo to Fordham, or from Western New England to Seton Hall? 

Rutgers to Brooklyn?  Beam me up scotty!

After Law School

After you are done with law school, you will be vying for jobs.  This is the reason you went in the first place (unless daddy has his own firm, momma's a judge, or you are dying to hang up a shingle).  Many will want to get the highest ranked clerkships.  Going into the working world, many now realize that the firms have their very own pecking order and are ranked just like law schools!  In fact, everything is ranked.  Associates, Partner, Of Counsel, Big Kahuna.  These are terms you will see in the firm.  The numbers game never ends.  Bill so many hours.  Get so many clients.  Where did you work before here?  Can you have that intern scrub the door nobs before he leaves? 

My goal:  to work at a quasi-quasi-quasi-quasi-quasi elite firm.  That is, get a real life legal job!

Law School "Success" Stories!

This may be "the firm" that the lucky graduate found work at.

Tomorrow my school will be hosting a law school success session in which students from previous years class will come in and tell about how they found government, private, and firm jobs.  Well, it said "a firm job" which tells me that the graduating class of 2012 had one student who found a job in a law firm!  This is unprecedented and will make for some interesting discussion.  If hearing how a few students made it after law school is not enticing enough, they will be serving pizza.  Everyone is encouraged to attend!!!

"Get the inside perspective on finding a post graduate job from a panel of recent graduates.  Hear about their paths to success, including the steps they took throughout law school to position themselves for permanent and fulfilling post-graduate employment.  Our panelists will include graduates who landed positions in-house, in government and at a firm.  All classes are encouraged to attend.

Pizza will be served."

I don't know if I will attend this.  I already know that some students are able to find jobs after law school.  The fact that the school is encouraging us all to attend makes the situation seem all the more dire.  It's as if the school is saying "it's bad out there.  It's real bad.  But there is some hope." 

However, I honestly doubt that the law school will state that some of these individuals are connected.  That they were very likely on law review and/or moot court.   They could have graduated 20 years ago for all I know!  Furthermore, I expect a big banner stating a disclaimer that their results in no way guarantee similar results (even though we all know that-right?).  To be honest, I think that this is probably a method in which to make us feel better about paying very expensive tuition and shut us up for a couple of weeks.  However, I am reminded how bleak the legal economy is every single day in almost every class.  I hear the professors speak of how good they have it and I can only nod.  Yes, they do have it good.  Real good.

I have a feeling that most people are going to go to this thing and hear a handful of success stories and walk out feeling like a million bucks.  They are going to go to the nearest bar, get drunk, miss class the next day with a nasty hangover, sit in bed and smile because they heard some good news.  They may go to TLS (2012 award winner for worst web-forum) and tell the world that they are going to be big firm lawyers because ONE person showed up at the panel who worked in a firm.  And if that doesn't happen, he/she will find solace, because another panelist got into government. 

No, the panel will not mention that the government worker was the son of a judge, nor will it mention that the person in the firm was the daughter of a partner who figured that a top 100 school was good enough for her to work in the family firm.  It will not mention that all the unconnected people were probably in the top 10% of their class.  The connected individuals will likely say that they were in the bottom half or something to get the people really excited.

In the end, it should be a good way to advertise to those who are already paying tuition.

The Most Elitist Place on the Internet: Top-Law-Schools.com

When I was a tad bit younger, buckling up and getting ready to go to law school, I, like many 0L's happened upon top-law-schools.com.  For the few not in the know, it is a forum for people to talk about everything that pertains to the wonderful and amazing world of law school.  Here kids discuss and rank their schools, talk about their hopes and fears, and discuss job hunting strategies.

However, something more sinister is taking place.  These kids are starting to believe that they are better than others.  They are seeing that their school is ranked a bit higher, that their grades and rank are better, and that they have better job prospects.  Some of these people are going to schools like Harvard and Columbia Law School.  Others are "blessed" with schools such as Golden Gate University School of Law and Cooley.  They start to size each other up, and as they do so, they become more and more elitist.

Now, I honestly believe that many who are thinking of going into law are elitist to an extent.  The profession is a breeding ground for elitism.  In law school each student is ranked according to how 'intelligent' they are, i.e. their grades.  However, even though it could easily be argued that law school grades are arbitrary and even sometimes random with a lot of human error able to be present, law school students who are in the top 30% of their class feel smug.  If you are in the top 10% with a summer internship lined up, you are the big cheese.  And if you are that person but going to a top 14 school, you are THE CHEEZE. Three reasons that TLS sticks out to me:


1.  Many TLS forumers are actually very sheltered kids who have little clue about reality.

One thing that strikes me about TLS as I will call it, is that if you post something on that site that does not jive with the cushy life experiences of the 'lawyer's son/daughter' they will cry 'flame'.  I have seen this multiple times on the site, where someone asks advice about transferring to a lower ranked school for family reasons, or that they were in the top 20% but were having trouble finding legal employment.  Some mention having life hardships that made it so that they could not find a job and are considering dropping out even though they have a high GPA.  It is hard to realize that there are certain life experiences that interfere with school if you have never left your parents grasp.

2.  TLS forumers think that they need a new Macbook every year for surfing the internet in class.

I made the mistake last semester of sitting in the back row.  I thought law school was about studying, however I was made aware that it is really about google chat and facebook during class.  It was so cute seeing all the students with their little MacBook Airs and iPads, surfing the internet, buying curtains and clothing, playing car racing games, and selling tickets.  And then, when I went to TLS, I was made aware that every year one should purchase a new computer, because a three year old system is not good enough to take a law school exam on with exam4 or write a law school paper with.

3.  TLS forumers think that everyone else is not going to get a job, but they will do something different and BAM!  $160k/yearola.

I hate to burst their bubble, but even if they get a job that is good enough for them to sell the rest of their life into bondage for, they are not going to be happy.  Someone else (their boss) will act just as elitist towards them as they act towards others.

In the end, I find TLS to be the most elitist place on the internet that I have come across.   If you are serious about law school, you may want to check out this place.  You should know who some of your classmates will be and who you will be working with and for if you are lucky enough.