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Law School
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amother
OP


 

Post Mon, Jul 22 2019, 6:44 pm
Any ladies on here went to law school?
I’m looking to start my degree now and would like to hear and advice or guidance-which school you went to, how long it took, what your job now is, etc....
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amother
Lime


 

Post Mon, Jul 22 2019, 6:47 pm
I did. I'd rather not post my experiences here or my sn, because I can be identified. If you want to talk, please post an email.
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1ofbillions




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Jul 22 2019, 6:52 pm
I'm sorry to start your thread off on a negative note but I feel I should point out that the field is over-saturated so it's extremely difficult to find a job once you graduate law school. Two of the secretaries at my office have law degrees and were unable to find jobs, so they're being paid $20.00 an hour to answer phone calls and type out emails, with 200k in student loans.

I'm not a lawyer, so I'll leave it up to the actual lawyers to confirm whether this is the case across the board, but please make sure that you don't end up in their position. It's the saddest thing.
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amother
Cobalt


 

Post Mon, Jul 22 2019, 6:56 pm
I'm taking the lsat and thinking
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amother
Khaki


 

Post Mon, Jul 22 2019, 7:05 pm
amother [ OP ] wrote:
Any ladies on here went to law school?
I’m looking to start my degree now and would like to hear and advice or guidance-which school you went to, how long it took, what your job now is, etc....


Go to the best school you can into.
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amother
Lime


 

Post Mon, Jul 22 2019, 7:11 pm
amother [ Khaki ] wrote:
Go to the best school you can into.


Yes and no. I went to a worse school (top 50) with a scholarship instead of t14. BH, I did well and got a job in big law. Since I didn't have debt, I could later take a more family friendly job. But it was a gamble. However, it was important at that point of my life not to have 250+k debt.
I do agree that going to a worse law school can limit you. But it was a gamble that worked for me.
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amother
Magenta


 

Post Mon, Jul 22 2019, 7:12 pm
Take time to work on your resume, personal statement, and diversity statement. I would recommend hiring an editor to help you with that.
Your interview is everything. Make sure you have great interview skills! One of my family members has a 172 LSAT score, 4.0 GPA, and had a difficult time getting into schools. He had awful interview skills. Over the course of his schooling, he took interview lessons, and now b"h works in one of the top 10 most prestigious law firms in America.
Do well on your LSAT, but you dont need the best score. You are a minority as a woman, so you already have a headstart.
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amother
Khaki


 

Post Mon, Jul 22 2019, 7:13 pm
amother [ Lime ] wrote:
Yes and no. I went to a worse school (top 50) with a scholarship instead of t14. BH, I did well and got a job in big law. Since I didn't have debt, I could later take a more family friendly job. But it was a gamble. However, it was important at that point of my life not to have 250+k debt.
I do agree that going to a worse law school can limit you. But it was a gamble that worked for me.


Good point. I would have made the same bet.
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amother
Lime


 

Post Mon, Jul 22 2019, 7:17 pm
amother [ Magenta ] wrote:
Take time to work on your resume, personal statement, and diversity statement. I would recommend hiring an editor to help you with that.
Your interview is everything. Make sure you have great interview skills! One of my family members has a 172 LSAT score, 4.0 GPA, and had a difficult time getting into schools. He had awful interview skills. Over the course of his schooling, he took interview lessons, and now b"h works in one of the top 10 most prestigious law firms in America.
Do well on your LSAT, but you dont need the best score. You are a minority as a woman, so you already have a headstart.

Women are not a minority in law school any more. I think they are a majority now. Lsats are important but not determinative.
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amother
Apricot


 

Post Mon, Jul 22 2019, 7:28 pm
I have a service business and 2 of my customers are frum female lawyers. One does real estate law from home and one works in her familys injury law firm. They are both very successful and both are now sending one of their children to law school. I also have a sil who lives in baltimore who is a govt employed lawyer and she has a son who is completing his BTL now so he can purue law. I dont think all of these people worry that their children will be stuck without jobs but obv its all Yad Hashem...
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amother
Floralwhite


 

Post Mon, Jul 22 2019, 7:28 pm
My number 1 piece of advice: go to law school ONLY IF you want to be a lawyer. If you go because you think you'll make a boatload of money or because it will "open doors" or something, you will likely be sorely disappointed.

I left after a year. I had gone because everyone advised me to, and on paper it seemed like the right way to go, but I really wasn't enthusiastic about it at all. Thankfully I lost no money other than a few hundred dollars on books and some fees, because I got a scholarship. Speaking of scholarships, they are generally tied to grades, and the schools give out scholarships to more people than can mathematically keep up the grades (since schools usually grade on a curve, it is mathematically impossible for more than a certain amount of people to keep certain GPAs). So, when it was the end of the year and I realized I was not going to be able to keep the scholarship, and realizing that law was not for me, I left. I may not have lost much money, but I lost a year of my life that I'll never get back. That's not to say no one should go to law school. You should totally go if you want to be a lawyer. But don't go if you think it's a golden ticket. It's very much not.
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amother
Wine


 

Post Tue, Jul 23 2019, 9:32 am
I did not go to Law School, but my husband is currently in law school. He is in a top 7 law school and has a partial scholarship. I would like to just give you a bit of direction from everything we have learned on this journey.

You need to have long term plans and goals. What type of law do you want to work in? Big Law? Private Practice? Real Estate? Based on where you want to go you pick the school that works best for you.

If you want to work in big law, try to get into the best school you can. If you want to open your own private practice, you will have to do your research to find out what level of school people in your community will respect. Each type of law has different requirements and not all of them require top notch schools. Please make sure you do your research before you embark on this journey.
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amother
Crimson


 

Post Tue, Jul 23 2019, 9:40 am
Good luck! My husband recently finished law school. He chose a school he got full scholarship too even though he got into better schoools with partial scholarship. The school he went to wasn’t a bad school just wasn’t too. Better not to have debt in my opinion but I’m sure others will have different opionions. He has a good job in the field that he was looking and his good friends from school also have good jobs.
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amother
Tan


 

Post Tue, Jul 23 2019, 9:46 am
I mostly agree with the advice here. Law is a pretty broad field, so it's likely possible to find your niche regardless, and the money isnt bad even if you're not in Big Law. That said, as a threshold, you need to have a certain thick skin. You will probably encounter more obnoxious, egotistical, angry, bitter people than you would otherwise, whether clients who are going through a hard time or other attorneys, even if you're not doing litigation. And yes, there are exceptions to this too. But then you need to strategize where those jobs are, and if those areas appeal to you.
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amother
Amber


 

Post Mon, Jul 29 2019, 11:03 pm
Another interested poster here.

One thing I do not have is thick skin.
What areas do you think are more appropriate for someone who takes human nastiness quite hard?

How long and intense is schooling?
More specifically, what’s the easiest load a busy adult mother of a family could do?
I can’t study now the way I did undergrad when I was young and single, putting in 30 hours of work and 15-18 credits of school Smile

How long does lsat prep take, and how long are scores valid for? Is it a disadvantage to take lsat before you’re planning to actually attend?
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amother
Tan


 

Post Mon, Jul 29 2019, 11:23 pm
amother [ Amber ] wrote:
Another interested poster here.

One thing I do not have is thick skin.
What areas do you think are more appropriate for someone who takes human nastiness quite hard?

How long and intense is schooling?
More specifically, what’s the easiest load a busy adult mother of a family could do?
I can’t study now the way I did undergrad when I was young and single, putting in 30 hours of work and 15-18 credits of school Smile

How long does lsat prep take, and how long are scores valid for? Is it a disadvantage to take lsat before you’re planning to actually attend?


For the first question, the first thing that comes to mind is in-house counsel.

I met a frum woman who works in house at a hospital, and she was very happy and never has to go to court or work late.

I have a friend who works in house for a bank, and the only egos she has to deal with are similar to anyone working in a bank or corporation, also never goes to court.

Some government jobs need lawyers where going to court has nothing to do with the job.

And then there are non-legal jobs that want someone with a law degree. Like being a professor, sales of legal materials, legal publishing, getting involved in start-ups, etc.

Law school is 3 years, which if you think about it, it's only 1 year more than your typical master's program. I worked hard in law school, but I didn't work efficiently. Maybe there are courses that can help?
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amother
Aquamarine


 

Post Mon, Jul 29 2019, 11:49 pm
amother [ Apricot ] wrote:
I have a service business and 2 of my customers are frum female lawyers. One does real estate law from home and one works in her familys injury law firm. They are both very successful and both are now sending one of their children to law school. I also have a sil who lives in baltimore who is a govt employed lawyer and she has a son who is completing his BTL now so he can purue law. I dont think all of these people worry that their children will be stuck without jobs but obv its all Yad Hashem...


Totally random but hey, I also have a service business with 2 customers who are female lawyers fitting exactly those criteria. I wonder if they're the same!
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amother
Hotpink


 

Post Tue, Jul 30 2019, 12:01 am
1ofbillions wrote:
I'm sorry to start your thread off on a negative note but I feel I should point out that the field is over-saturated so it's extremely difficult to find a job once you graduate law school. Two of the secretaries at my office have law degrees and were unable to find jobs, so they're being paid $20.00 an hour to answer phone calls and type out emails, with 200k in student loans.

I'm not a lawyer, so I'll leave it up to the actual lawyers to confirm whether this is the case across the board, but please make sure that you don't end up in their position. It's the saddest thing.


I disagree. I think its like any field such that there a lot of workers who want to work, but some lawyers find joba and make a lot of money. Some dont find jobs and do somethingelse while others work in law but make very little compared to the other lawyers. Its like any field such that only hashem determines if ull "make it big" as a lawyer.

I say the above bec although im not a lawyer but my good friend is a lawyer. She worked hard to get good grades so that she could get a scholarship. She had no trouble finding a job. So too, a few members in my shul are making a lot of money from being lawyers. And then, there are a few men who "practice law" but are not even making a lot ofmoney such their wives are the main breadwinner. Did they do less hishtadlus to find good jobs....??? No, but clearly hashem decided they wont get rich these past yrs..


Op, u see this with every field. Some accountants are very rich, some make dont make enoigh to pay all bills, and others cant find a job in the field.

U shld become a lawyer if u want to. And, hopefully, hashem will make u successful.

Hatzlacha
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amother
Lime


 

Post Tue, Jul 30 2019, 5:54 am
I'd rather not post my story online. I can answer some of these questions, if you set up an anonymous email.
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marina




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Jul 30 2019, 6:25 am
People advised me against law, but I didn’t listen. Loved law school and love my job. Had four little kids in law school so it was hard, but worth it.
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