Going To Law School

I hear copyright law is exciting and intellectually fulfilling.

Perfect lawyer material, then!

(haha. okay, kidding. they drank a lot of beer and coffee too.)

"i don't have a tv" but i'm afraid i won't want to do pleasure reading anymore (which keeps me from wanting to die or do meth). but i'm not sure how much of horror stories i should believe.

also gabnebb or someone else? let's say i want to be a labor lawyer (partly because i care about the workers but partly because i would make slightly more money at it (right?) than poverty lawyering, which i am also interested in but i have mad loans to pay off and can't make it on 30k/year). so they said you can just take whatever classes you're interested in so you wouldn't have to just take only stuff related to whatever kind of law you want to go into. is that really true? like if i took poverty law and whatever random theory classes i want it would be ok and i could still be a labor lawyer? i don't have to worry about this until spring but i want to know now. also i know i might totally change my mind but the question would still stand, i guess.

i would keep in mind that you might think you're interested in a particular area because you imagine yourself enjoying work for certain kinds of clients, but later learn that the actual substantive law of that area doesn't interest you very much (or that the practice may be different from how you imagined it). or vice versa.

also yeah all those things about not liking the actual law part of things i know that. which is why the question means kind of in general.

xpost - space law does in fact exist, at least at your larger law schools. i imagine it has to do with satellites or something and is very boring and populated by not gonna happen doods.

labour law is a good idea, i think!

haha omg

or i want to be the next jim "the hammer" shapiro

maybes - federal courts (should probably take eventually, especially if litigation-oriented, but maybe save for later; also, hard), some sort of regulatory law (environmental, say, or the more general administrative law, probably important if you want to do employment discrimination)), tax law (hard, but maybe not for math types, and if it turns out relevant to something you want to do you probably want to start early), labor and/or employment/employment discrimination law (i'd be wont to wait for third year, personally, but if it's a particular interest of yours, you probably want to start now; i never got around to them), secured transactions (boring and not necessarily relevant practically, but potentially important theoretically), family law, trusts and estates (maybe save for later?), international law (poli sci-like, i think), a research and/or theory-oriented class

i took a legal theory class as my first-year elective and while i had some brief qualms later about whether i should have taken a class or two that never made the cut in the end, i was very happy with my choice at the time.

i don't really get how to do a good job. they keep telling us how smart everyone is so that means i can get a C in everything even if i try hard because everyone is as smart as i am? i don't think they are though. i don't understand everything (esp. contracts, wtf) but people don't seem any smarter than anyone else i know. any idiot can go to law school, amirite? i think the reading is kind of fun sometimes, it's like puzzles.

same thing

people don't seem any smarter than anyone else i know

maybe you're smarter, but it's v. dangerous to assume. and smarts don't count as much as time/effort.

i think it is better for me to think people aren't that smart. because i think i'm really smart and when they tell me everyone is just as smart as me i go UH OH but as long as i think they aren't that smart (like when they are acting like bros and saying "hey, bro, you gonna get drunk this weekend?" "yeeeahh bro!" "alright, bro!") i feel ok. i should go do work now bye

Someone may have addressed this, but... I, too, am on track to become a labor lawyer. If your school offers any labor/employment law classes, take them. I work at a union-side law firm right now and my hiring was contingent on my having taken labor law. You aren't foreclosed from being a labor attorney if you don't take labor and employment classes, but it will make you more attractive to potential employers. The most important thing, I think, is to get some experience, either working for a labor law firm or in some sort of public interest worker rights capacity, presuming you want to work union/worker side.

Oh and also? Labor lawyers don't make much more than public interest attorneys. At least the good guys don't. Sorry.

Also, my philosphy for second and third year was to take classes that a) were labor and employment related and b) interesting because look, I'm tired of law school and I will not sit in a class of 100 people to listen to someone drone on about secured transactions, nor will I read because just thinking the words "secured transactions" gives me a headahce. A class of 13 people discussing public sector labor law or critical race theory, though? I'm totally into it. Given how stupid expensive law school is, I don't want to waste my money taking a class that I won't attend or care about. But that's just me.

xpost i didn't think they made a whole lot either. the idea of secured transactions makes me want to PUKE but i am all over critical race theory. i guess we'll seeeeeeeee

I should clarify - at least not to start. You can make like $70k once you make partner or make your way up to lead in-house counsel for a union (a strong union at least, not if you work for like, the Wobblies). But starting salaries for union side attorneys in Chicago run from $35 - $50k, which, with $150k in debt or thereabouts is kind of alarming. If your school has any kind of LRAP, you might be better off doing public interest law for the required period of time. You can do employment-related public interest stuff if you want to move into labor law when you meet the requirements for loan forgiveness.