12 Things No One Tells You About Law School

By William Sharon on November 12, 2013

This article is brought to you by Kaplan, the leader in test preparation for over 90 standardized tests including the GRE, GMAT, LSAT and MCAT. To learn more about Kaplan’s Test Prep offerings, click here.

Getting into law school and making it through law school are two entirely different tasks. Many students dismiss the potential difficulties, assuming that acceptance to a school implies an inherent likelihood of success. Sadly, this is a delusion.

Of course, a particular school would not accept an application from a student it assumed would not succeed, but much of what admission committees look for is the ability to work hard and the basic knowledge required to cope with the stress and workload of law school (rather than the ability to breeze through).

In deciding to apply to law school students must be aware not only of what it takes to get into their desired institution, but furthermore, what they will face once admitted. In order to answer some of the questions and correct some of the misconceptions pre-law students have, I interviewed Stacy Cozart and Michael Jolic, two lawyers and recent law school graduates, in the hope of arriving at some answers. These are the important things no one tells you about law school.

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1. Reading law assignments takes a long time: [Reading cases] takes a lot longer than other reading, says Cozart. That is because there are times where the law and discussions of the law involve a lot of legal terms with which a new law student will lack familiarity. Cozart stresses that it is important to understand the nature of law school reading and the differences between it and the familiar work assigned in college. The legal arguments themselves may be complex or convoluted, and the subject matter of the lawsuits may be rather technical, she says.

2. Time management is more important than in undergrad: Apparently, reading case law and reading sci-fi novels in fiction class aren’t the same thing. With an undergrad reading, a 30 page assignment may not seem too demanding, says Cozart. But the same assignment in law school might be very time demanding.

3. Writing takes longer: Writing memos, briefs, and other papers will usually require a number of drafts before they are presentable, says Cozart. Something you dash off in undergrad may come back covered in red ink in law school. This is an intimidating notion for many undergraduate students. Especially those accustomed to As and good jobs on every paper.

4. Legal thinking takes time to learn: Even if you think that you have a good idea of how lawyers analyze and present, it is not always how you thought it was, says Cozart. The process of learning to think like a lawyer takes time and skill to incorporate into your thought process.

5. It’s not glamorous: Oh that this one weren’t true, and we could all be the larger-than-life super lawyers living out what are essentially verbal boxing matches with our equally young and attractive colleagues on TV. Sadly, this is not the case. Anything you may have seen about law school in the movies or on TV was probably focused on the limited amounts of interesting/exciting aspects of the experience, says Cozart. The majority is mundane.

6. Finals are a bear: Cozart is quick to lament the brutal nature of exams in law school. It was surprising how much of a [class] grade is controlled by grades on final exams, she says. Bomb a final and suffer the consequences of a bad grade, even if you were riding high before [the test].

7. You can’t put off reading: This is without a doubt a logical extension of the previous tip. Failure to be caught up on regular assignments will come back to bite you in the ass in law school much more than in undergrad, says Cozart; certainly a demoralizing notion for us slackers.

8. No matter what, you will be bored: This one seems rather apparent, but it is nonetheless depressing to hear. Even if you think you like law and find it interesting, you will discover deep and unavoidable pockets of boring subject matter that you need to understand, says Cozart. There will be classes that you need to take in which you have no interest.

9. The competition will be intense: The other students will mostly be very intelligent and hardworking, says Cozart. At least for the first semester/year. People still enjoy kicking back, but there is less time for that. Jolic concurs wholeheartedly, and reminds law school applicants that for him, the biggest surprise was the quality of students.

In undergrad, I was one of the top students in my class, he says. I expected and received the highest grades and fellow students looked to me for help [and] advice. In law school, I was an average Joe as many of my fellow students were very impressive and accomplished people.

10. The friendships: In an effort to steer from the warning theme, I am inclined to mention that both Cozart and Jolic did, in fact, enjoy law school. Though many of the previous examples were of the obstacles to easy adaptation, these difficulties by no means preclude enjoyment. Moreover, law school does offer many life changing events that are inherently positive. Some of my best friends are people I met in law school, says Jolic. There is something special about going through a difficult process and helping one another through it.

11. Socratic teaching: You are expected to know almost everything before you cover it in class, says Jolic. The professor calls on you in front of the entire class and you don’t want to come across like an idiot in front of your classmates. I prepared for class by reading and outlining all cases, and my notes helped me answer the professor’s questions when he called on me. In undergrad, I rarely did anything to prepare for class and I could always BS my way out of things. That was not the case in law school.

12. The importance of exams: In addition to the increased difficulty and significance of exams, the nature of the tests is altered in law school. The importance of final exams was hard to swallow at first, says Jolic. I wasn’t used to having everything hinge on just one exam.

The end of my first semester was particularly difficult. I was really concerned about the torts exam because I saw dozens of issues in the fact pattern but didn’t have enough time to analyze them all in my response. I thought I flunked. I ended up getting a B so that helped me understand how law school exams (and professors grading) were different from what I had been used to in the past.

While there is a plethora of criticism circling the web lately as to why law school is a bad idea, much of the reasons offered for why this is boil down to personal obstacles such as money. I am convinced that students don’t understand the actual burden of student loans, says Jolic. Yes, you understand the numbers, how much money it really is and the fact that you will have to pay it back, but it is impossible to understand how it will impact your life for years and years after you graduate. I have friends with more than $100,000 in student loans. They are now married with children and are paying as much as a thousand dollars per month for student loans. My advice is to limit the damage to the extent possible; never borrow money for living expenses (work if at all possible), apply for every possible scholarship and keep the debt to a minimum.

Ultimately, however, Jolic does not see student loans as a reason to write law school off before giving it due consideration. While there is much to lose (mostly money) from spending the extra three years in school, there is also much to gain. The important thing is that students realize just what it is they are getting into. As Jolic notes, [it is wise to] communicat[e] with law students in the months leading up to [your] first semester so [you have] a fairly accurate picture of what to expect.

Are you looking for college advice and tips from successful students? Download the free Uloop & Kaplan eBook,Student to Student today!

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