How hard is law school?

If you really want something it wont be easy. Law school is not an unreachable thing. There are many people before you will more obstacles their lives that have gone to law school and became successful lawyers. With Law school ,just just line university, perseverance is key. It will be many hours of reading and writing. If you truly have a passion for it all then all the reading and writing wont matter since you will be enjoying it.

Serena,

First off, thank you for wanting to specialize in discrimination! There are many kinds of discrimination - as the victim of disability discrimination and retaliation in the employment realm, I can tell you it is difficult to find a Plaintiff-side attorney to take these cases!

I have not been to law school. I was in a Masters of Legal Studies program, which I know was not nearly as difficult as law school. To me, the most difficult thing about studying law is there simply is not enough time to go off and explore something. Not enough time to read every case you are assigned, from start to finish. You will learn to find the key sections of the cases, and gloss over the rest. To me, truly understanding the history of the case made it come to life for me, and I spent too much time doing that.

I have heard that students in law school form study groups. So, it might be that you each review 5 different cases and brief the others on the cases you prepared. This is only good if you have a good group, however, you won't get the same depth of understanding as you would if you had read it!

And then, there will be topics you aren't interested in, but have to take -perhaps Contract Law. And, professors are demanding. Yes, it is really, really, really hard. But why?

It's because lawyers have to be perfect! If they try to introduce a piece of evidence at the wrong stage of the trial, it won't be allowed. If they fail to timely raise an objection during trial, they won't be able to use that situation in their appeal - and they could be sued for malpractice! My lawyer was awesome! He ended up knowing the details of my case better than I did! I watched how he read emails that were part of the case: noting who had been copied, when it was sent, how that fit in with other things going on at that time, etc.

Don't be scared off! There are resources that will teach you how to study, how to take notes, etc. If you want it bad enough, go for it! If you aren't sure, consider becoming a Paralegal first. This way you can get some real world experience in a law office. Many paralegals have only an associates degree. If that is something you are interested in, let me know, and I will give you a few pointers on schooling.

Best of luck!

Kim

Hi, Serena, law school is challenging and involves a lot of reading and writing, but it is totally doable! I'll admit, I was a little shocked to arrive at law school and realize that there were already assignments posted before classes even began, but I was able to keep up and do well. It helps if you're able to really focus on the work your first year. You will likely have many pages to read in each class each night; you do have to get used to it. By the second year, I was able to work part-time and still keep up with it. I was able to earn good grades, learn a ton and still have time to work and see friends. I have friends who even worked full time while going to law school at night. I hope this helps!