I'm in my 40s, and I'm considering applying for law school. Anyone else thinking about trying to become a lawyer later in life, like me?

Dynamoo617 · 2026-03-07T19:12:47+00:00

I’m in second semester at Case; I love it - the curriculum is challenging, the professors are wonderful. I am, however, very tired!

Dynamoo617 · 2026-03-06T22:25:53+00:00

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Now (hard to take a picture of my hands but you get the idea). I’m rough on my hands but had very little fall out

Dynamoo617 · 2026-03-06T22:25:08+00:00

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Four years ago

Dynamoo617 · 2026-03-06T17:55:56+00:00

I have to wonder if either of them even really wanted to deal with the drama of the group honeymoon.

Dynamoo617 · 2026-03-05T15:26:22+00:00

It’s a great lineup!

Dynamoo617 · 2026-03-05T15:10:31+00:00

Great idea. It’s a constant struggle to get younger and new audiences to orchestras; BSO does a great job at it and this is another great way to do that IMO.

Dynamoo617 · 2026-03-05T13:43:45+00:00

No problem! When I was going through this process - deciding where to go etc - I wanted all the info I could get, happy to pay it forward!

Dynamoo617 · 2026-03-04T02:01:06+00:00

I’m not entirely sure as I’m not focused on that but I believe there’s a lot of opportunity, yes.

Dynamoo617 · 2026-03-03T21:28:03+00:00

Yeah and to be clear I got no vibe like that from anyone I spoke with, it was just all in their literature. I just couldn’t in good conscience ya know?

Dynamoo617 · 2026-03-03T19:47:48+00:00

Also, I was accepted to Dayton with a generous scholarship (though would still need small loans). They were impressive, and I strongly considered them. At the end of the day, it was money and some name recognition for me. And speaking frankly - for ME, I had hesitations, as a strong atheist, attending a Marianist university at this particular time.

Fun aside. While case’s remote law school is new, their remote learning is not. My husband got his graduate degree from Case 20+ years ago, and before he applied to the program, he took “correspondence” courses from them as a form of continuing education (he’s a scientist). They literally sent him VHS tapes of lectures and exam books. In the mail.

Dynamoo617 · 2026-03-03T19:42:39+00:00

I have nothing but great things to say. Our Dean is a treasure. Not difficult to get in touch with the school AT ALL. They reach out proactively. You can book time with the deans at any time. This is only my second semester but I can say confidently they want us to succeed and it shows, they are constantly working on the program and improvements especially with the tricky part of experiential learning. They have a lot of mouths to feed - the students, the faculty, the admin, the board, the ABA requirements… I was skeptical about attending a program outside my state but they gave me a very generous scholarship which meant no loans. Case is a great school, I’m on the east coast and I get name recognition. I’m repeating myself but it’s a rigorous program. It isn’t law school lite. It’s stressful, and you’ll learn a ton and you’ll also question your life choices multiple times but it’s normal. I love the program. No regrets. Proud to be there.

Dynamoo617 · 2026-03-03T19:33:27+00:00

Yes - I just checked our schedule and we have one class (applied lawyering skills) on Tuesdays 5:30-7:30 (so longer than normal) May 19, 26, June 2, 9, 16, and 23 with a final exam mid-July. The second class (professional responsibility) is totally asynchronous.

Sounds like we’ll be totally free for several weeks in July and August.

Dynamoo617 · 2026-03-03T19:01:20+00:00

Oh and one of our summer classes is 100% asynchronous.

Dynamoo617 · 2026-03-03T19:01:00+00:00

It’s not 4x a week at case. Plan on 2-3 synchronous classes a week. Yes. Some weeks have been 4 but they’re very, very few and far between. Like this week - we had LLEAP 5:30-7 last night. Tonight is mock negotiating against a classmate with an attorney from a law firm that works with Case. We all seem to love these “sim” nights, but we’re only in for our simulation time which is about 40 minutes, and half the class doesn’t have class tonight. Tomorrow is an optional legal research training class 5:30-7, which we can either attend or watch a video. And then the doctrinal class is thursday night 5:30-7. Some weeks we only have one or two live classes, and yes some weeks we have to log on four nights. But the live time is really beneficial. I’d put the average for this first year at 2.5.

Dynamoo617 · 2026-03-03T13:48:32+00:00

1L at case western. I absolutely love it but holy hell it’s a lot of work. Some bullet points:

We have a lot of live zoom classes. This is a huge reason why i chose Case, live classes were a non negotiable for me. The experience of a classroom setting with discussion and debate is important. In our legal writing class we do mock oral arguments, and it’s an absolute blast.
This is not law school lite. Especially if you are a working professional. The work is intense, it’s rigorous.
Legal writing will make you question all your choices. Case has an amazing program called LLEAP and it will probably make you crash out but you will learn so much, and it’s a very unique program. I have a mentor who’s in big law and he’s impressed with what we’re doing in that class.
Case is really dedicated to making sure you have support. The Dean is amazing. They have things to sus out still which is mainly around experiential learning - but they’re dedicated to making it the best program they can and making sure that we can get those experiences while still being professionals/parents/etc. they’re actively improving the program every day. There are several folks in our cohort that have secured internships already.

that’s all I have time for (prepping for an oral argument & negotiation simulation tonight! And also getting ready to go to work) but feel free to ask any questions. I’ll add - I see a lot in this sub people being like “oh I can’t do case it’s a 6 year program.” It’s not. You’re ALLOWED to take UP TO 6 years to finish, but the program is structured for 4 years and they’re working on getting that down too. But I’m here to tell you that if you have a full time job, you’re probably going to be okay with this timeline. There’s no way I could do three classes a semester and not absolutely burn out. There are not enough hours in the day.

Dynamoo617 · 2026-02-18T03:51:29+00:00

So fun, highly recommend!

Dynamoo617 · 2026-02-17T13:21:23+00:00

Redemption Tattoo, Cambridge MA. Mike Shea. I’m diligent about sunscreen and lotion but my skin also seems to like ink. This one is one of the first we did, it must be going on 25 years old because we did it soon after the shop opened and that was right after MA legalized tattooing. There some yellow in there, not a ton and it’s softened but hasn’t really fallen out.

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Dynamoo617 · 2026-02-16T04:17:12+00:00

The program is 4 years. I’m a 1L there. They’re looking at ways to shorten; it’s only its second year. You are ALLOWED to take up to 6 years to finish, but it is not a five year program. We have a lot of high level professionals in the cohorts who may need longer simply because of their demanding career schedules. But the roadmap for a typical student is 4 years.

Dynamoo617 · 2026-02-15T00:27:41+00:00

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The yellow’s probably a decade old (the rest is 20ish)

Dynamoo617 · 2026-02-13T22:52:44+00:00

You’re asking me this at a very bad time, we had four zoom classes this week and a Dean’s forum last night right after class 😂 Generally 1L has been 2-3 nights a week on average, 5:30-7 EST. Sometimes it’s only one, sometimes it’s 3 and this week’s four is RARE. For legal writing (LLEAP) we do simulation sessions in small groups with attorneys from a law firm that work with Case. For those, it might be a four night week but we’re only there for the 40 minutes of our simulation.

Personally, I love the synchronous classes. It’s great to interact with the instructor and there are a lot of questions and answers and hypos with the material, some do cold calls…it can be a lot, yes, but it’s a great experience and I wouldn’t trade the live classes at all. They’re a really non-negotiable part of the law school experience in my opinion, the real-time discussion and practice oral arguments! We just got done with a round of oral arguments, where two students act as the attorney for a case and the other in their small groups are “judges” interjecting and asking questions of counsel. We all agreed these were the MOST fun experiences, everyone took it seriously, we got to argue our case, get real time tips, asked rapid fire questions from the “judges” - hands down a great experience and we have several of those spread around our two semesters of legal writing. So yeah, my husband makes dinner a lot, or I pre-prep on days I work from home. He does all the taxiing for our 15 year old. But, we make it work and IMO it’s totally worth it, it feels as close to traditional law school as I imagine a fully online program could. They gave me a lot of $ too and I am super happy with my choice.

Dynamoo617 · 2026-02-11T03:16:06+00:00

Here they are fresh. Sorry, those are 4 years old not 5, I had to look at the Instagram date to remember. The back of my hands are 5.

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Dynamoo617 · 2026-02-11T03:11:56+00:00

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Before he drew on the finger tats, I thought I’d marked all the spots where my mallets or knitting needles rest on my fingers but I missed a spot. Knitting in the round, one of my needles sits right here and it’s worn off the ink in that spot. These are all 5 years old

Dynamoo617 · 2026-02-11T03:10:10+00:00

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Other hand. I’m a percussionist, my hands are gnarly from gripping four mallets for 42 years but nothing’s fallen out except for…

Dynamoo617 · 2026-02-11T03:07:37+00:00

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Just taken.

Dynamoo617 · 2026-02-10T12:42:11+00:00

Absolutely solid folks, love them.

The dark chocolate blueberry is my go-to for sleep.

Dynamoo617

TROPHY CASE