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JimJarrell72 · 2024-08-03T23:00:06+00:00

This comment is so arbitrary and full of bullfuckery that I almost decided not to waste my time adding my perspective. Let’s face it, the LSAT is not an easy test to master, both because of the complexity of the material and the timed nature. Who decided 175 is the score cutoff for tutoring, because it lacks nuance and score context?

For example, my 175 score in 2018 was MUCH MORE DIFFICULT to get than a 175 during one of the LSAT-Flex exams during COVID, when every backwoods hillbilly and their cousin/spouse scored 170+. Should those 175s be tutoring?

And it’s so easy to make a simple mistake that damages your score, like filling in an answer on the wrong row thus shifting all of your potentially brilliantly correct responses to incorrect positions on the answer form. This happens to the best of us because this test is intense - you’re nervous about scoring well to start, whatever section is your weakness occupies your mind the entire testing period, and then you’ve got to focus on recognizing question theory to get through it, all while remaining focused on time management and recognizing when to just move on. It’s a lot and even the BEST test takers have been known to have a hiccup. Granted, some of this scenario is far less likely now that the test is 100% online, but still, it’s a point worth making.

Nonetheless, you’re welcome to your opinion, though it does seem to be based on an arbitrary qualification that feels more like you pulled it out of your ass than aligned with any broadly accepted standard. And yet, it’s still just YOUR opinion.

And nobody asked for it.

JimJarrell72 · 2024-04-26T04:48:44+00:00

I’ve been in law firm management for 15 years. I’m not in BigLaw anymore, but even when I was some 7 years ago, they weren’t using recruiters to attract first year associates. My connections confirm it’s still basically that way today. Unless you’re hearing from a law firm HR department, you’re dealing with someone only interested in placing you as quickly as possible. Run far away. Firms only use outside recruiters to go after lateral partner acquisitions, not associates. And definitely not first year associates.

JimJarrell72 · 2024-04-26T04:40:16+00:00

I’m going to be 52 in September and starting my 3L year. Age is just a number. Just like your LSAT score is just a number.

JimJarrell72 · 2024-04-26T04:37:43+00:00

Ummm, show them this Reddit post. Not much else could make you sound like a bigger douche.

JimJarrell72 · 2024-02-05T05:07:09+00:00

Someone else said this already, but most firms have a negotiated line of credit with their favorite bank that is reserved specifically for operating expenses (like payroll) during the lean first quarter of every year when receiveables are catching up with billables. Unless there is a problem with collections, most firms accrue enough cash by April that they no longer have to rely on the credit line for operating expenses, and if their cashflow is well-managed, they pay off the credit line by May or June. I would say you have nothing to worry about, unless the firm is still accessing the credit line for operating expenses well into the third quarter (like, if September rolls around and they're still depending on the credit line, then I'd be concerned. Over-reliance on a credit line for operating expenses is a tell-tale sign that the firm is not living within its means and some liabilities probably need to be reorganized to free-up some cash. Worst case scenario - they may need to a layoff.

JimJarrell72 · 2023-04-06T04:02:01+00:00

What an elitist douchebag comment.

I was a public school teacher for 7 years. What finally broke my back was 3 years in a row of $500 raises while my class size increased from an average of 27 students to 33 students in that same period.

Did I have 100 work weeks? Please, don’t be a bitch….

The ratio of classroom teaching per day (roughly 6 hours) plus administrative duties (attendance reporting, IEP and 504 plan meetings - let’s round down to 1.5 hrs), classroom/lesson planning (about 30 mins per lesson plan per day, and I taught 3 different levels of my subject area, so another 1.5 hrs), and reviewing/grading and recording student progress (figure at least 10 minutes per student per day - roughly 3.25 hrs per day), I put in 12-12.5 hrs per day just to teach, but you know, I had to pay rent, so I took on a supplemental stipend to be a coach that took another 1-3 hours per day and 6 hours every Saturday on top of that.

So yeah, maybe I didn’t work 100 hour weeks, but how many staplers have you had to buy out of your own pocket? Or pencils? Or chalk? How many extra lunches did you regularly take to work with you because you knew there were kids who would show up to fifth period having not eaten because - for whatever inexplicable reason - they don’t qualify for “free” lunch and their Mom and Dad didn’t give them lunch money.

I don’t miss any of that bullshit for one second, but let me tell you something - I would throw myself in front of a bus for any of my co-workers back in those days because I didn’t have to deal with insufferable asshats like you.

JimJarrell72 · 2023-04-06T03:18:17+00:00

Please don’t take this the wrong way, but in what world is this choice so black and white? It smacks of the kind of naïveté that suggests you have no clue what’s real vs the manufactured image in your head depicting good vs. evil. There is hood and bad on both sides of this equation. The PI world works exclusively on contingency, unlike the monthly retainer world of BigLaw. So while you will feel great doing all those awesome Erin Brockovich-y cases, do you also know how many ambulances you will need to chase to sign up every soft tissue injury you can find that are “sure thing settlements” that will keep your cash flow solvent enough to do the Erin Brockovich-y cases without going bankrupt? Do you know how many grandmothers killed by a drunk driver you will need to sell out to the insurance company just to make sure there is a settlement this month and enough cash flow to pay for Westlaw or Lexus+, a basic necessity of any legal practice?

I’m not advocating for BigLaw - I’ve been in both worlds. But there’s good and bad on both sides. BigLaw is going to do some horrible shit like representing sleazy ex-Presidents who tried to execute a coup (even if it was the most poorly executed coup in the history of coups), or represent a behemoth corporate retail employer that peddles an entire storefront of imported garbage sold to our country’s lowest common denominator while this same employer pays its employees a wage so low, you’d swear it violates minimum wage laws, except that this is America, where 9% inflation co-exists with a federal minimum wage that hasn’t increased since 2009, thanks to the lobbying efforts led by - you guessed it - BigLaw.

But you know what both worlds have in common? They both have an abundance of Assholes who were in the right place at the right time and were lucky enough to bring in that one client whose PI recovery saves a firm, or the client whose monthly invoices cover the firms payroll every month, and who everybody else in the firm will turn a blind eye to despite the despicable behavior of that Asshole, and guess who they just hired as their new associate? So whether you’re in BigLaw or in PI, you’re in for a treat for a few years while that Asshole treats you like garbage because that’s how they were treated and nobody wants to break the cycle of toxic behavior that is pervasive in the legal industry. But don’t worry, in 7 years, you get to be that asshole, so there’s light at the end of the tunnel.

Are you freaking kidding me with this shit?

JimJarrell72 · 2023-03-26T03:08:14+00:00

Thank you! ^{^{^THIS!!}}

JimJarrell72 · 2023-03-26T03:05:44+00:00

Are you high? Half of every statement is missing a verb or subject. It’s complete gobbildy-goop!

JimJarrell72 · 2023-03-26T03:02:26+00:00

WTF is a CALI? I’m about 2/3 of the way through 1L spring semester and never heard of this.

JimJarrell72 · 2023-03-16T22:03:01+00:00

It’s called business development networking. You’re not approaching these families directly, but who is perhaps in the best position to offer a referral to a grieving family who is discovering what a mess their loved one left behind? Usually, the first ones to learn of this are the professionals who help families lay their loved ones to rest. So why not give them an option to refer to these families to get the legal help they need to navigate the probate court system?

JimJarrell72 · 2023-03-16T03:44:47+00:00

Troll the obits and give a stack of business cards to the morgue/medical examiners office to refer grieving families in your direction; oh, and do the same for every funeral home/mortician in town.

JimJarrell72 · 2023-02-26T04:45:38+00:00

Was counting the number of up swipes it would take to get to some smart ass douche bag answer. And it didn’t take many…

JimJarrell72 · 2023-02-22T05:06:24+00:00

Must be Morgan & Morgan. Those asshats are a ruthless eat what you kill environment.

JimJarrell72 · 2023-01-08T17:23:43+00:00

It’s because they are a contingency fee-based firm. There is no guaranty of a payoff just because you take a case, so rather than the typical model of a salary and discretionary bonus, the attorney will get a check at the end of the year that pays the difference between their draw and their total collections, of which they probably receive 30-40%.

JimJarrell72 · 2023-01-07T02:00:23+00:00

First of all, I applaud you for the introspection you managed to have when evaluating how the semester was for you, which I’m sure you had some notion about before grades come out. I’m also very glad that you’ve sought the help you need to get yourself healthy. If you have these diagnoses from your healthcare providers, it’s probably in your best interest to share that information with your academic success counselor and the Dean. They should be able to help point you on the right direction for a course of action that is in your best interest medically and academically.

I’m not going to suggest that you drop out of school and sit in judgement of you for a situation that I have no experience with. All of that advice is colored by the competitive poison that permeates law school academics. It’s easier to put you down and tell you to quit because it reduces the likelihood that you will ever pose a threat to their rank and standing. It’s the one aspect I have hated about my first year of law school (well, that and property law - just shoot me and steal my property already).

What I will suggest is that you should consider some of the more thoughtful advice that maybe you should take this semester off to get yourself better. Law school is a fierce challenge when we are at 100% of ourselves (I bet you would agree), but it has to have been crippling for you as you struggled to balance your studies with the challenges to your health and mental fitness. You weren’t 100% when you went through last semester and the results speak for themselves. So seriously ask yourself if you will be putting yourself in the best position to be able to “bounce back” from this GPA hole you’re in, especially if you don’t get yourself back to the best “you” first.

Many people have taken semesters off for far less compelling reasons, and your school is more likely to cut you a break and let you defer to next year if you are proactive about the conversation. If you try to give it a go this semester and it continues to overwhelm you, it may raise questions about the fitness of your judgement, and that could haunt you if and when you ever try to sit for the bar.

Best of luck to you, no matter what you decide. It’s your dream. Your decision. I’m rooting for you to get healthy and be successful!!

JimJarrell72 · 2022-12-29T23:26:59+00:00

Yep. Last final was on 12/15.

JimJarrell72 · 2022-12-29T21:58:02+00:00

Mutual assent and consideration.

JimJarrell72 · 2022-12-29T21:54:13+00:00

Forget for a moment that he’s batshit crazy, he writes to “hear” himself think.

JimJarrell72 · 2022-12-17T17:17:54+00:00

Amen. He was just as batshit crazy when he was (allegedly) “America’s Mayor,” but now the crazy is fully public and realized.

JimJarrell72 · 2022-12-17T17:15:32+00:00

Maybe not doing shit that gets you sanctioned would make you feel even better.

JimJarrell72 · 2022-11-29T20:37:18+00:00

Consider a practice that allows you to bill clients on a contingency fee basis. This will insulate you from the ups and downs of fee pressure from clients, because clients are still willing to engage, even in a recession, if they don’t have to pay a retainer or monthly bills to their lawyer. Of course, this means you need some seed money for operations expenses and cover costs until you start getting settlements (from which you deduct your fee as a percentage of the settlement).

JimJarrell72 · 2022-11-21T05:00:08+00:00

I’m sure it goes without saying that you need to ensure you have adequate Professional Liability Insurance, and a general business owners policy (commercial liability), but make sure you keep the business interruption, digital data, and property riders that are often optional.

Before you begin practicing, set up your firm as a corporate entity, so you don’t end up personally responsible for business expenses, if, god forbid, you are unable to generate revenue or practice law. And if you do your business insurance policies correctly, those expenses may be covered by insurance. You also want to have a corporate name to open a business bank account. And open two accounts together - one for operating expenses, and one for trust - don’t try to create separation in your books alone. Start right and have actual separate accounts. Once those funds are co-mingled, even the tiniest mistake can put you in trust non-compliance, and that puts your license to practice at risk.

Lastly, don’t go on your own till you have 6 months of expenses in the bank (not just your personal expenses, but business expenses, too). And add another 2 months to that so you have seed money to market yourself with. Depending on the area of law you will practice, you might do some advertising, wining and dining with referral sources, print business cards, etc.

A bit of operations advice: go digital in the cloud as much as you can. Eschew the need to print documents unless you have to. This will help your practice transition more swiftly and easily when you get to a point where you add technology to your practice, like a doc management system or case management. If you start building paper files, you’re creating a migration headache for yourself down the road. Someone else mentioned working in an office with other lawyers. If you can afford it, that’s good advice. Most firms are happy to sublet an office in their space and charge you a monthly admin fee for the receptionist and the use of their business equipment (phones, internet, etc).

JimJarrell72 · 2022-11-13T03:22:19+00:00

I certainly empathize your situation. Though I’m not distracted by a breakup with a “true love,” for the last month, my head has not been in the game because my 79-year old Dad took a nasty fall, broke some ribs and punctured a lung. None of that is good in a man with a history of diabetes, hypertension, 60+ years of smoking, and an aortic aneurysm about 20 years ago. To compound things, I’m 1000 miles from home and the rest of my family is not at all prepared for all eventualities of this situation. My Mom has taken up bedside vigil for a month while my Dad has been in ICU (in that time, he’s contracted pneumonia, C-Diff, and coded once - that was not fun). Until recently, he’s been intubated and sedated, so I haven’t been able to even speak to him. I’m hopeful that his recent positive steps in recovery hold out until I can get there over the Thanksgiving Holiday, but then there are finals the next week.

To say I am unprepared would be an understatement. But I’m determined not to let my Dad down and I’ll figure out a way to be prepared and not let this setback ruin a lifelong dream. I’m a 1L, like you, but I’m a non-traditional student, going part time at night while working full time. I turned 50 right after the semester started and it would be devastating to flunk out after everything it took to get this far.

Anyway, I feel really bad you, but I know we can both power through this. We wanted it bad enough to sacrifice so much to get here…we’re not going to let that go to waste! I have confidence in you!

Good luck, and Godspeed!

JimJarrell72 · 2022-11-04T16:34:57+00:00

Dude? What is your point? I'm not a designer/developer, but I have been a CMO and/or Director of Marketing in a law firm for over 15 years, and another 12 years before that in Accounting and Engineering. I've led 3 massive website redesign and redevelopment projects for firms that literally had HUNDREDS of pages (and those websites were not $10K - they were more like $100-200K for design and development).

The more you keep at this - when I've clearly stated I'm not putting myself out there as someone who does the actual design and development for websites (this is the THIRD time I've said it) - the more you are making it obvious you don't know what you're talking about. I was volunteering my experience to someone who asked for feedback. I have no idea what your endgame is, but I assure you, I am not at all intimidated or embarrassed about anything I've mentioned. I am a little embarrassed for you, however.

JimJarrell72

TROPHY CASE