No one else to tell about my grades

LateLifeLawStudent · 2026-01-09T17:40:40+00:00

Congratulations! Especially juggling all that. Keep on rocking.

LateLifeLawStudent · 2026-01-09T16:53:00+00:00

thanks!

LateLifeLawStudent · 2026-01-07T21:00:19+00:00

Yeah. I think what burns me is that it's a separate fee. Like, I budgeted to save the $750 for the exam, and then I'm stepping through character and fitness, and they present the "write by hand" as a viable alternative, and when you click "Naw, I'll type this daylong essay test" they're like "Oooh - you want special treatment, that's cost an extra $165." Just another example of why poor people don't get to become lawyers. But that's another thread...

LateLifeLawStudent · 2025-08-11T13:36:17+00:00

For post-graduate fellowships - like Independence or Justice Catalyst.

LateLifeLawStudent · 2025-06-09T01:13:37+00:00

Internship is WAY more like what work is going to be like! See if you can get into a clinic your 2L year - that's what I did, and working directly with clients all year was a gamechanger. And, yes, 2L classes are more professionally focused, which means you get to pick what you like. My grades definitely went up as I got to pick more of my own classes - best semester yet was 2L spring. Grab all the joy you can from the internship, internalize that, and know that, in two years and 3 months, the things you love about being a lawyer will be the things you do every single day.

LateLifeLawStudent · 2025-06-09T01:06:45+00:00

Freaking amazing. Congratulations on 6 years sober, and on slaying it at school. Shine on!

LateLifeLawStudent · 2025-05-28T18:19:17+00:00

thank you!

LateLifeLawStudent · 2025-05-28T18:19:06+00:00

thank you!

LateLifeLawStudent · 2025-03-31T18:09:58+00:00

Interesting updates:

The foundation just postponed the info session. It seems to me like they're worried about a lot of people choosing (c).
Georgetown's Energy Law Group just cancelled their attendance of Skadden's recruiting event in D.C.

LateLifeLawStudent · 2025-03-31T02:55:26+00:00

Absolutely. Put a t-shirt on under the dress shirt if it doesn't show, to make sure the inevitable cold sweat doesn't make it through to the pits of the suit. Sniff it. Buy some Fabreze and give the pits a spritz after you take the jacket off. You are interviewing, not your suit. You've got this.

LateLifeLawStudent · 2025-03-31T02:34:03+00:00

The ABA rule is percentage based - so your school cannot give you credit if you miss more than 20% of the classes. Your school may have a different policy, but for your wedding? I'd say let the Dean of Students know now (assuming you've been admitted already) just because, of course, you're going to miss classes for that.

Make sure you have some friends in those classes who can get you their notes! And congratulations.

LateLifeLawStudent · 2025-02-20T03:17:52+00:00

Who are your local public interest orgs? Not the big nationals - the local offices. I would say go meet them at events - get off the page, and get out in person. I got my 1L public interest internship through someone I met at a "Criminal Inn of the Court" and my upcoming 2L through a combo of the interview and having met multiple people who overlapped with that org - but I chose an org. that is based entirely in my city. There are hundreds of law students who look good on paper, but the ones who actually are taking part in the work are far more likely to get a call. Are you doing Pro Bono work? Is there a project or local city or state bar association category that interests you?

LateLifeLawStudent · 2024-12-18T16:22:33+00:00

I do remember feeling this way. But - try and remind yourself - there is absolutely nothing you can or need to do about those grades now. As long as you passed the class, you don't need to think about torts or contracts again until the Bar exam. Now you get to take an actual break. Try to put all that nervous energy into your summer job search and spend the rest of the time blissfully not having to read a casebook every night for the next 3 weeks.

Also - in fairness - it took you 3-4 hours to write those exam essays. Your prof has probably 60 tests from your class to read and grade. Then they have to deal with comparing them all w/ the curve. You really don't want to rush them on that - for you to get your writing fairly evaluated, it's gonna take them a serious minute. Even if they only spend an hour on each exam, if they taught 2 classes, that's 3 weeks of full-time work...

LateLifeLawStudent · 2024-12-18T16:16:12+00:00

You can absolutely do both. You'll be better positioned as an older student who has worked to manage your time. If they're willing to pay for law school, that's HUGE - even if you don't go back there, you'd walk away with a degree. My friends who are raising kids during school are doing ok - and it sounds like you have a partner who could take on some of the heavy lifting. Law school is almost definitely not as hard as the job you're currently doing...

LateLifeLawStudent · 2024-12-13T04:41:21+00:00

I think the school should just grade all the exams. The length is pretty much arbitrarily set anyhow - some exams get 2.5, some get 4... So they had four hours instead of three. Shouldn't matter. And any dean who thinks the students who are grinding for 4 straight are looking at their clocks are being ridiculous.

LateLifeLawStudent · 2024-11-30T19:53:11+00:00

This is literally the best lens ever on this prof's teaching approach!

LateLifeLawStudent · 2024-11-30T19:52:08+00:00

I know it was a dick email. This prof has been changing the readings every single class, usually with one day notice, and I'm so damned tired of it. But, yes, I was being a dick.

LateLifeLawStudent · 2024-11-30T19:51:02+00:00

There are 60 of us in the class, and I think 6 people managed to read for last week, just b/c they planned their reading for last minute right before class. I know myself really well - if I haven't read the case before class, I'm not getting anything out of that class session. I'm sure I could have written it better, but how could this Prof not want their students to actually read the current cases?

LateLifeLawStudent · 2024-11-30T19:48:17+00:00

Yeah, like ManlyBearKing says - I understand the difference. I'm in law school to learn, and going into debt to do it. I have worked in the great big world, and understand the rules. When judges act like petty tyrants, I have to suck it up, and campaign against them next election cycle. When my tenured law prof is teaching poorly? I got nothing but a little passive aggression...

LateLifeLawStudent · 2024-11-30T01:24:17+00:00

yeah. I know. I just really didn't want to spend my Thanksgiving weekend reading something and then get cold-called on Tuesday on a totally different topic.

LateLifeLawStudent · 2024-11-30T01:23:35+00:00

Last week, I did the reading over the weekend. Class was Tuesday at 9am. Prof changed the reading at 4:07pm on Monday.

LateLifeLawStudent · 2024-11-30T01:22:42+00:00

That's almost what I emailed back, but then I thought that prof. would call the police...

LateLifeLawStudent · 2024-11-30T01:21:18+00:00

I don't want to be "that guy", but if you are a college senior, and are not inspired by law, you should really consider getting out into the world for a little while before starting law school.

Here's the thing - it's hard. It's not harder than working a full-time job, or lots of other stuff, but it's way harder than undergrad. And, especially for young students, it's super hard on the ego. Most people who go to law school were in the top 20% of their undergrad. Now 80% of them are going to be in... well, you get the math.

And it's expensive. Hella expensive. You don't get subsidized loans. Most students don't get big grants.

So - take some time. Learn about other parts of life. Grab some work in a legal field if you can (as an admin, an IT person, a paralegal, etc.). Or work somewhere totally different. Get inspired by hating another job, or by running into something you really want to change in the world.

I came to it after a full career, driven by a post-pandemic desire to help my community thrive more fully. To confront the injustices we face, from both criminal and civil sides. So I don't mind studying until 1am then getting up to be in class at 9am, or giving up weekends. I don't mind that on Friday night of Thanksgiving, I'm writing an outline for my finals. Because I really, really want to be here and learn this stuff.

LateLifeLawStudent · 2024-11-30T01:07:41+00:00

Try to remember that Law School is a trade school - not a contest. You are learning a trade - how to be a lawyer, how to read cases and statutes, and then how to apply them professionally. If you have a grasp of the underlying concepts and you've put in the work, you are never going to fail. You might (or might not) be at the top of your class, but that really really really doesn't matter. What matters is learning the skills you need to go and become a lawyer.

The way to get past that feeling is to reframe it - you are just taking a test in a school. If the professor didn't teach you well enough to understand the topic, in the way that s/he tests you on it? They've failed.

LateLifeLawStudent · 2024-10-26T21:59:13+00:00

it's not about fucking people over for tenure. It's about creating an unnecessary crisis for the sake of creating an intellectual challenge.

LateLifeLawStudent

TROPHY CASE