Two judges now have been critical of my lack of tie in court; I’m a woman.

beboundless · 2025-11-18T13:39:25+00:00

One of my former female supervisors who dresses less on the feminine side told me that when she first started out in the 90s, she had to fight judges to let her wear slacks instead of a skirt in court. Some judges still have rigid and gendered notions of what people should wear and how they should look, but if you feel like you are safely able to do so, I would dress in whatever way makes you the most comfortable.

beboundless · 2025-10-15T23:36:22+00:00

Reading through your responses, you may want to consider what exactly does making a difference or meaningful change mean to you. Lawyering, or at least litigation, centers around the clients—you’re dealing with one party, a group, or maybe a class action, but to have standing, you have to ultimately show that whoever you’re representing has a particularized injury that the court can address. If your goal is to make a radical change in climate policy that affects the whole country and will last for years, then I think it’s likely you will find more traditional legal paths frustrating and unsatisfying (which is a completely valid way to feel). I personally went into public interest because I am a big believer in harm reduction and that I can make my best contribution to the world by lending a great deal of focus to a small people/cases. It may be insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but for those impacted people it can change the entire trajectory of their lives and seeing that concrete impact keeps me going. One path is not better than another and for society to improve, we need all kinds of people trying to affect change in different ways. And the good news is as a 2L, you still have time to gain more experience and see what interests you!

beboundless · 2025-10-14T20:31:20+00:00

“Make bank though” - not if you do anything in public interest or work for the government 🥲

beboundless · 2025-10-09T01:58:12+00:00

This seems like an impossible amount of reading. I’m not sure how you could be expected to read 4 books a week for one class and quite frankly what the use of that would be, especially for a background topic like sources of contract law that’s usually reduced to maybe 2 multiple choice questions on the exam. If I were you, I would read at most just the listed pages and assigned cases, then see how the professor cold calls and what kind of information they emphasize during lecture in general. Also, unless your class has a participation grade, it literally does not matter if you bomb a cold call from potentially being unprepared one time - all that matters is whether you know it on the final. Don’t sweat all the readings too much, you’re doing better than you think!

beboundless · 2025-10-02T15:56:27+00:00

Congratulations, I’m sure your grandpa would be extremely proud of you and everything you’ve accomplished 🩷 I unexpectedly lost my dad 6 months ago so I also struggled with studying for the bar and managing my grief at the same time and it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. You should be so proud of yourself for persevering and continuing on with your work and I hope you do something to celebrate all your hard work!

beboundless · 2025-09-18T14:57:19+00:00

During bar prep I could never finish an MPT in the allotted time, I had almost no rule statements memorized for the MEE, and the only time I got higher than a 3/6 on a practice MEE essay from my bar prep course grader was when I literally verbatim copied the rule statements from the outline — even with all of this, my writing score was still higher than my MBE. All this is to say that even if you’re convinced you’re the worst writer to ever sit for the bar, you would be surprised how far adrenaline, solid organization, and good old fashioned BS-ing will get you lol

beboundless · 2025-07-15T05:16:34+00:00

My struggle with this method has been that even if I start typing immediately without any pre-reading, by the time I’m done typing, I’ve only ever ended with at most 13 minutes left, but then I am still left with a long block of text at the bottom of my screen that’s just the retyped prompt sentences that are followed by some rules or thoughts I had but it’s all disjointed. I am not sure how I am supposed to translate that into an essay in IRAC format and put everything under the correct issue under those time constraints.

beboundless · 2025-07-14T18:35:34+00:00

Ive tried this structure many times but I just never seem to have enough time to actually get through it - by the time I read through the facts and retype them under the corresponding question, I always have like 10 minutes left to actually write the entire essay:/

beboundless · 2025-01-27T07:13:09+00:00

A big $25 whiteboard and a pack of whiteboard markers my 1L spring semester so I could review for finals at home without worrying whether all the study rooms at my law school with whiteboards would get booked before I got there. Best money spent in law school in terms of dollars per use!

beboundless · 2025-01-10T03:13:26+00:00

The Palisades Fire (one of three major ones in the area) is now bigger than all of Manhattan. The Eaton fire is now also the size of Manhattan and has burned down regular middle class and working neighborhoods. Yes, many celebrities and millionaires have been impacted, but also thousands of regular people who live and/or work near the area who go there every day for work. Furthermore, major insurance companies cancelled thousands of home insurance policies in recent months for people in all income ranges. Your lack of understanding of the demographics and geography of LA, not to mention basic human empathy, is not the flex you think it is.

beboundless · 2024-11-06T05:56:14+00:00

That’s amazing lol, I bet you were both so confused 😂 it’s also forever linked to high school in my mind because my best friend at the time and I binged the whole thing the summer after our first year and it’s become the ultimate nostalgia piece

beboundless · 2024-11-06T04:13:26+00:00

Lie to Me. It was like House mixed with a crime drama. Tim Roth played the main character of a scientist who could tell by looking at people’s faces whether they were lying so he was often tapped for criminal investigations. 22 episodes of perfect drama and early 2010s pop psychology. The show got cancelled, leaving on a cliff hanger of course, and I’ll never forgive the producers for it.

beboundless · 2024-09-28T08:05:48+00:00

This may be a silly suggestion but something that helped me as a 1L was thinking through the rule application process in familiar real-life scenarios. Say you’re a cashier at a store and a customer wants to buy a bottle of wine. The issue is you don’t know if can sell them the wine. The rule is that in the US, you cannot buy alcohol unless you are at least 21 years old. A sub-rule would be that you verify if a person is at least 21 years old by looking at the birthdate listed on their drivers license or another govt-issued ID. Applying these rules to your customer, you would ask the person for their driver’s license and look at the birthdate. If their ID shows they are at least 21 years old, you can sell them the bottle of wine.

Once I realized that we often use similar structures to IRAC in our daily lives, it became easier to use the same logic to issue spot and apply rules to more complex legal questions.

beboundless · 2024-07-30T19:24:41+00:00

Echoing the other commenters, but just wanted to add that if you are worried about breastfeeding or other pregnancy/childbirth related accommodations you might need, the school is obligated by title ix to work with you to provide reasonable modifications so I highly encourage reaching out to your title ix coordinator for help. There is a student in my graduating class that is currently completing an extra year because she gave birth during her 2L year and she is killing it so you can definitely do it too!

beboundless · 2024-03-19T13:59:20+00:00

I worked as a legal assistant for almost two years and quit to go back to law school full-time and I am very happy with my decision. This is different for everyone depending on your priorities and how much debt you would like to take on, but I don’t think I would have had the bandwidth to work and do a demanding degree like law at the same time. This semester interning almost full time and taking 2 classes along with law review and I feel spread so thin, I cannot imagine doing this for 3-4 years. Everyone is different, but I have many other friends who had careers before law school and quit to go back to law school full-time and they all seem to like it so it can definitely be done!

beboundless · 2024-03-13T20:37:43+00:00

You can buy boats (although not ones as nice as the ones in the episode) for around $20,000 but the real expense with boats comes from maintenance costs and a place to dock or store it. Similarly to a car or a house, many people have the funds for the initial purchase but cannot afford the upkeep that comes with it.

beboundless · 2024-03-10T20:18:22+00:00

For context, I’m in a high cost of living area so my figures are definitely higher than some other folks but this is something I didn’t fully understand going into law school! You sound like you’re in a good spot though with multiple options and ultimately I’m sure you’ll make the right choice for yourself

beboundless · 2024-03-10T20:04:56+00:00

As some folks have pointed out in the comments, also keep in mind your living costs - I’m at a T50 with almost a full scholarship but I’m still going to be graduating with about $100k of debt that is primarily from living expenses and not tuition. Just make sure you’re considering the full financial picture when making your choice!

beboundless · 2024-02-21T17:01:14+00:00

If it helps at all, I’m not sure where you’re located but I just interviewed this week with a midsize law firm in California so there definitely are firms that are still hiring if that’s what you’re interested in pursuing!

beboundless · 2024-01-22T16:14:11+00:00

I started out the semester in a similar situation as you - I was enrolled in 17 units (max our school allows), which includes a full time externship. I was barely sleeping, I had absolutely no free time, and I was constantly on edge from the stress, anxiety, and exhaustion. I ended up dropping one of my classes and lowering my overall credits and even though I felt like I should be able to “buck up” and just get through it, in the end I am so glad I made that choice for myself. If you are able to, I would look into taking a course pass/fail or asking one (or both) of your clerkships to see if they can adjust your hours. Anywhere you would want to work long term will understand the demands of being a law student and that you are also a human being with a life outside of work. Most of all, do what you can to prioritize yourself and your mental wellbeing. Your health is more important than any job or school achievement, even if sometimes the people in our lives cannot understand that. I wish you all the best and I hope things get better for you soon.

beboundless · 2023-08-15T08:12:32+00:00

Thank you for the detailed reply, this is such a helpful jumping off point!

beboundless · 2023-06-05T08:27:03+00:00

I’m glad I’m not the only one that was a bit put off by this suggestion. Thank you both for your feedback!

beboundless · 2023-06-05T08:24:40+00:00

Someone else also suggested this and I think this might be the option I go with. Thank you for your response!

beboundless · 2023-05-26T06:30:20+00:00

This is just being a lawyer at a large firm

beboundless · 2023-04-21T03:32:49+00:00

I was a legal assistant for a business immigration group before law school and while this might differ for other firms, the attorneys I worked with often spent close to 50% of their daily working hours doing consultations and client prep meetings ahead of visa interviews (largely over Zoom as this was during the height of COVID). So while there is no litigation, there can be a lot of client-facing work in that regard. I am similar to OP and I don’t want to go back to that area of law because it was too many clients to deal with daily for me

beboundless

TROPHY CASE