Maxell
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Post by Maxell on Mar 21, 2007 11:27:46 GMT -5
For those that have gone to law school, I know a young lady who is a sophomore in high school and has already decided she wants to go to law school. What things should she be doing, thinking, reading in order to prepare herself at her young age? Any advice for her?
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Post by DOOMS on Mar 21, 2007 11:43:24 GMT -5
Depends on the type of law. If she wants to be a litigator she should head down to court and watch and learn. She should find a local attorney and volunteer to work with him during her free time. Join toastmasters and the debate club. Get in the habit of doing logic puzzles.
Otherwise, she should enjoy her teen years and not worry about it too much.
Oh yeah , read One L by Scott Turow. I never got past the first chapter but supposedly it's a pretty good description of the first year of law school.
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Aggie77
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Post by Aggie77 on Mar 21, 2007 12:35:01 GMT -5
Depends on the type of law. If she wants to be a litigator she should head down to court and watch and learn. She should find a local attorney and volunteer to work with him during her free time. Join toastmasters and the debate club. Get in the habit of doing logic puzzles. Otherwise, she should enjoy her teen years and not worry about it too much. Oh yeah , read One L by Scott Turow. I never got past the first chapter but supposedly it's a pretty good description of the first year of law school. These are all good things, shouldn't she do these things no matter what type of law? What advice; hmmmm . . . though I'm not an attorney; tell her to become a Doctor. |
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Post by TOPPDOGG on Mar 21, 2007 14:48:02 GMT -5
In addition, I would advise her to visit a local law school. Observe a class. READ voluminous amounts of material on a daily basis. Practice her writing skills.
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Post by SHB2K on Mar 21, 2007 19:02:47 GMT -5
The most important thing she should focus on is picking a good major. No one in my family (or friends) knew anything about lawschool, so I had no idea that I was somewhat handcuffing myself by picking Political Science as a mjor at A&T. Although Poli Sci is my true passion, it only really helped me in ONE lawschool class: Constitutional Law. Even now, I find myself working twice as hard as other students to learn such subjects as Corporations, Business Organizations, Intellectual Property, Wills, etc... and sadly, thats where all the money seems to be.
Also, as much as I love Dr. Moseley & Co over in Poli Sci, another sad reality is that over 100 of us came into the major as freshmen all wanting to go to law school and only 4 of those people are in law school at this very moment. For those that didn't make it, they don't have much to fall back to besides teaching and swinging from campaign to campaign. If I had it to do over, I would've majored in some kind of business and just loaded my schedule with Poli Sci classes, because you leave yourself with more options.
The entire process has become a "weeding out" process, so make sure she is equipped to hear a few "no's" and keep going.
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90Aggie
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Post by 90Aggie on Mar 21, 2007 20:26:34 GMT -5
Also, as much as I love Dr. Moseley & Co over in Poli Sci, Dang, Moseley is STILL teaching Poli Sci?!  I took his class back in 198...uh, yeah, I took his class.  |
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Post by Bornthrilla on Mar 21, 2007 20:40:23 GMT -5
Tell her to get a good pair of track shoes so she can start chasing ambulances.
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Maxell
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Post by Maxell on Mar 21, 2007 23:22:04 GMT -5
Thanks (almost)everyone. I will pass these suggestions along.
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Post by Bornthrilla on Mar 22, 2007 7:49:35 GMT -5
On a serious tip, my mother used to be a law professor at Texas Southern. She developed a couse for first-year law students titled "so you want to be a laywer". I think she still has a bunch of her lecture videos lying around. Send me a PM and I'll pass a long her contact info to your friend.
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Post by aggiejazz on Mar 22, 2007 9:27:14 GMT -5
I think the young lady should read, read, read, write, write, and write. Understanding what you are reading is very important and writing your thoughts down in concise, well structured and grammatically correct paragraphs that will make a 1960's english teacher pride is equally important. (Was this a run-on sentence?)
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Post by aggiejazz on Mar 22, 2007 10:20:05 GMT -5
I learned the hardway that I have to know as much as the lawyer about the laws on the issue for which I hired him or her to represent for me.
I got snowed three times too many by lawyers. On the last two issues I had, I did the research and wrote the arguments. My lawyer would research it, change or add a thing or two and have the his secretary type it. The lawyer and I worked together well because we had a understanding from the beginning and after I showed him my own research.
Advice to all, do not chose a lawyer before you know the laws the issue on which you are seeking help. I am not saying know all the laws or write your won briefs but know enough to tell if the prospective lawyer knows what he is talking about.
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