I have a science background (undergraduate major was Neuroscience) and am currently employed as a research technician, but I don't see myself going anywhere in research so I am taking the LSAT this fall, and if I get a decent score I'm going to apply to law schools in the Chicago area. Since my background is in neuroscience and I've been doing research in Alzheimer's Disease I'm thinking about going into a field of law that utilizes my background, such as health law or patent law.

I'm studying for the LSAT right now. The logic games are challenging but fun :D. It seems like such a breath of fresh air after doing lab experiments all day.

Any lawyer-type people have any comments on their experiences, or advice to someone considering law school?

Can't be of any help, since I majored in business, but just wanted to say good luck with those LSAT's!

I'm a law student... whatcha wanna know? :)

How is adjusting to the first year? Is the socratic method scary? It sounds scary to me...

I want to go to law school someday. I'm excited! It's the only thing that seems right for me 'cause I like to talk a lot and sometimes I even make sense. :rolleyes:

Well, I worked for six years between undergrad and law school, so it was quite an adjustment! But not necessarily in a bad way! :) Law school is nothing like college work. Don't skip class, read everything twice, and outline, outline, outline! Find good study aids, even ask your professors or upper level students which ones they'd recommend.

The Socratic Method is indeed scary, at least for me -- I am terrified of public speaking! Luckily, class sizes, especially first year are pretty huge, 70-90 people usually (although, of course, it does depend on the school, I guess), so the chances of getting called on are actually pretty slim. In fact, in all of my first year, I think I only got called on once or twice, both times in my first semester.

Many professors didn't even really use a strict Socratic method, if at all. If you know your cases and hypotheticals and pay attention in class, you'll be just fine. Many of my friends who were braver than I would volunteer in class to avoid getting called on off guard. But, never be a know-it-all or showoff (not that I think you are, natch! :P ), because everyone hates those people!

Participate in at least one competition (like Moot Court, Client Counseling, Negotiations, etc.)... I didn't and it kind of hurt me, as employers like that sort of thing. Also, participate in your school's journal competitions. It's a great (if painful) experience; it gives you writing and research experience, and belonging to a journal is fun and looks great on your resume.

Okay, I'm rambling, so I'll stop now! Feel free to ask me anything, and good luck. Just know that law school is NOTHING like that stupid book OneL! :)

P.S. Admin officers will probably salivate at your hard science background!

Then you'll fit right in... there's nothing better than lawyers (or law students) like to do than talk!!! (as you can see from my above rambling!) :D

Eeeeee...I am scared to participate in a competition...I don't want to litigate. I am hoping to be one of those people with a J.D. who never sees the inside of a court room... I guess I need to get over that fear.

In college I always had the impression that the pre-law people were super-confident public speakers. A lot of them were, but there were also a lot of people who I didn't know were pre-law 'cause they never talked! I am definitely a shy type and I hope that law school is more friendly to shy people than its reputation implies...

I LOL'd at your comment about One L because I am reading it right now and I'm like, dude, this guy Scott Turow is just patting himself on the back for getting a Harvard law degree! Obviously the degree isn't helping him much if he's having to publish books for an income source.

What area of law are you interested in? Was it hard to transition back to school after working, especially a super-structured program like law school? I am applying for admission in Fall 2007, I will have been out of school for over three years by that time.

Good luck! Let me know if you want any input from me as I go through the application process this year.

I am a lawyer too... and this statement is so true I spit soda all over my keyboard when I read it!! :)

There are lots of other competitions besides moot court... and a lot of moot courts are really just motion or appellate arguments, with is much much different and IMO much more fun than a full-blown trial. Client counseling and negotiation competitions are much lower key, and definitely not speech-making.

You certainly don't have to compete, I just kind of wish I had, for both the experience and the ticks on my resume. I recently had an attorney point out in an interview that I hadn't done any competitions (even though I'm an editor for a journal and was an officer in our biggest on-campus organization), and it kind of made me cringe. Hindsight is 20/20, and all.

Don't worry, I don't want to litigate, either! The whole reason I decided to go to law school is because I realized that most lawyers don't spend much time, if any, in a courtroom! I actually have a mentor who is a partner in one of those giant fancy firms whose only foray into the courtroom was to help her husband defend a traffic ticket!

I don't know to which schools you are applying, but my school has this big required lawyering skills program, and as a 2L you have to actually do a mock trial. I didn't know this going into law school, and I spent a good chunk of my first year freaking out about it... This certainly wasn't what I signed up for! I literally had the shakes the first time we had to practice. But it really wasn't that bad, and we all kind of had fun. Big eye-opening experience for me. I now know that I can do it if I had to... not that I'd want to!

It has been my experience that everyone hates public speaking, some people are simply better at dealing with it, and those who act like they get off on it are just jerks, whose opinion matters little! :P

I have talked to attorneys who have spent their entire careers in the courtroom... a lot of them, and some of whom I have major respect for, still get crazy nervous and nauseous before they go to court. It really is true that it gets better with practice, and the people who are watching you don't really care because they're worried about when it's their turn... You always think you sound 10X worse than you actually do.

What it comes down to is this: law school, while in most ways is a pretty narrow and naive bubble of people, it's still like a tiny little chunk of society. It's got all kinds of people from all walks of life. No matter what kind of pressure you feel, you don't have to fit a certain mold. You'll find your niche, and you'll do just fine.

It's easier for me to say what I don't want to do, which is criminal or family law. The electives I've enjoyed the most are corporate law, federal tax, and international law, and I'm taking mostly corporate-y classes in the fall. At this point, it'll come down to whoever wants to hire me! :)

It was definitely an experience transitioning from working life to school life again. It's nothing like what I expected, in both good and bad ways. I think the biggest culture shock is that in my working life, once I left work, I didn't have to think about it until I showed back up at work again. To do well in law school, I learned that you really do have to eat, drink, and sleep the law. This was kind of jarring. If it's something you really really want, you'll be able to do it.

I think it's good that you will have waited a few years rather than plunging straight in after undergrad. Us "older" students sometimes have a more grounded and realistic view of how life really works, and that's a pretty good perspective to have!

What made you decide to try for law school?

Oh, my face is so red now... especially after the novel I just posted in reply!

:blush:

I'm a lawyer, too.

I took the LSAT cold the first time and my score was so-so. The second time, I took a prep class and it really helped me increase my score. So I'd recommend that.

I was a trial lawyer for 8 years and I both loved and hated it. I loved opening statements and closing arguments. I just hated putting on my evidence!! I also hated the long hours and the stress. I decided it was time to do something else when I found myself in the office on Saturday nights preparing for trials while all my friends were out having fun. I decided life was too short and the work was not fulfilling enough to compensate for the lack of a normal social life.

So now I do what I really love. Using my litigation contacts, I formed a business doing legal research and drafting appellate briefs for other lawyers. I do this from home, and I've done it for 9 years now. It has been very satisfying and I can make my own hours.

My best advice, therefore, is to find what you love and do it. Chances are, if you love it, you're going to be really good at it.

Best wishes for a great career!!

Wow, I'm kind of surprised to hear that an interviewer gave you crap for that, especially since you are an editor on a journal! Do you mean that you are on Law Review? I thought that was an extremely important credential that is also very time-consuming, which in my mind would excuse you from having to compete :)

My top choices are Loyola and DePaul, universities in Chicago which both have certification programs in Health Law. I would need to check again but I don't think either of these schools put as much emphasis on LS. My fiance goes to the John Marshall Law School, also in Chicago, and they are another story; he has done quite a bit of moot court stuff. He is really good at that, though. (You may wonder why I am soliciting the opinions of other lawyers and law students when I am engaged to a law student, but trust me, I grill him about law school regularly and want as much advice from as many people as possible :) )

WELL SAID! This is one of the most articulate things I've heard about the "reality" of law school. It has helped me get a more concrete idea of what law school will be like.

One of the reasons I'm trying to get tons of advice from people about law school is that I don't know if I "really really want" it. At this point in my life I just feel like I need to move forward in some way, and law school is the path of least resistance. The longer I am out of school, the more confused I am about what I want to do with the rest of my life, and what my talents are. When I first started working as a tech, I saw it as something to do temporarily before applying to a Ph.D. program in Neuroscience. Then I began to realize that I don't like research all that much. As I said earlier, I work in Alzheimer's Disease research right now. It is maddening, because the pay is peanuts, I feel like an idiot most of the time, there is so much pressure to generate data when training and resources are extremely limited, and our lab puts most of its energy into applying for grant funding instead of actually doing research. I feel that I am not all that good at pure research; I make a lot of mistakes. A lot of the mistakes aren't my fault but it still isn't very enouraging. I am viewed by my supervisor and coworkers as a great writer, but not such a good researcher. I work 60 hour weeks for meager pay, and I have a hard time believing that we are actually contributing anything meaningful to Alzheimer's research.

So, essentially, I spent my undergraduate years training for a career in research, and now I'm realizing that I don't love it enough to stick with it. One of the aspects of my job that I enjoy the most, I've found, is working on the grant applications. I enjoy the writing process. I also love studying diseases and wish I could spend more time studying disease from a public health/policy perspective.

All of these factors have led me to believe that law school, particularly health law, might be a good choice for me. I don't see law school as a solution to the problems I am experiencing in my current job because I know that problems I may face as an attorney might be as bad or worse! However, I will have a higher-level degree and the chance to earn a bigger salary than what I am earning right now, and to perhaps make a bigger impact on people's lives using skills that are better suited to my innate abilities.

Anyway, that is a very long response to your comments and question. Thanks again for all your input! :)

I might take one of the cheaper weekend-long prep classes, but in the meantime I am studying on my own using LSAT test guides. My diagnostic test score was encouraging but I am still nervous :o

That is awesome! I would love to be able to do something like that. On the rare occasion that I have been able to work on manuscripts from home at my current job, I've loved it and wished I could do it more often. I feel about my current job the way you felt about your work as a trial lawyer. I hardly get to see my family anymore. I know law school won't solve my problems but I hope it will open some doors to a career that is fulfilling and allows time to have a life...

Thanks so much! :D

Thanks so much. I'll let you know if I have any questions. :glomp:

That's exactly how I feel! In the mock trial I had to do, I really enjoyed doing the opening statement, and even though my "co-counsel" did the closing, I'm pretty sure I would have nailed it. I got all flustered examining my witnesses -- don't think very well on my feet. We had to do an appellate argument last semester, and my favorite part was the rebuttal. Too bad you can't really pick and choose which pieces of a trial or appellate argument you can do!

That's fantastic -- hope I get to shape my career into something like that, too!

FWIW, I'd reccommend using the practice exams that you can get through LSAC. Get the most recent ones and take as many as you can -- some leisurely to get used to the questions, and definitely some under timed conditions to improve your pacing.

I found the study guides produced by places like Princeton Review or whatnot are good to get a feel of how to think through the questions, but, for the most part, the questions in the guides just aren't indicative of what you'll see on the actual test.

Not exactly, I competed for two journals, including our Law Review. I made our buisness journal. Not nearly as impressive, but I am a Manuscripts Editor, and arguably do one of the biggest chunks of work in getting an issue published.

This is so true! Almost all jobs stink in some shape or form; it's just a matter of what will make you most satisfied. You sound like you've got a pretty level head about the realities law school and what a legal career will bring you, so I am sure you'll make the right decision. From what you've written about your current situation, it seems like we were on similar paths of being dissatisfied with our current places and looking to find something else that seemed to fit with what we might really want to do (except I went from an Anthropology degree to 6 years in IT to law school!)

Best of luck to you! :D