Today is my graduation day from law school. I’ve been reflecting all week about my law school experience . . . when I haven’t been running around like a crazy person taking care of everything that I’ve put off during the semester but have to get done before BarBri starts next week. It’s been fun to remember the person I was when I started this adventure three years ago compared to who I am today.
So the big question is, if I had to do it all again, knowing what I know now, would I have gone to law school? Absolutely! I went to law school because I was told it was the best education a person can get, regardless of whether they become a lawyer. That statement is still true. If I could do it all over again, I’d still go to law school, but I’d do it a little differently . . .
I would have skipped more classes. The American Bar Association permits students to miss up to 10% of every course. I should have taken full advantage of that. There were so many opportunities for law students to attend workshops and conferences; however I felt that I couldn’t attend them because it was drilled into my head that missing class would result in me not learning the material. While I believe that going to class is important, some things are a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that are worth occasionally missing class.
I would have published more papers. I’m graduating from law school as a co-author of a book chapter about government regulation of emerging technologies; however I have close to final drafts of papers on the legalities of organizing flash mobs, the legal side of blogging, and the legalities of GPS technology. They are all on my back burner of projects that I’ll get to when I have time. It would have been nice to have submitted at least one of them for publication in a legal journal.
I would have networked more. I have tried to seek out my fellow geeks in the legal community and people who have been successful following their passions. I am glad to have been bold enough to reach out to some wonderful people during my law school career and develop some great relationships. I wish I had had the time and energy to do more of it.
I would have started Sponsor A Law Kid sooner. I wish I had thought of Sponsor A Law Kid when I first started this blog. This campaign has paid for approximately 1/3 of my tuition during my final semester of law school and it has provided the opportunity to meet some wonderful people and businesses. It would have been amazing if I had been able to use this to fund my entire education.
I never would have looked at my grades. I went into law school like everyone else, thinking that you have to be in the top 25% to be successful. It made me focus too much on grades and not enough of learning the materials. Once I figured out that grades are meaningless, I stopped looking at them. I switched my focus to learning the law, and I became so much happier and learned so much more. I was more creative, efficient, and relaxed. I have not seen my grades since my first semester of law school, and I’ve been told that my GPA has gone up every semester since. Being in the top 25% is a requirement for some people’s professional dreams, just not mine.
Related articles
- “Law Schools and the Curve” and related posts (concurringopinions.com)
- Going To A Top-Flight Law School Can Land You A Sweet Babysitting Gig (abovethelaw.com)
- How much does it costs to go to law school- after your all done (wiki.answers.com)
- Delaware, Other Universities Shelve New Law School Plans (leiterlawschool.typepad.com)
- The Need for A Standardized Law School Grading Curve (volokh.com)
- U.S. News Looks At the Rise in Merit Aid at Law Schools (usnews.com)
