Most Strongly Supported LSAT Blogs

There is a good chance that if you are reading this and waiting on those final admission decisions, you still don’t know exactly what you are getting yourself into. You have vague dreams of a corner office and using the phrase “your honor”, but are not quite sure what the years between now and then are going to look like. I feel your pain. Last summer, when MSS decided that I should start as their 1L blogger well before I actually started law school, I wrote about fifteen blogs about how I had no idea what to expect. Things got messy. There were metaphors. It was a dark time.

Luckily, I have made it my quest to give potential students all the information they could possibly want as they decide the wheres, whens and ifs about attending law school. To that end, this week and next I bring you a two part series (because two parts = twice the money for the same amount of work) about what classes you will take as a 1L. Much like middle schoolers, first year law school students are not allowed to actually pick their own classes. Instead, the classes are assigned, and the subjects are pretty uniform from school to school. There are some exceptions (my favorite fake law school comes to mind), but these are the six classes that are pretty likely to make an appearance in your life over the next twelve months. So sit back and enjoy.
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In an era where Humanities faculty are dropping like flies, law school faculty members have flourished. A study from the National Jurist indicates that the average law school increased its faculty by 40% over the past ten years.

This is a good thing, as it allows students to be in smaller classes with more access to the instructor and provides law professors with more time for scholarship. On the other hand, the increase in staffing accounts for 48% of the tuition increase from 1998 to 2008. Hmmm.

If asked, would a student desire a lower student to faculty ratio for lower tuition? Based on a highly technical and carefully conducted office survey that included two receptionists, a marketing assistant, and the IT guy, the answer was a resounding yes.
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So I write you this week from about 3,200 miles above the ground, as I sit on a trans-American flight and pound into my keyboard as hard as possible to annoy the girl in front of me who has decided, despite the fact that it is not even seven o’clock, to recline her seat into full sleep mode and co-opt every last ounce of legroom she can. Luckily, I’m vindictive, and figure in the next four hours I can easily scratch out enough blogs that I can finally stop worrying if MSS is going to fire me in the exceedingly near future, and Queen Head Lice Dreadlocks in front of me can feel the wrath from now until JFK. That’s right honey. Enjoy it.

Of course, as much as I’m sure the Pre-Law community would enjoy hearing about my airborne woes for the next thousand words, today I do not bring extended tidings of such issues. (Although, I will say, if I ever do go to work at a firm, you can rest assured that the ability to afford first class seats was one of my primary motivations.) Instead, I hope to share with you some information that may make your future travel plans a little more fruitful, as you jet around the country to check out various admitted student days and other law school events to decide on your home for the next quarter decade or so. Keep these three things in mind, and your experiences should be both enjoyable and help make the final decision a little easier.
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If you ever feel bad that you’re going to law school as a simple extension of getting a relatively useless liberal arts degree, console yourself with the fact that plenty of Olympic athletes are joining or have joined you.

Olympian lawyers run the gamut from pseudo-sports like biathlon, curling, and race-walking to real sports like triathlon. No doubt their Olympic training has prepared them well for the trials and tribulations of litigation. If you’re looking for analogies:
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Allow me to start with a slightly belated congrats for everyone who took that February test. I got a little bogged down last week in actual law school work, and MSS graciously allowed me a week off. (In other words, I’ve been filtering all their emails directly into my spam box for the past 14 days.) [Editor's note: She really has. And it's not even finals.]

Regardless, I’m back now, and I recognize that many of are you caught in a flurry of admitted student letters, feverish nail biting and mailbox stakeouts. So, as you start to make that decision (to go or not to go), I bring you the closest thing I can to law school reality TV. I’d upload actual footage, but I’ve taken enough questionable videos over the years that I would sooner burn the memory cards than risk an internet leak accident. So, instead, you get my class notes. Don’t get too excited.
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So last week, Ginny wrote a fantastic post about not selling your soul to go to the highest ranked law school possible, after which a commenter mentioned that “It’d be nice if we could supplement this blog with the opinions of someone who chose the other route.” (Although I definitely suggest you read Ginny’s blog, the “other route” would be turning down scholarships to go to a higher ranked school with little or no money).

Suddenly, with speed that would make Usain Bolt jealous, I had an email from the MSS Big Dogs in my inbox. In a very touching show of faith, Jodi explained that she felt certain I had been offered money at a lower ranked school, and asked if I’d be willing to weigh in.
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There isn’t much I wouldn’t do for free food.  Once I faked a free email address to cadge a free hotdog from the Stanford Undergraduate Karate Club (SUKC). So when Above the Law editors David Lat and Elie Mystal came to Southern California to discuss law firm compensation, I was intrigued.  When I heard they were serving turkey wraps, I was sold.

This is more or less how I ended up at UCLA law school to hear a Federalist Society sponsored debate about the so-called “lock-step” vs. “merit” bases for associate bonuses at BigLaw firms.  A lock-step structure entails that everyone from the same hiring year gets the same bonus, regardless of any other factors.  First year associates make x, second year associates make y, et cetera.  The good part about all being paid the same is that it tends to breed less competition and unfriendliness among associates.  The crap part is that if you do something great (bill lots of hours or write a brief that rivals the Upanishads), you get paid no more than the schlep down the hall who sniffs glue all day long.
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It’s only the second day of the New Year. Before you begin actually attempting to make good on that New Year’s Resolution to lose weight/stop smoking/refrain from Facebook stalking your ex, we wanted to bring you a little light reading. Without further ado, the most ridiculous lawsuits of 2009.

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So the legal sphere hasn’t looked all that great recently. But a new story from Above the Law shows recent signs of life. Two big law heavy hitters: Allen & Overy (now there’s a name for an OBGYN) and Akin Gump have “unfrozen” their salaries. Allen & Overy are also paying market level bonuses, citing better economic conditions. Keep reading for their bonus and base salary scale.
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As any of you who are in law school yourself, or have friends currently on their quest for the JD, should be aware: it’s finals season. Which pretty much means I’ve been sleeping with a hornbook under my pillow, mumbling restatements as I toss and turn, then awakening in a cold sweat after nightmares where I failed every single class.

Once awake, I study until it’s bedtime again, and I can repeat the above sequence.

So this week’s blog is a smattering of quotes from some of the more entertaining court cases I’ve been reviewing. If you have any desire to learn more about any of these fabulous people, I encourage you to check them out on Google Scholar and enjoy some light reading.
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