1. I’m assuming that the skills we’ve acquired in law school are on their own not enough for us to earn a livelihood. We have to learn to apply these skills so as to perform a service for which we’ll get paid. If so, why not use the firm as a paid residency? Medical students have to pull 36 hour shifts without getting paid; why can’t we get our ‘hands on’ training from the firm and earn 160k in the process?

2. X years down the road, I’d like to open a private practice, set my own hours and practice a field of law that I want to practice. Does working at the firm provide a stable foundation (both financially and professionally) with which to advance those desires? If not, what other options are there?

3. Are future career options (e.g. in-house counsel jobs) more limited if we don’t land the big job at the big firm? Word on the street is that it plays a HUGE role.

4. How do we repay our loans as quickly and painlessly as possible? Does LRAP make any sense? Firm?

5. Is it possible to achieve a work/life balance while working at a big firm?

-- DavidM - 16 Apr 2008

I'm swayed by the idea that my husband has enjoyed his Midwest private practice career over the years. Observing him traverse his career path, but admittedly often from a fair distance, leads me to believe that I can have that, too. Given that we're talking about a non-national law firm market (specifically, Indianapolis) here, how likely am I to be mistaken in making this leap of faith?

-- BarbPitman - 16 Apr 2008

How will one become an influential writer, in the 21st century?

1. If a writer is one talented at creating audiences, will that talent still be lucrative?
   • Will it remain a matter of choosing which publisher-corporation one wants to be an advertisement for (e.g. New York Times, Columbia University, Vogue magazine ... or whichever website gets the best traffic)?
   • Or will the internet destroy publishers? will I have to call writing a "hobby?" If so, what other marketable skill should I learn?
2. What are the social diseases that the Internet will create, that I need to become equipped to protest?
   • loss of identity, information integrity, social control? ... How will these diseases spawn and spread?
   • What professional routes will permit me to be an open (or at least productive) critic of the way in which corporate marketing degrades human dignity and free choice? (paraphrase: How much more ethical are we capable of making CEOs?)
   • Can I make others feel the indignity that I feel, when I'm the victim of successful advertising? (should I?)

-- AndrewGradman - 16 Apr 2008

After Law School 1. The question often raised - whether it is a good idea to work at a firm temporarily after law school to get legal training, presumes that firms offer good training. How accurate is this notion? How does the training one receives at a large firm compare to that in other employment opportunities?

2. What does a recent law school graduate, with the limited skills gained during three years in a classroom setting, actually do on a day to day basis at a large firm?

3. I gather that clerkships offer a substantive and beneficial way to make contacts and get training right after law school. Can we list some other non-firm alternatives?

3(a). If we are interested in a certain area such as international human rights law, will going straight to working with a human rights organization cut us off from getting more thorough legal training?

Law School 1. How can we best take advantage of being in law school - ie what classes/activities - to work on our writing skills?

2. As we have often discussed, the practice of law is quickly changing in terms of becoming more international, outsourcing, etc. How can we best prepare in law school for the changing nature of the practice of law?

-- CarinaWallance - 16 Apr 2008

How do you find a mentor in your professional career who is willing to invest in your education and future?

How do you establish trust with other people, both as collaborators in your project (i.e. a team member, fellow law school student) and as clients of your projects (i.e. somebody who needs a legal problem solved)?

-- JesseCreed - 17 Apr 2008

I think my fears and questions in this area are slightly more prosaic. As a 23 year old who has never previously held down a real job and who is admittedly enamored of the student lifestyle, my biggest question is simply how do I figure out what I want/need out of life from even a purely financial point of view? I guess the answer to this is of course is that I need to look into myself, but I'm certainly worried about trying to balance the things that I would like to do for myself and the burdens that I will willingly assume (a family, etc) down the road. It just seems like a daunting task, and perhaps something of a gamble to try and make a decision about my career path now without knowing better what burdens I plan on assuming later and what "quality of life" I want have after school.

-- AlexLawrence - 17 Apr 2008

Moreover, one of my best friend's father, who is a successful lawyer, once gave me the cautionary advice that a law degree is to a certain extent a "perishable good." What he meant by this was that if you take a non-legal job (something, I for one, have thought a lot about) right out of law school you only have about 2 years to decide if you want to go back into the legal profession. Beyond that you're too far removed from law school and the knowledge isn't fresh in your head so you don't really stand a chance against the newest, youngest, and freshest set of "packaged meat." Is this true? Or maybe is it only true for corporate, big-firm, law?

Along the same lines, if you don't take a legal job right out of school, is it worth it to still take the bar after 3L year since that is when everything will be freshest in our minds? Or, for those going a non-legal route are you planning on gambling and not taking the bar on the hope that you'll be able to cram for it and pass it later if need be?

-- AlexLawrence - 17 Apr 2008

1. First, considering the way we’ve framed the realm of corporate law, is it possible for someone to have a valid reason for purposely making that the goal of their career? I suppose at this point, a similar question is why do EIP (rather than how), and no one could give me a reason why one might go in that direction, other than 1) they have no other plans or 2) they want money/networking. So, is there a good affirmative reason to subject oneself to corporate law to begin with?

2. I keep getting the feeling that if law school was Ben & Jerry’s, the only flavors within my sight are vanilla (corporate law), chocolate (public interest) and maybe strawberry (clerkship). I hate feeling like there’s Chubby Hubby, Cherry Garcia and a whole host of other flavors out there that are more interesting and complex and might fit me perfectly, yet I can’t even see them. Where can I find out about all these other flavors and get away from the two plain options that I’m presented with right now?

3. At a panel about whether or not to do EIP, a few panelists strongly suggested that many public interest firms look down their noses at applicants who have dabbled in corporate law, and vice versa. Unless I have the luxury of figuring out what area in which I want to practice before I graduate, it would be to my benefit to dabble in different areas, but it angers me that doing this (in an effort to make myself the best lawyer I can be) causes me to lose points with whatever institution I end up choosing. If this phenomenon is true, how can I avoid looking wishy-washy yet explore all of my options?

4. Is it the same in public interest as corporate law that it’s more about who you know in the industry than your objective skills as an applicant?

-- WhytneBrooks - 17 Apr 2008

1) how does one make partner at a big firm

2) what, if any, benefits does making partner at a big firm bestow upon one who wants to eventually enter private practice

3) If one does not wish to go to a big firm and also does not wish to enter the public sector right out of law school, how does one pay down 200K in loans while building a meaningful practice?

4) I am also interested in big firm training. What kind of training does one receive and how does it help in the long run.

5) as an associate, we are told, one does not get a lot of in court practice (assume litigation practice). How does one gain the knowledge pertaining to 1) how to file a motion 2) where to file that motion 3) the other nuts and bolts of practicing that we don't learn when looking at the "big" picture in our other classes?

-- AdamGold? - 17 Apr 2008

What some good sources for information about specific employers (firms, government agencies, non-profits) including things are awkward to ask about during interviews (salaries, hours)?

-- ClaireOSullivan - 17 Apr 2008