Any time. Sorry I just re-read those emails I cut and pasted and they were somewhat off topic. But I think you get the point. Glen and the article are correct in one way, doors are open by having a law degree, but it also closes a lot of options b/c of the massive debt you will likely rack up. You are in a sense forced to take a higher paying job to service the debt instead od something you may actually want and like.
Before you do it, you should give some serious consideration to what you actually want to do and what type of school you can go to.
Glen,
I would have gone into real estate. I handle commercial real estate transactions now. I don't dislike my job, just not something I love or am passionate about. I do really like commercial real estate though. Interesting, cool people and a great industry. Good brokers and real estate people can make major bank too.
FHMESQ44
I personal want to get into securities law, but I am not sure if I want to work 100 hours to whore my self out for the money. I know there is a lot money in securities, but I was also considering entertainment law and possibly litigation.
I was planning on taking the LSAT in Sept, but decided to take the June test to find out how do and hoping to apply early anywhere I go.
One other question, is it better to go full-time or part-time. I figure if I go pt, i can continue working in sales and reduce my financial burden, or am I being short sighted and would I benefit from going ft and finishing in 3 instead of 4 years.
I personal want to get into securities law, but I am not sure if I want to work 100 hours to whore my self out for the money. I know there is a lot money in securities, but I was also considering entertainment law and possibly litigation.
I was planning on taking the LSAT in Sept, but decided to take the June test to find out how do and hoping to apply early anywhere I go.
One other question, is it better to go full-time or part-time. I figure if I go pt, i can continue working in sales and reduce my financial burden, or am I being short sighted and would I benefit from going ft and finishing in 3 instead of 4 years.
Still in college (for a couple more weeks) and I've worked nights at a hotel for the better part of the last 3 years... Wouldn't trade it for the world. Haven't picked up a textbook outside of work since I was a sophomore and have pulled about a 3.8 GPA since then... we're not gonna mention what happened my freshman year when I didn't have a job...
I had my dream job.
I woke up at about 10 and turned my laptop on and headed out to the pool. While sitting in a lounge chair drinking a bloody mary, I would fire up my laptop and start running my bot programs. I used the bots to play perfect blackjack and video poker. I usually ran 6 bot programs at once. It took about 30 minutes each morning to set up the wagering for many different accounts. I was doing about 60-70 bonus deals a day. Each deal was worth anywhere from $25 to $1000 but the average was just over $100.
The programs would run all day long and sometimes all night. They pretty much ran themselves, but I was constantly checking the balances to see how I was doing.
I would also spend about 3 hours a day reading message boards and hunting and negotiating new bonus deals. Another hour was spent emailing and chasing payments from casinos.
Before I had access to the bot programs I had 8 computers running. I hired 4 young locals to basically sit at these computers and play blackjack all day long following the strategy charts like that of my avatar. I paid them $10 an hour and they all thought that they had their dream job. I kept them motivated by offering nice cash bonuses based on total production and total winnings.
I woke up at about 10 and turned my laptop on and headed out to the pool. While sitting in a lounge chair drinking a bloody mary, I would fire up my laptop and start running my bot programs. I used the bots to play perfect blackjack and video poker. I usually ran 6 bot programs at once. It took about 30 minutes each morning to set up the wagering for many different accounts. I was doing about 60-70 bonus deals a day. Each deal was worth anywhere from $25 to $1000 but the average was just over $100.
The programs would run all day long and sometimes all night. They pretty much ran themselves, but I was constantly checking the balances to see how I was doing.
I would also spend about 3 hours a day reading message boards and hunting and negotiating new bonus deals. Another hour was spent emailing and chasing payments from casinos.
Before I had access to the bot programs I had 8 computers running. I hired 4 young locals to basically sit at these computers and play blackjack all day long following the strategy charts like that of my avatar. I paid them $10 an hour and they all thought that they had their dream job. I kept them motivated by offering nice cash bonuses based on total production and total winnings.
How much did you pull in WVU, I know you're dying to tell us?:thumbsup:
Quite a story BTW...made for TV movie stuff in my honest opinion...throw in a love story, maybe a hit or two (Soprano style) , a wanted by the DOJ, a court battle that you eventually win, and we just might have a major motion picture deal....
Seriously, that is an amazing story, and damn it, I am jealous
Haha...an attorney w/ the screen name "trapstar." I love it :aktion033
Yeah, I'm one of those people who didn't do super well first year of law school. Went to a top 50 school, passed the CA Bar, and now doing document review while looking for an associate position. Kinda sucks...but it's my fault for not handling my shit during 1L year.
How much did you pull in WVU, I know you're dying to tell us?:thumbsup:
Quite a story BTW...made for TV movie stuff in my honest opinion...throw in a love story, maybe a hit or two (Soprano style) , a wanted by the DOJ, a court battle that you eventually win, and we just might have a major motion picture deal....
Seriously, that is an amazing story, and damn it, I am jealous
I had some good months/years and some really good months/years. I was making plenty, but there were others who were making more. Thinking back it would not have been much more difficult to make 10-20 times what I was making. That would have been obscene.
Most of this was before Neteller and Paypal. I got paid everyday and twice a day on Tue and Friday. The mailman paid me at about 3:00 and the fed ex guy paid me twice weekly around 1:00.
hno:IMO, the first question you have to answer is whether you want to be an attorney in these fields or simply be in these fields. I think only 3 of my friends from law school still actually practice full time. Most have either left the legal field all together or are doing deals that only tangentially involve their legal background/training.
Re securities work - 99% of the good securities work is done by the big firms and if you aren't at one of those firms you aren't going to do IPO, mergers, acquisitions, large VC deals, etc. To get a job at one of those firms you pretty much have to go to a top tier school and do really well, or, go to a top 75-100 school in a major metropolitan area and basically be one of the top 5 people in your class. Otherwise, you won't even get interviewed. This isn't the type of stuff I do, but I have friends that work/worked at large firms (Wilson Sonsini, Gibson Dunn, Simpson Thacher, Cadwalder, O'Melveny, etc.) that do corporate transactional work. Almost every deal is the same and when you start out all you do is due diligence (i.e., review f*ing documents and plow through corporate records). It isn't glamorous. Only one of my friends that handled this stuff is actually still an attorney doing it, the rest went to in house to investment arms and are doing deals. The deals are far more interesting and lucrative than the legal side of securities.
Re entertainment law - Do you want to be an agent? Or, do you want to work in the legal field and handle entertainment related matters?
If you want to be an agent, you pretty much need to go to school in LA, Ivy League or perhaps SD/SF area. All of the agencies are in LA and thus hire massively from local talent. Secondly, this field is all about connections and who you know and little to do with your legal abilities. It is shady as hell and there is no loyalty (this Ari being pushed out of his agency, not a stretch at all). You also don't need a legal degree at all to be an agent. Just getting in to a decent agency is also a large part about who you know. if you don't know anyone, hard to even get an interview and harder to get out of the mail room. Once you get an internship at an agency (after, not during school), you work in the mail room sorting mail, getting coffee, emptying ashtrays, picking up an agents' dry cleaning (literally) for like $20k/year. You will have $100k in debt minimum. This goes on for a year or so and then you become Ari's assistant Lloyd for a while. Again, this field is all about connections and LA is all about connections. Those connections are typically developed when you are a kid or at USC, if you try to start when you are in law school or after you are way behind the 8 ball.
Litigation - truthfully, most "litigators" never try a case. They handle depositions, discovery (the equivalent of due diligence described above) case management conferences. if you want to try cases and be in court arguing you are going get that in a criminal and not civil setting.
Full v. Part time
This is a tough call. Obviously you are racking up debt and not working if you go full time. However, I'm not sure many firms even consider hiring part time/night school law students. I am fairly certain none of the big firms would consider you so you may be limiting your options for jobs once you graduate. It is a tough decision to weigh. Some schools allow you to start at night/part time and then matriculate into the day/full time program. However, each school treats those students and their GPAs differently and you may or may not be ranked at the end of the first year and in time for job interviews when your 2nd year starts. As I noted above, the 1st year and job interviews for 2nd semester are the most important part of law school.
I hear you. I am in consulting and recording your time sucks! Wife is a first year attorney and she is in the same boat (although she works a lot more than I do)...but the $$ is good, her firm raised salaries three times since she signed on...I am just hoping we can both bust our ass for another 20 years or so and retire by 52, plan is to move to South America and open up a small hotel or bed and breakfast...but yeah, most days I hate my job :smoking:
PARLAYIN' rues: Yeah, I'm one of those people who didn't do super well first year of law school. Went to a top 50 school, passed the CA Bar, and now doing document review while looking for an associate position. Kinda sucks...but it's my fault for not handling my shit during 1L year.
SH: Hopefully you'll pay more attention than you did to your Rx Fantasy Hoops team
Sincerely,
6th Place Guy<!-- / message -->
SH: Hopefully you'll pay more attention than you did to your Rx Fantasy Hoops team
Sincerely,
6th Place Guy<!-- / message -->
