STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

I got along reasonably well with my professors (though there were plenty I couldn't stand), but I did not like law school, for the reasons you just mentioned.  I'm guessing you got some grades back from this semester and are bummed about them.  Here is my two cents: 

1) The academic rat-race that all professors are subjected to is not designed around students and their needs.  Your clinic prof probably "doesn't feel like he should have to teach you" because he's working on a seminar presentation or a law review article or some other crap that will look good on his resume but has nothing to do with making sure you get a good value out of your education.  He has no incentive to make sure that you are learning.  For many professors, students are not their first priority, because once you have tenure, the administration can't make you care anymore.  Other professors choose to make teaching important; do whatever you can to seek them out and take their classes, even if they concentrate in subjects you're not terribly interested in.  Professors can make or break your law school experience, because apathy in the classroom is contagious.

2) They lie, lie, lie like dogs to you about your grades and who's getting a job and where and why.  These are professors giving you career advice, and most of them did not work very long in private practice (if at all) before they started teaching.  Plus, they aren't out there in the real world working now, so it's unlikely they are superduper experts on the current employment market.  Even if you have average grades, you will get a job.  Your law school is ranked 37?  That is awesome.  You will get a job with a degree from there, espeically once you pass a state bar... never you mind about that. 

For the record, I just graduated from a third tier law school and put forth a lot of effort academically.  Sometimes it paid off, sometimes it didn't, but I did more than just study.  I invested time in other activities that were school/career related where my success was directly proportional to the time I spent and had nothing to do with arbitrary grades.  Employers care about those things, too. 

Don't forget, Dizzy, that there are lots of ways to measure success... it's not always about the job you get and whether you "get rich."  It's about joy and peace and feeling satisfied with the work you do every day.  A J.D. will help you find your path and open doors for you, but personal fulfillment is about doing what you like to do.  It will all work out, don't you worry.  There will be some more sucky moments ahead, but it doesn't last forever.

ETA: I just wanted to mention one more thing.... a J.D. is a very flexible degree that offers hundreds of career choices--traditional and non-traditional.  Grades, law review, etc. are important if you want a job with BIG FIRM, but if you don't care about that, you really shouldn't sweat them as much.  Concentrate in taking the classes in the subject areas you want and cultivating interest and experience in whatever field you're attracted to.  (For instance, if you're really into immigration, try working part-time for an immigration firm or do some volunteer work at a Literacy Center tutoring non-citizens in English.  Activities that demonstrate your commitment to doing a certain type of work will stand out to future employers more than your Civil Procedure grades.)

-- Edited by Eurodaisy at 16:50, 2006-05-23

-- Edited by Eurodaisy at 16:52, 2006-05-23

haha - actually, I hadn't gotten my grades yet. The above cynicism (not that I'm the only one, check out the website "one hell" if you're going to law school after working for a few years) was prompted by the following:

- The graduating class speaker, elected by the student body, so obviously well-liked and respected, doesn't yet have a job. Clearly he did many things right, and now he has no way to pay back his loans. He'll have to starve all summer, take the bar, and then try to figure out how to get someone to hire him. He obviously is not a screw up (I know him) and the school has done nothing for him.

- I was talking to two top-whatever-percent students about how they got their jobs. A career service employee just called someone, then set up the interview, the students showed up , and that was it. But when I or my other low-percent friends go to career services, we are consistently told that they can give us a list of alumni and the firms where they work so we can call them ourselves (The list is alphabetical, with no information about specialties, and the one I had was completely out of date). So it seems like the school resources go to the top people, who are more likely to get a high paying job which will improve the school's ranking, and there's a subtle, "well, good luck with that" for the rest.

- I heard yet ANOTHER law-prof-makes-blatant-ethnic-slur-to-stunned-class story. No one ever says anything because they are a law prof and for some reason cannot be questioned. This one was based on the all-asians-look-alike-and-know-eachother (and inclued a little "you people" DANCE for crissakes). On the more "tolerant" end of things, another prof offered extra credit to anyone who could find a gay student a boyfriend. Y'all, I wish I was making this crap up.

- My clinic experience was horrible. I took the clinic because I wanted to do something, and instead spent all semester kissing up to a guy who expected me to flunk out of all my other classes in order to sit at his feet endlessly like he's JESUS or something. And when I complained that his searches were unfocused and he wasn't available for questions, he said he wasn't there to answer basic questions. (subtext, I'm too dumb to be helped) What the hell is he there for, then? And then I realized, he was there because he's important and it was my job to get face time with him so he'll tell other people that I am like him and could be important someday and that was all we were doing. And I PAID for it. It wasn't a bad job where I was stuck but could maneuver out, I paid for the privelege of learning nothing while stroking an already overfed ego. And that theory-loving, bill-padding, foot-draggin asshat would have been fired from my newspaper. Fired.

- For the third time, one of my friends told me they were hired by a place that had told me they were not hiring. Something about me seems to put off all lawyers. And it's freaking me out because I'm supposed to fit in with this bunch - law is all about convincing other lawyers you're just like them. There's no objective criteria at all in law school (maybe once you get a job - I wouldn't know) And then I realized that I don't like many of the lawyers either. They seem status obsessed, unable to converse and prone to really horrible jokes that I cannot force myself to laugh at. Also, their body language frequently says "My childhood was spent locked in a closet with nothing to amuse me but the cockroaches." Glazed eyes, rigid backs, jerky "I'll say what you want me to say" gestures.

- Then I thought about the people I do like here (there are many of them too, it's not all bad). And I realized they are almost all unemployed or deemed unemployable by career services. And the few that will be able to pay back their student loans, I tend to like in a "wow, isn't she sweet, we have to keep the smart person around the group because she's such a hoot" type of way. Not a "wow we have so much in common" way.

- Then I decided I needed a drink, and realized that in two years, I've gone from "two martinis and I hit the floor" to "two mixed drinks and four beers is a night when I'm not drinking, (not really anyway)."

- Then some prospective law student said something about how all the good people will get teh good jobs, with a subtext that assumed she would be one of those people, and my immediate reaction was "NOT." The people who are most like the other people will get the jobs. And I realized that future law student is betting that she will be good, when she should be betting that she will be like other people. People that I don't particularly like. Further, she is passing judgment on the people who don't get the grades. Which reminded me of an Amway salesman pitch I heard once.

And a theory was born. Phew.

Poor Dizzy.  I graduated from law school two years ago.  I'm so sorry you are disillusioned right now.  A lot of my friends and I all went through the "why am I wasting my money on school that I can't stand" dilemma during our time there.

I am so sorry that your professor made such an offensive comment.  That is completely against the spirit of a legal education, as well as the principles we as lawyers pledge to uphold.  Have you considered talking to the dean of students about this?

In terms of job advice - I went to a school where we had on campus interviews for 2Ls- which doesn't work out for everyone, since it is mostly big firms who can take the time to participate.  However, there are TONS of jobs out there.  I went the big firm route and used the on campus interview route.  One of my best friends had to sort of make her own way, but she ended up at a very prestigious smaller firm and loves it.  Pretty much everyone I know went through the rollercoaster of rejection, depression, frustration, etc. that's the job search, but we all emerged employed.

Law school does seem to attract a larger than normal amount of obnoxious people.  On the other hand, it attacts a ton of really devoted people who really care about society and believe in the power of law to make things better.  I hope you find some more of the latter, because law school can be great.

Best luck and hang in there - it will get better!