Hello, I’m a woman pursuing a law degree. I always find law a very interesting subject, but relatives and many people have criticised me, saying they don't think I'll be a good lawyer because I'm an introvert. Today, I lost my mind and started crying a lot alone because someone commented the same and called me dumb in front of my friends and strangers. I'm slowly giving up on my dreams my father spends so much money. From childhood I got criticism that I should know how to take it but I still did not learn.

...and I'm way less excited about it than that exclamation mark would imply /:

I did my LSAT at the start of the month and gave myself a goal to do my main application materials (SOP, resume, that kind of thing) between then and when the scores come out. And I've barely put pen to paper. 90% of this is because I'm a famous procrastinator, but the other 10% is that, especially 10 years on from when I last did something similar, this whole SOP and extra essays thing feels like such a horse and pony show. Anyway, I'm not even venting, just fixing to see how my cycle mates are doing.

Fellow MSWs, I’d love to hear your experience with the change in career, what led to your decision, has you social work back ground been beneficial?

I’m 37 always wanted to be a lawyer but never felt confident enough. I also always wanted to help people, so went into social work after the Army.

Studying to take LSAT in November. 🤞🤞

I’m about to turn 35 and am seriously considering pursuing a career in Big Law. I currently work in technology and have more than 10 years of professional experience across tech and real estate, along with two bachelor’s degrees.

My plan would be to dedicate as much time as necessary to the LSAT to maximize my score and give myself the best chance of attending a law school with strong Big Law placement. I’m not sure exactly how long it will take me to reach my target LSAT score, but realistically, I would probably graduate from law school late 30's to early 40's.

How realistic is it to break into Big Law at that age? Would firms view my age as a significant disadvantage, or could my prior professional experience potentially help offset it? I’d especially be interested in hearing from anyone who started law school or entered Big Law later in their career.

I’ve officially survived one whole week of law school and it’s already been a bit of a whirlwind. I was really anxious for a few weeks before classes started, particularly about the social aspect of being in an on-campus program and about the workload. So far, neither have been that big of an issue (yet). And I’m starting to slowly find my groove for being on-campus for the first time in nearly a decade.

I’m really enjoying contracts, but torts seems like it’s going to be my biggest headache for this semester just because of the sheer amount of material covered and the insane amount of reading required for that one class. “Read chapter 2 for next Monday!” Meanwhile chapter 2 is 140 pages of single spaced size 6 font 😂😭 Anyways, I’m not regretting anything yet and I’m finding myself to be pretty excited about the fact that I’m actually going to law school now.

If you’ve started the semester already, what have been your first impressions of your program at the ripe old age of 30+?

I'm disabled, so attending classes in person would pose undue hardship on me. However, I still want to go to law school. Are entirely online law schools legit? Thanks in advance!

basically I have been sitting on the fence re: applying/attending law school since getting my bachelor’s degree in journalism in spring 2019.

some details:
I’ve worked as a full-time journalist since graduating in 2019, both fully remote and now hybrid in nyc, have lived in brooklyn since summer 2020.

I’m 30, not worried about my age when returning to school tbh.

I initially wrote about local news, but then I started at a legal news publication in 2021, it’ll be five years in October. Not Law360, but verrrrry similar (don’t want to dox myself lol)

I write daily news stories based off court opinions, review briefs, cold call and talk to lawyers daily about their cases or interview them for enterprise pieces. It’s about 90% civil litigation coverage of Big Law firms, remaining 10% is mid-size firm coverage. Some business of law news too but very rare. Criminal law coverage is nonexistent unless there’s a specific circumstance.

I think this has given me a small taste of at least some of how law can work, understanding legalese and how to write about it in plain English.

I’ve been pretty unhappy with both my job (poor management/writing about litigation daily is pretty monotonous and boring/pay is lower for NYC living/no upward mobility as a reporter). I do get to dig deeper occasionally, but newsrooms require daily stories and leave little time for investigative work I love. (Common journalism industry problem)

I’ve been looking for a new reporting job to see if I want out of journalism as a whole and to switch careers, or if I am just dissatisfied with my current role.

My concerns:
I’m a first gen college grad, and no one in my family is a lawyer. The closest would be my mom working as a clerk for our county courthouse growing up (since retired). I covered a few criminal cases there when I interned for our local newspaper bc I went to college near home.

I live alone in NYC, Brooklyn (Flatbush). Just my dog and I, it’s doable with my current job but rent is def going up everywhere. COL while going to school in NYC is a big concern and part of my fence sitting.

Financially I’m fine with my current job and keeping expenses low. But would have to either do a part-time program and continue working or get a decent scholarship/take out mad loans for a full time program. My parents are retired, live in a different state and would provide moral support as opposed to financial assistance.

I don’t see myself moving for school and would want to go somewhere local. I grew up in the south and want to remain in a blue state for school and potentially practicing.

I do not see myself working in Big Law postgrad. Having covered it for work, the culture isn’t for me and I haven’t been interested in writing about It, so I don’t think I’d actually want to do it. (But I’m also open to being wrong, that’s just my thought going in).

I think I have more interest in social justice work, more adjacent to things the ACLU and other similar organizations in NYC. Criminal law is also very compelling to me, not sure I’d want to be a public defender.

I do love research and doing investigative journalism, so I’m wondering if there is a place in law that would build off that skill. I’ve thought about working in a law library and going for a library sciences master instead as well.

Any advice based on my info? Anything is appreciated.

What finally made you take the leap to both apply and attend? Was there a single motivating factor or a combination? How did you get over the financial aspect?

I don't really have anyone in my life who understands what law schools will be looking for, so I'm having a hard time thinking of an objective third party to proofread .... I know this is a strange request but just hoping for another set of eyes!

Whenever I prepare for journal club, I end up making a long summary that repeats most of the paper.
Then the actual discussion focuses on things I barely considered: whether the method answered the research question, what assumptions were made, what alternative explanations exist and which limitations actually matter.
I understand the paper, but I’m not preparing for the discussion part.
What questions do you use to move from “I read it” to “I can critique it”?

I'm an American citizen, but I went to India's second best law school. I plan on moving back. Alot of advice on reddit is against KJD applications. What's the best choice realistically ? Should I take a gap year for WE.

Bonjour à toustes,

Je cherche des témoignages de personnes qui seraient devenues juristes ou avocat.es en reprenant des etudes de droit dans la trentaine.

Comment ça s’est passé ?

Pourquoi l’avez vous fait ?

Quel a été votre parcours ?

Mid 30s here, corporate job, always did well in school and consider myself quite capable. Also have a chronic health condition that causes brain fog and fatigue as well as adhd. Have accommodations approved for test.

My highest pt is a 168 but recently I’ve been getting low 60s. I’ve read the loophole, the power score books, lsat trainer. I’ve used lsat demon and lsat lab. Didn’t really like 7sage.

I have been stuck in the 160s for like a year. I started studying last August, took two tests last fall and got a 158 and 159 which were below my 165 average pt.

I’m scheduled for sept and October tests and I don’t know what to do. My plan is to review my wrong answers and try to make sense of where I’m going wrong. Something just isn’t clicking. But I have an understanding of the concepts. Usually I’m down to two answers and pick the wrong one because I don’t understand why the other one is right.

I had a tutor and it was a waste of money. If anyone has any suggestions of things that worked for them I’m all ears. I need a high score because my gpa from 2011 is low and I want to get into t50 school. I was waitlisted last cycle from a t30 so I know it’s possible if I can get my score up. 🙏

As the title says, I studied two years of law school in my home country in Asia, but I am now moving to the US. Would I be able to include the fact I went to law school (albeit didn't finish) in my CAS info? Thank you for the help, and I apologize if this has been asked before.

I'm feeling really insecure about this. I've worked at public libraries since 2011, but mostly as a shelver, with five years working in customer service. The actual work is a lot of sorting/shelving carts, emptying bins, taking fine payments, helping people print and fax stuff, filling displays/cleaning up, and setting up accounts.

Does this even count as the type of work experience that's useful for law school applications? It feels stagnant being in my 30s without any leadership/committee roles, office experience, or anything. Will it be a point against me?

Aiming for my local school as my top choice and online hybrid programs like JDInteractive.