July 05, 2007
Summer Starting
To: Future UM law students
From: A former summer starter
Re: Summer starting vs. fall starting
Issue: Whether to start law school in the summer or the fall?
Brief Answer: The summer because it will give you a boost in the 1L job market, it will "ease" you into law school, and what else do you have to do this summer?
Facts:
I was originally going to start in the Fall of 2006 at UM law school. At the last second, a fellow UM law student convinced me to join her in starting in the summer instead. (Incidentally, I had just met this student at UM preview weekend, we quickly became friends, she sent me a Michigan law t-shirt that helped seal the deal for me coming to Ann Arbor, and we ended up as roommates for the summer. Just another example of the friendships formed at UM. The admissions office should pay me for this stuff, and I'm not making it up. A reduction in tuition will also be acceptable.)
Discussion:
I. Starting in the summer may help in the 1L job market
Getting a job the summer after your first year in law school is tough. The whole system is set up to give people jobs after their second summer, so take advantage of any edge you can get in the 1L job search. If your dad is a partner in a major firm, or you have come to law school after curing a rare form of cancer, skip this column, and take a break for the summer, you either don't need my advice or you deserve the break. (If your dad is the partner, I can easily be reached and have a resume readilly available. If you cured the rare form of cancer, congratulations, keep up the good work.). For the rest of you, read on.
Most law students don't have grades by the time interviewing for 1L jobs takes place beginning in the winter. But if you start in the summer, you will have grades to attract curious, but skeptical would-be employers. Of course, if your grades are good, this is a way to differentiate yourself from the thousands of other talented students at all the other top law schools fighting for those same jobs. Even if you did a little less well, you have a few more classes under your belt, and are a more "experienced" law student surely on your way to even better grades your second semester. When firms are investing in 1Ls they want to know they are making a wise choice/investment, so having tangible evidence of your ability to make it can only help your cause.
Moreover, by the time you are interviewing, you are finished, or almost finished, with an entire year of legal research and writing, and you will have taken a few elective classes by the time your summer job starts, unlike most 1Ls around the country.
II. Starting in the summer may "ease" you into law school
Let's face it: your first semester at any law school is going to be full of adjustments (read: anxious moments that wake you up in the middle of the night and scare you into re-reading the rule against perpetuities or calming your nerves and convincing you not to drop out of school). You've never taken a law school exam before, you have probably never had to go the whole semester without getting any feedback only to have one four to five hour test determine your entire grade (ie future...just kidding. Grades are alternately not that important, and the most important thing you have in your life depending on who is talking.).
So why not start in the summer where you only have to take two doctrinal courses and legal research and writing, instead of the three (or is it 4?) doctrinal courses you would have to take if you started in the fall?
Plus, if you don't figure out the "law school game" as quickly, you will only have two grades to show for when your transcript comes out. That means plenty of time to improve those all important first year grades. And if you do well, well...see above (reaping the fruits of a successful summer semester in the 1L job market).
III. What else do you have to do?
Ann Arbor is amazing in the summer. There are plenty of parks, not a lot of undergrads, and tons of fun festivals. In short, it is the best time of the year in Ann Arbor, and may be the only summer you will get to spend there.
Plus: What else do you have to do? If you really need to work to save money or take care of a sibling, etc, then by all means do that. But if you are just procrastinating so you can see the blockbuster summer movie and lay out at the pool to work on that tan, rethink your priorities. And anyway, Ann Arbor has movie theaters and pools. Don't buy into the hype: there is time for fun in law school.
In addition, the summer class is usually tight knit because there are not a lot of people in Ann Arbor besides the 90 of you. The law school is empty except for your class, so you have the library and classrooms to yourselves. More importantly, you have the restaurants and bars to yourselves...and the law quad is a perfect place for catching some sun while trying to study (see, I told you you could work on that tan).
Of course, there are downsides. If you are coming straight from undergrad, you might not have much time off, but when you graduate in December, instead of May, enjoy those 4-5 months off then instead, and you will be done with law school (ie plenty to celebrate).
Conclusion:
Starting law school in the summer is a good idea and offers a wealth of benefits with very few costs. Feel free to contact me with any questions.
January 29, 2007
One of the great things about going to Michigan Law School is the well known faculty. Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I had no idea who any of these professors were before I started law school. Of course, I’m sure there are those in my class who have been dreaming of having J.J. White teach them contracts since before they could walk. Those people are called “gunners.” You will know them soon enough.
For those perspective students who don’t know who White is, step foot on campus and you will soon find out. He’s just one of the legendary professors around here.
But don’t fret if you don’t know one law professor from another. I was the same way. In fact, I was a sports broadcaster in my former life, and so it’s more alarming to me that in my mass media law class the other day only a few people knew who former Tigers baseball star Cecil Fielder is. More shocking still, only a handful of students knew who former Olympian Mark Spitz is.
But once you get on campus, it’s good to have famous law school professors if for no other reason then it leads to interesting, if a bit awkward situations, at cocktail parties and bars.
For example, recently, I was home over break talking with a kid who went to another law school. He was in his second year and asked me what classes I was taking. I rattled them off, and when I got to property, the kid said something like, “Man, property…Now that’s a tough class. What book do you have?”
I told him, I had Professor Krier’s book. To which, he replied very helpfully, “Oh man, that was such a rough class, but I had the same book, and if if you have any questions, I can help you out with an outline.” (If you don’t know what an outline is, you will soon find out. Just ask the gunner. See above.)
I did not have the heart to tell him that if I needed any help, I could just ask the author of the textbook, since that author just happened to be my teacher. Ya see, Krier is Jim Krier, who just happened to be my property professor, and the author of one of the most popular property text books in the country.
See all the fun that can be had in law school? (Just don’t try the law school professor name dropping game with friends not in law school. For some reason, it is not nearly as cool with them.)
But among law school nerds, it’s just one more reason to come to UM law school.
November 15, 2006
I’ve spent a lot of time this week thinking about the question: If I was not in law school where would I be?
I don’t mean this in any particularly deep way. Those kind of cosmic, existential questions will pop into my head closer to finals. Questions like: What am I doing here? What’s it all for? Why am I here? What’s my purpose?
No the questions this week are much more benign than those.
See, before coming to law school I was a television sports broadcaster for four years. Last year, and for three of my four years in journalism, I worked in Ohio. Nothing extraordinary about that normally, but this week is different.
This week is Ohio-State-Michigan week.
That means that if I was not in law school, I would be back in Ohio preparing to go to Ohio Stadium this Saturday to stand on the sidelines for the “Biggest Game of the Century.”
Instead, I’m trying to get all my contracts reading done so that I can have time to just sit and enjoy the game for three hours on Saturday.
But don’t get me wrong, I would not trade in going to law school—especially law school at Michigan-- for anything, not even a ticket to the “Big Game.”
I started in the summer, and so far I have learned so much.
It can be tiring at times and stressful, but it’s also challenging and thought provoking, and that’s why I wanted to come to law school in the first place.
Of course, the most thought provoking question in Ann Arbor this week is how will Michigan’s stout defense shut down Heisman trophy candidate Troy Smith?
But come Sunday, it’s back to the difference between fixed costs and variable costs and mens rea and actus rea. And then only a few short weeks until finals, which means questions on the meaning of life.
Law school can be a roller coaster. I hope this blog will help navigate some of the ups and downs.