We specialize in hard to find items
All Categories
Law School Confidential: A Complete Guide to the Law School Experience: By Students, for Students
Share Tweet
*Price and Stocks may change without prior notice
*Packaging of actual item may differ from photo shown
- Electrical items MAY be 110 volts.
- 7 Day Return Policy
- All products are genuine and original
About Law School Confidential: A Complete Guide To The
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Law School ConfidentialA Complete Guide to the Law School Experience: By Students, for StudentsBy Robert H. MillerSt. Martin's GriffinCopyright © 2011 Robert H. MillerAll right reserved.ISBN: 9780312605117CHAPTER 1 Thinking About Law School? Think Again … Know thyself.—SOCRATES THE MOST IMPORTANT PIECE of advice that can possibly be given to you, the prospective law student, is simple. Surprisingly, perhaps, it has nothing to do with how to study or how to write a good exam. It is not about how to glean wisdom from the dusty pages of the U.S. Supreme Court opinions that shaped our country, or how to make the law review, or how to impress an employer in a job interview. Those things are important, but they’re all secondary.The most important advice that you can get as a prospective law student isn’t even about law school. It’s about you—and it can be summed up succinctly but completely with a single word.Commit.That’s it. “To carry into action deliberately.” Commit.Show up for your first day of law school with only a vague notion of why you’re there—without a clear set of reasons for putting yourself through the punishment you’re about to endure—and you’ll be setting yourself up for a miserable and unfulfilling three years. Show up committed, with a well thought-out set of goals supported by reasons for attaining them, and the experience can be exhilarating.The choice is yours. You picked up this book looking for answers, or maybe a “quick fix” that will put you ahead of your competitors in the rough-and-tumble world of law school. You have it in one word: commit. That’s it. Don’t “decide” to go to law school. Don’t “try” law school. Commit to law school. That is the pure axiom of law school success. Commit, or forget it—for in law school, to quote the ancient Jedi master Yoda, “there is no try.”Still with me?Now … about the cocky guy next to you who just put this book back on the shelf with a “Hrumph” after reading these first few paragraphs—don’t worry about him. That’s the overconfident guy who will spend the first weeks of law school casually reading cases, partying in the bars, and teasing you about studying too much. Learn to love that guy because he’s someone you’re going to flog on your first-semester finals. Trust me on that because I used to know that guy.He was me.Step number one on the road to your commitment to law school is to ask yourself one critical question. Why do you want to go to law school?No really. Think about it. What’s driving you? Force yourself to come up with an answer. Now be honest. Does your answer, or something like it, appear on this list?• because my mom/dad/sibling/relative/friend is a lawyer• because I took the LSAT and got a good score• because I’m not good at science and wouldn’t be able to get into med school• because lawyers make good salaries and have financial and/or job security• because most of the people at my school are applying to law/med school• because I watch Law & Order reruns and think they’re interesting• because I’ve read all of John Grisham’s novels and find them fascinating• because I don’t know what else to do and law is a respectable profession• because my parents/relatives/teachers/friends think I’m a “born lawyer”Okay. So if your rationale for going to law school appears above, all is not lost. It just means that you need to rethink your motivations because these just aren’t going to cut it for you. Let’s dispel some illusions.My relative the lawyer made me do itFirst of all, what is it about your parent/sibling/friend the lawyer that makes you want to follow him into his profession? Is it the money? The prestige? Do you even know whether this person is happy practicing law? Have you asked him lately? More important, have you ever followed this person through a typical day—or even better, a typical week? Ever ask this person what he likes least about the law, or about how much time he spends in court compar
