[blindlaw] Law School in 3 Years Question

[Nightingale, Noel]

Jen:

I am sure you will receive a diversity of opinion on your question about whether to take a reduced course load in law school.  I have a strong opinion that you should stay in sync with your peers and complete law school in three years, if you are attending a full time program.  I say this because it is hard enough to find a job during and after law school.  Private law firms are used to the three year course of study and you may get screened out of interviews if your résumé doesn't look like your other classmates.  At the same time and also for your employability, it is also critical that you achieve very good grades.

However, if you already know that you want to start your own practice after law school, then being competitive with your peers won't matter as much.  

These are my two cents worth.  Please feel free to write me on or off list any time.

Noel
noel.nightingale at ed.gov
 

-----Original Message-----
From: blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Jen Barrow
Sent: Monday, February 19, 2007 12:23 PM
To: blindlaw at nfbnet.org
Subject: [blindlaw] Law School in 3 Years Question

Hi List,

 

I will be starting law school in the Fall.  On a couple of the school websites, a reduced course load is listed as an example of a possible reasonable accommodation.  I am curious what you guys did or are doing- whether you completed law school in the 3 typical years?  I did my undergrad in 4 years, partly out of principal that I did not want to receive special treatment and partly because I wanted to graduate with my class.  But, in retrospect, I think 4.5 or 5 years of study would have improved my quality of life (e g time away from studying to be more social), and the depth of my learning.  I realize now that I often powered through reading assignments so fast to complete them on time that I read them too fast to truly process the material.  I don't want to cheat myself again out of the full opportunities of learning, but I'm not sure that 4 years of law school is quite the way to go either.  I've heard the first year of law school is hell for everybody, but how did it go for those of you who read all your books with JAWS?  Any thoughts are appreciated.  Feel free to write me off list.

 

Thanks,

Jen

barrowj at comcast.net