Well, I’m starting evening law school in a few weeks while keeping my full-time engineering job.
Can anybody tell me it’s going to be ok with a straight face? 
Everything’s going to be fine. You’ll have time for everything you want to do in your life, and you will in no way fall behind in everything in your life besides work and school. 
Watch The Paper Chase. Read 1L. Law school is very much like that. Some of the newer hippie-dippie profs may get away from the Socratic method, but the old school guys…and every school should have at least one…do it the traditional way.
Also, you will be expected to have done the assignment for your first class. It’s likely posted on a bulletin board, or maybe outside the prof’s office. Do not be the guy that shows up without having read anything, and gets called on right off the bat. It may amuse your crueler classmates, but otherwise no good will come of it.
A friend of mine survived this by contacting the school’s accessibility office and fidning out how to order all her textbooks on CD. No matter what ealse she was doing, she had a cd going on her walkman. She did really well.
Thanks Cat Whisperer! I think I needed that.
Read my recommended reading list. 1L scared the crap out of me, which is the intended result I think. Still need to do the couple of things that were assigned to do before orientation.
I’m guessing orientation is where I’ll get any assignments I have to do before class.
Oh, and I haven’t set foot in a classroom for a decade so this should be interesting…
Well, doing it by night school, I suspect that many of your classmates will be in the same boat. They’ve been out in the real world for some time, and still have all those real world responsibilities to meet, on top of school work. Might be good to hook up with 2-3 of them as a study group. Share outlines, talk about class discussions, that sort of thing.
Watch The Paper Chase. Read 1L. Law school is absolutely nothing like that, especially not an evening program. This is not to say that it’s going to be easy, but the type of nightmarish scenarios portrayed in there are things you’ll get only from the most old-school of professors. The Socratic method is certainly still in use, but you’ll likely only have one prof, if that, who’s a real dick about it. The studying will be intense, but I was a full-time law student and in no way was it anything like a full-time job. I worked 20 hours a week from 2L year onward, carrying a full-time courseload, and was fine. Did I graduate top in my class, edit the Law Review, and get a big firm job after graduation? No, but I didn’t want that either.
Relax. The people who get all worked up about it are the ones that go crazy and drop out. It’s work, but it’s not hellish.
Don’t be so sure. Orientation was a complete waste of time at my school. Our first assignments were posted online, along with the required texts. I won’t tell you about the time the professor did not bother to get her text list submitted prior to the first day of class and still expected everybody to have read the material.
Don’t worry, I started out as a evening student and finished in just three years. (I quit my job after the first year to go to school full-time, as I realized I would not have a family if I did the evening thing for another three years) (That may not be encouraging? :D)
I did law school at nights, but I wasn’t smart enough to quit my job, so I suspect you will have a much easier time with life in general when you are going to school.
As for the reading recommendations you’re getting, they are all good choices, but if you have the time read or re-read “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
Good luck with law school–you will be just fine.
Or, depending on your interest, try The Defense Never Rests by the great F. Lee Bailey. Yeah, I know he had some disciplinary issues towards the end of his career, but he was a great criminal defense guy. His cross examination of Mark Furman in the O.J. trial was a masterpiece. The book was written long before that, but iirc, he talks about the Boston Strangler case, and other things he handled…
This. I truly enjoyed (full-time) law school, including (especially!) my first year. You’ll develop a whole new way of seeing the world, of analyzing problems - it’s great fun. The only caveat is that, as Drain Bead said, you will go nuts if you insist upon being at the very top of your class. By all means, work hard - but law school will only take over your life if you let it.
Don’t go. Cancel before it’s too late.
I’m only insisting on being in the top 1/3 of my class.
Only thing I’m putting on the line is my free time…
I’m not smart enough either.
Another vote for The Paper Chase. IME, few profs are as crusty and as bound to the Socratic method as Kingsfield, but when you meet the one who is (and every school has at least one), you’ll want to be prepared.
If you managed to get accepted, you’ll do fine. Do the readings and take notes during lectures, but also get to know your classmates. Form or join a study group–as a 1L, you’ll find such a group to be a big help. And find some time to have some fun as well. You’re back at school–enjoy it and good luck!
You will be fine. My first year was day classes, but later years were as much night classes as anything else. Do the reading, be prepared.
Well people have done it, it’s up to you. But seriously even if you can’t keep up and drop out, so what? People fail all the time, people try things and it doesn’t work out.
So you’re out a few bucks and now you know your limitations so you can better plan. If this doesn’t work out, maybe you can find a job where you can work 4 days a week or something.
Starting classes in law is a good thing, don’t turn it into a worry before you even know if there’s a problem.
Good luck
The job market for lawyers isn’t what it used to be, so I think it’s smart to hold onto your day job until you are sure you can get employment in law.
Hope things work out for you and that it is a good experience, but just saying it’s not a bad idea to try to be cautious.
CD? Walkman? These are strange terms. So they were podcasted?
Do the reading, go to class. Most people don’t do this. If you do, law school is a piece of cake. And going at night is great – no gunners, people collaborate instead of compete, and whatever the case is about, there’s always somebody who works or used to work in that field, so they can tell you the way things really work. Also, and this is a big advantage, all day students ever seem to talk about is how busy they are. Night students have more intersting conversations.
–Cliffy