Law Students

Transitions Are Difficult.

By Steve Pirates

Law school is, at its heart, about transitions.  First, one transitions from college  into law school itself, and from there into a profession.

The challenge, to my mind, is not simply in learning the law, or even in learning how to discover the law, or how to think like a lawyer.  The challenge is managing the transition from college kid (and face it, most college kids are kids) into professional men and women, responsible for upholding the very fabric of our society itself.

I’ve learned a lot about the nature of law school, having nearly completed the process myself.  There are three major transitions, and two basic approaches to each of them.  First is selecting a law school, second is taking advantage of your law school, and third is transitioning into lawyerhood.  The two basic approached can be loosely broken down into a) deciding what you think things ought to be and pursuing that; and b) basing your decsision on what and who you are now.  There is, of course, a third way… chosing willy-nilly with no rhyme or reason.  But I’ll assume that anyone reading this has taken some time to research law school, and isn’t the willy-nilly sort.

The first step in this process occurs as soon as you decide to go to law school.  For some lucky few that happens in high school.  For others, it doesn’t happen until after college is long put to rest.  Those blessed with an early realization of their live’s path have the advantage of choosing the manner in which they pursue college with a certain goal in mind.  To those blessed few, I salute you.  For the rest of us, college is a period of self discovery fraught with false starts and mistakes.  And unfortunately, by the time we come to our senses, our permanent records have been made.

Starting this week, JollyLawger.com will cycle through the various stages of law school transitions, focusing on what to do and when for collegians, law students, and occassionally, high schoolers.  I hope that all three of my readers find it most gratifying.

Full post as published by Jolly Lawger on May 11, 2009 (boomark / email).