Xref: utzoo misc.legal:25391 comp.org.eff.talk:2159
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu!jwoodman
From: jwoodman@magnus.ircc.ohio-state.edu (Jonathan A Woodman)
Newsgroups: misc.legal,comp.org.eff.talk
Subject: Re: Is it reasonable to become a lawyer?
Message-ID: <1991Apr19.193313.314@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>
Date: 19 Apr 91 19:33:13 GMT
References: <1991Apr13.085913.5675@ys2.uucp> <280DAB90.3BAD@intercon.com>
Sender: news@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu
Organization: The Ohio State University College of Law
Lines: 48
Nntp-Posting-Host: right.magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu

In article <DAB90.3BAD@intercon.com> ooblick@intercon.com (Mikki Barry) writes:

>> Law school shouldn't be too difficult for anyone with any training
>> in an intellectually rigorous discipline, e.g. engineering, math, cs.
>
>I disagree.  Law school shouldn't be too difficult for anyone who enjoys 
>reading, understanding, and virtually memorizing hundreds of pages of dull and
>boring text each and every night.  

I must say that I found my engineering texts much more boring and tedious than
the law cases I now read. Really! Reading some Cardozo cases is like reading
poetry. Truly a master of the finely turned phrase. Besides, the rule of law is
what really matters.

>It really has nothing to do with previous 
>training in an "intellectually rigorous discipline".  The skills necessary to 
>do well in law school, besides a pathological need to have a book in one hand 
>and a yellow highlighter in the other, include sorting through reams and reams
>of garbage to find the small glimmer of usefulness at the bottom. Engineering,
>math or CS will not prepare you for shoveling piles of bullshit.

Geez, Mikki, are you *sure* you want to be a lawyer? As a fellow law student,
I must say, I don't feel this way at all.

>> > And if I do this, what are the prospects after law school?  I don't
> 
>> Good for computer lawyers, so-so for run of the mill lawyers.
>
>Oh?  Only if you are willing to move.  For example, I had 54 interviews with 
>firms in Washington DC that deal with computer law. I was editor in chief of a
>technology law journal.  My grades were very good, and I have good interview 
>skills. NONE of these interviews resulted in a job.

Gosh, all the high-tech firms out here are saying that they have never seen a
better job market for people coming out of law school with technical 
backgrounds. Maybe that is just out here in the Midwest, but look around. While
most law students are scared to death of the job market right now, those with
technical backgrounds appear to be sitting pretty.

>> You can feel free to do what you like, however, if you don't practice
>> law, you'd better have an extremely good income from you chosen job
>> (to pay off those student loans)!

Unless you go to a state-funded school! :-)


Jonathan Woodman
Class of '93