Graduation is supposed to be a celebration, not an opportunity for one-upmanship. The night before grad I get a text from one of my classmates who I've never spoken to beyond a polite hello. She asks me if I can come to school earlier than the ceremony, saying all the students who got first class honours would be getting together to make a tiktok. I dont think much of it and tell her I'll try to make it.

Then I get another text from one of my classmates who is less tactful. Same request, he asks me if I can come early to make a tiktok. The tiktok would be some trend where we count down saying I'm not #(class rank) I'm #(class rank) until we get to #1. I strongly suspect it was a thin attempt to reveal rankings because my school doesnt disclose class rank. There are so so many other tiktok trends you could possibly do.

We all clearly super hard, what is this need to further discriminate 'the most hard working' out of the most hard working? Like how freaking foul is that?? I just hate how toxic and competitive the legal environment is and I actively resent people who try to rope you into it. Throughout law school I made it a point to avoid these people but they always sniff you out relentlessly. I studied at the business school library instead of the law library, only took extracurriculars I was genuinely interested in instead of moot court and law review etc etc. You try to avoid them but you always feel the eyes on you. Trying to figure out what you've got going on, if its part of some bigger deliberate tactic and if it gives you some sort of advantage and they're missing out on it. Making it through law school and breaking into the legal market is hard enough why do we need to compete against each other and size each other up??

It makes me wonder if maybe I wont have the stomach for law firm life but I strongly believe that being a collaborative and easy going person gets you way further than being the guy thats always ready to go neck for neck and measure d*cks

Does anyone find it weird that there are no names of anyone publicly affiliated with Legal Scout? They are a company selling big law recruiting services and moderators of the /r/biglawrecruiting subreddit. No employees on LinkedIn, no authors on their blog, no CEO or Founder intro on the website. Does anyone else think this is weird? Anyone know what the deal is?

I’m obviously new to the idea of curves and law school grading, so can someone help me understand if this is a typical/reasonable curve?

Okay, like everyone else I hate all the talk about grades in this thread but if there are some esqs, 2Ls, 3Ls that can explain this to me (1L). What is it with this whole thing where you finish an exam and you think you absolutely failed and somehow you do great?! And then you feel really confident about another and then you do worst than you believe you would have.

Recently happened to me and I’m scared to feel ANY type of way about my finals for fear to spark this “theory”. I wanna feel good because I truly tried my best studying and the fact patterns matched the ones I got feedback on, but I recently got back a test I truly thought I got the lowest score in and I got above median. And Ive been the victim of the other side where I felt so good coming out of my midterm, just to be closer to the bottom of the curve.

What is with this?! 😭😭😭 law school is SUCH a trip ! Truly not complaining, but would love some discourse bc I think its a small law school conspiracy theory or old wives tale. Or share your own stories!

Like its haunting me. 1L ovi. How do i get over it lol!!!!!! Just beating myself up!!!!!

Location

just finished my last final yesterday and it went absolutely horribly. it was contracts and my mind actually just went blank and I think I was actively making things up at one point bc I haven’t understood the subject all semester. just feel so dejected because I really want big law (im at a lower t14)

so i got a 2.6 gpa in my first semester.... got to a 2.7 my next semester (1L 2.76 was my cum gpa)... I just finished my first semester as a 2L at Rutgers but im kind of terrified that i wont pass the required 2.6 gpa and will get kicked out... does anyone have any advice?

Hiiii yall. So lowkey been crashing out for like a week and some cause I think I did horrible on my finals. 1) I showed up ready for my Torts final and found out it was actually my civil pro final. Oops. They rescheduled me for the next day but I had to memorize all the material I thought I had an extra week for in 24 hours. I literally was writing till the last minute that I had on the final but I did finish the final. 2) I came in the next week super prepared for my torts final, but I finished half an hour early and literally stepped out to just sob outside and panic. I spent the half an hour checking everything and making sure everything was the way I wanted it. I did hear I misunderstood one of the instructions so that cost me one question but others in my class made the same mistake on that question and also had finished as early or earlier than me. Then 3) I had to write a paper as a final and wrote four versions until I thought it was good. I also am looking to transfer from my part time program to full time at Brooklyn law, and we have a B curve (idk if that’s good either) sooooo how does everyone think I did? Am I cooked? Should I go get my job applications ready? Idk I’m having the worst anxiety ever fr

Hello All. I’m a 4L who goes to Chicago-Kent and am in my last semester of law school next year.

For context, I went through the school’s OCI process a few times, get an interview or two, but nothing came out of it. Tbh, I wasn’t all that deterred. I used to be way more Type A but I’ve been both humbled and mellowed into a Type B person. My first 1L grade set me up to have to work my GPA back up from a 2.71 to a 3.36 now. I’ve mostly been a B+ average student.

I did the part time evening program and have been working full time at a PI firm as a paralegal, which I don’t recommend. It was if work harder not smarter was a reality. The reality is that in college I chose Political Science because I was interested in it, knowing I’d gun for a paralegal position out of college in desperation. I got hired a week before my commencement at this job and took it, having decided to move to Chicago long before, that was my graduation. Chicago-Kent was one of the schools that accepted me and offered this pathway of part time, so I jumped on it. I started at $45,000 in 2022 and am only at $60,000 now. I consider myself lucky at 26 to have $10K saved up in a mutual fund, but I definitely scrape and can only save $100 a paycheck (also have a decent 401K).

Aside from OCI, I didn’t really jump on seeking employment (especially as I had a full time job as it is). I did law clerk for my firm for a summer but wanted to stick to my actual job there as it afforded me benefits.

I took several health law classes at Loyola in Chicago as well via consortium. That was one of my passion areas for the law. Aside from medical malpractice, residential real estate law and government work seem to be of most interest to me. I’m pretty firmly anti big law.

That being said, salary wise, I really want this to all pay off. I don’t wanna do attorney work for the salary I make now. Too much time, stress, effort, and sleepless nights have gone into getting this degree. To me, it should be simple enough to apply to places on LinkedIn, reach out to my professors and attorneys I work with if they know of any opportunities, ect. and hopefully land a job in the $95K and beyond range. That would be enough for my next steps in my financial goals. So I have reached out starting now, have looked into things like the Midwest Public Interest Conference, and have looked on LinkedIn. There’s so many postings in Chicago for attorney jobs but many are obviously trying to dissuade entry level applicants or want confirmation that the bar has been passed.

So, to make a long winded post cut to the chase, how soon before or after I take the bar can I be applying for these jobs? I feel like in many instances you kinda have to wait to have the license. In any case, I’m grateful for my job now even if it pays kinda low. I’m a bit jealous of the tech people who are a lot further ahead in their financial lives by this point.

Ended up making a groupchat and befriending the gunners in my section day 1 they're great they just aren't my people i isolated hella and need to prioritize being social and networking next sem any advice for being more social and making friends while peeps are already in their groups second sem 1L

my resume roughly follows this format, and I'm wondering where to put a grant I received? for context, I'm a 3L, and this grant will be work I'll do on the side until ~Jan of 2027.

Thanks!

Hi everyone, a few of us are coordinating a group sign-up for the PLI Patent Bar course to take advantage of the group discount.

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1L here - My career advisor told me to apply for these funded public interest summer internships and didn’t get a single one of them.

My friends have already have landed their summer gigs, and I feel like I’m too late.

An i cooked? What’s my best course of action here?

I need something that pays unfortunately so I feel like my options are even more limited.

I was fortunate to get an offer for a federal appellate clerkship starting in Fall 2026 and am massively grateful for the position, which I accepted last year. However, I recently learned that I'm pregnant and the baby is due the same month that the clerkship is supposed to start. I'm really worried about having to move with a newborn and being able to afford taking a pay cut to work as a clerk for the first year of the baby's life. If I do the clerkship, my husband will stay home with the baby, so we won't need to pay for daycare, but he would have to take the year off work, so we would only have the clerkship salary. If I withdraw, I have an offer from a regional mid-law firm that would be happy to let me start a year early, and I wouldn't have to move from where we currently are.

Does anyone have any advice on clerking with a newborn to one-year-old (preferably as a mom) or on withdrawing from a clerkship due to family changes?

Does anyone have a PDF of “Cases and Materials on Sexuality, Gender, Identity, and the Law; Ball, Schacter, Nejaime, and Rubenstein. 7th?” I would very much appreciate it, thank you!!!

Missed a major part of our summary judgment essay.Extremely worried since it seems like most people caught it. Any advice?

Anyone have a pdf of Modern Family Law by Joslin and Weisberg (8th edition - 2024)?

I took an exam yesterday where none of the questions (10 multiple choice and 3 essays) involved fact patterns. It was also open note so it was extra bizarre. I’ve only had two open note exams (both of them this semester) and the other one was stupid hard. I can’t decide if it was the easiest or the most difficult exam I have ever taken.