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Was there anything that you wished you'd have done otherwise in law school that you didn't understand before you began to practice?

I went into law school about five years after I graduated from school, so I'd been out in the work force for a while. I went to law school and had a fulltime job in a health insurance provider. There are a few things, and also a couple of things I wish I'd done differently.

what's the best means to have a job?

So keep all this in mind, enjoy the process (you are going to learn a lot along the way), and good luck with your hunt! --Barbara Kott

Would you really have to drive yourself into the ground the first couple of years of training to create it?

Furthermore, since you'll normally be working with a group of other lawyers, you won't need to let your team down. We attorneys are ethically and professionally bound to zealously represent our clients' interests. When you tackle the representation of any matter big or small, the relevant concerns really do not revolve solely around your schedule--your clients' interests (along with the reputation of your company) is a priority.

Can you see a prejudice against people who attend law school later in life?

In actuality, no book, no professor, without a mock trial can actually be a replacement for life experience. Something as simple as learning how to work in an office or studying how to operate and socialize with different people is, without question, "on-the-job" training. Possessing that basic "know-how" gives later-in-life students a distinct advantage in many ways over their younger classmates. Indeed, one of the first things a profession student (one who has gone directly through) will want to understand is how to work in an office atmosphere. The learning curve for this skill can be steep and require quite a long time. That exact same struggle is not shared by the graduates that are later-in-life and are well prepared to operate from day one.

Did any classes prove especially useful as you started practicing?

In my own experience now as a hiring attorney, the biggest failing I have observed with students and new lawyers whom I've interviewed or hired is an inability to examine each side of a problem and outline the findings in a coherent memo or persuasive brief. Mastery of writing skills and analysis in law school are critical--both because those tools make you an immediate asset to a law company and also because they're virtually impossible to spend on time and improve in training.