University Of Houston Law School, Working in Law School

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Q. As a VERY POOR law student facing the daunting tuition fees of the University of Michigan, I have found out to my utmost surprise(yea right), that I think I will need to work about 10-15 hours a week to have some money. Is this feasable. Most teachers and councilors say never to work while going to law school, HOWEVER, I have met alot of students who do work and are successfull at law school. Are the councilor statements just overrated like my H.S. councilors who said I wouldn't be able to work during undergrad,(I ended up working 30+ hours a week and still doing well), or is law school completely differenct. People who do work and attend law school please reply. And if you have any opinions....

A. I have known people who worked during their first year at BU. Some did pretty well. The trick seems to be to keep it well under 20 hours/week and to make it a less demanding job. If Michigan will allow work study for 1Ls try it. At BU it pays pretty well and usuallly involves a position in the law library that allows studying while you work. I have also known people who have broken the rules and worked something on the order of 40/hours a week as 1Ls. This seems to be a real bad idea. People who that seem to have trouble attending class and while they don't flunk out, they do not do very well either. The other important thing to remember is that as finals approach you will probably not have time to work. It is hard to work past Dec 1 at BU and do well. I would advise making the $$$ early the year and then quiting if possible. I don't think 10-15 hours a week matters that much if the job is not that taxing and you stop well before finals. Of course, this advice is directed towards people who attend law school full time. Working is much less of a problem for people who attend law school part time. Its a relative thing. If most of your fellow students don't work, they will have lots of time to study, many will, and if you are too busy to study you will be in trouble since grading is relative. If most of your classmates work full time, they will have less time to study so the fact that you work and have less time to study matters less. In case anyone things I am way off base I do have one empericial data point. The person who maintains the highest average in the evening class of '96 of a pretty good law school quit their job 4 years ago when school started and has been supported by their family since. They have more time to study than anyone else in the class and are always better prepared than anyone else in their class. Approximately half of the people I know, including myself, work during law school. This is while attending law school full time. The general consensus is that the third year is primarily a distraction, and the race is on for those who didn't land a job during the summer to ease into one w/ a firm where they clerk.

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