As an entering 1L I have tried to insulate myself from other people's opinions about what law school is like. UCLA will assume I know nothing about law school on my first day so I want to live up to that ideal.
Avoiding these opinions has turned out to be curiously difficult. Telling people you're headed to law school is apparently an opportunity for them to share their views on the legal profession. NOT THAT I MIND. I'm just not clear why it invites this type of response, more so than "I'm getting a PhD in medieval studies"
For example, recently I was traveling for 2 weeks in South America with random civilians so I had many variations on the stock "what do you do for work" conversation. I just said "I'm starting law school in August".
The standard responses settle into two categories:
It's impossible. "You're going to be overwhelmed by the workload." "You're going to have a tough time finding work after graduation." "What makes you think you'll do well?"
It's foolhardy. "Why on earth would you do that??" "My [close relative] went to [important law school] and she hated being a lawyer." "Joining the dark side, eh?"
Best of all, there's apparently no way to respond. If I gently say "oh, I'm sure it's not THAT bad" I'm given the pitying gaze that people save for the hopelessly deluded.
02 Aug 04
mix 93.3 is the best radio station in the world
Posted by: Amber dell at October 5, 2004 01:58 PMIs this like a guestbook?
Posted by: Jimmy at November 2, 2004 07:55 PMI haven't been up to much today. Such is life. My life's been basically dull today, but that's how it is.