I tried very hard my first semester at NYU but ended up with two Bs and a B+. If I want to work in biglaw am I screwed?

As the title says I just finished my JD this past December 2024. I opted for not enlisting to take the bar this March because I wanted to "take a break", so I opted (or at least made myself believe so) to take the bar in September 2025. The thing is that tbh I have 0 desire to take the bar exam and to become a lawyer. I was considering taking the bar and then take the notary bar exam later on and focus on being q Notary Public (I live in Puerto Rico and you need to be a licensed lawyer to be a notary). But the thought of being held accountable to the PR Supreme Court, submitting monthly reports to the Court's notary inspector even if I do 0 jobs that month is dreadful.

Law school totally killed my desire to be a lawyer. I like the academic aspects of it, like doing research, writing papers, etc. but the job itself is definitely not for me. Yes, I incurred in massive debt but I don't lose too much sleep over that. I'm analizing my options but can't seem to find anything relatable. It seems that I'll have to force myself to take the bar exams just to have an opportunity at a decent job even if I end up hating it.

How do you go about taking courses in economics or science and technology on the side, in addition to the courses you have to take in law school?（Maybe it's possible to find relevant videos on YouTube to learn on your own?）As well as I want to know how to polish my various skills as a lawyer during law school, I'm afraid that I spend a lot of time reading but neglect how to practice.

1L and unsure how this all works. I recently got a job offer for an unpaid government law clerkship which I’m really proud of and a lot of peers and family members say I should take it. I was given until next week to make a decision. However, my heart is set on a fellowship I interviewed with last week that’s paid and in an area of law I want to work in. During the interview, the fellowship site told me they were “very early” in their hiring process and so they would not be able to get back to me “for a couple of weeks.” I don’t want to wait too long and the current offer I have gets rescinded. However, I felt like the interview went really well and I’m scared that I would be passing off on a great opportunity. Would it be rude to ask for an update? If not rude, how do I go about writing that email?

Given that most law students are not KJDs, what did most of you do between undergrad and law school? Are there certain things you would suggest over others?

is there any current student there that can help me with a specific request, we have a visiting professor from your school and unfortunately our registrar don't have his previous exam samples.

Hi guys, I’ve been accepted to most of the law schools I’ve applied to by now, and I’m getting to decision making time! Schools like the Charleston school of law and Barry college of law offered me almost full ride scholarships, but I’ve also been accepted into Tennessee’s law school and Stetson which have much higher rankings but came with much lower scholarship offers. I want to be set up for the most success monetarily possible post graduation, so would you all recommend I go into around 100-150k in debt to go to a T50ish school or get out with almost no debt from a poorly ranked law school.

Good day! We have a problem po kasi, we bought a land. May contract that it is a clean title. We already move in. But recently lang namin nalaman na nakasanla pala hence the reason bat ayaw nila ipakita ang title and keep on delaying it. We are willing to pay but the seller is not cooperating with us. Andami nilang dahilan. What are the remedies po?

I'm a 3L, going into a public interest career, still locking down the details of my post-grad plans.

Law school has been rough. For me, it hasn't been the classes, so much. It's been financial anxiety, the emotional weight of public interest work, and personal life stuff.

Starting to come out the other side, I've learned a lot and gained a lot of strength in the process. I wanted to share my advice to anyone else going through a hard time, and 1Ls in particular:

• Respect the stress. If you're forgetting things, if little tasks feel challenging, if strong emotions are coming up unexpectedly...you might be too stressed. I tend to feel like I need to push through. But stress is a useful tool, that's your body telling you that you need more time and space. Find a way to triage, and let go of things that aren't top priority.
• Know yourself. I've started to realize that my situation and my goals look different than most of my classmates. That has led me to make different academic and career decisions. Other people might not always understand, but I'm really glad I pursued my own interests.
• It's okay to speak up. In the past, I've had a hard time sharing my thoughts when I know others don't want me to. But, I'm learning that it can actually be helpful. It's definitely something to think about thoroughly and approach carefully, but sometimes there's something that needs to be said.
• Look to yourself for validation. You can't control what grade you get, or how the judge rules. But you can make sure that you are proud of your own work. Did you make the points you wanted to make? Are you happy with the work and preparation that you put into it? Did you find a balance between this task and your other priorities?
• Believe in yourself. Because no one else is gonna do it for you.

Please share your own - what has gotten you through tough times in law school?

A theory is that I'm not their most preferred candidate, and the most preferred candidate has not accepted or rejected their offer. Alternatively, the firm is too lazy to send a rejection letter on time. Either way, I feel like my odds aren't great. :(

Edit: They said "a decision will be made and we will get back to you by the end of the week".

I had three electives. All of them are were so kind and wonderful. Like, make you feel warm inside. One of them would give us big speeches about how as a public HBCU we should never be afraid to climb higher, and how he started at a firm as a public HBCU grad at a firm that only hired from private schools and and worked his way up to the highest levels of government. The other one was one of the first black defense attorneys in the rural parts of my state and told us her journey of representing juveniles and going on to lead clinics and influencing all of us to believe ourselves and to help kids. Then I go back to my doctrinal professors and realize I’m back in gooberville and it gives me a migraine

Basically as the question suggests. I'm unsure if the attitude in legal workplaces has changed recently (e.g. trans employees/interns being seen as liabilities, general distrust, etc.) and would like to know if current professionals have noticed any changes lately.

So had almost ten interviews this week and crickets so far on a callback anywhere. Some of these were very large firms in my area and some were very small. Not sure what to do to try and find anything paid and feeling defeated because I struggled with getting positions after interviews massively before and I thought almost all of these interviews went well. If I haven't heard anything, is that a bad sign? What other potentially paid options are available to 1L's?

Just looking for community because I'm so anxious and would appreciate talking to others in the same spot.

2L in an unpaid remote internship/externship for the spring term in the general counsel office at a federal agency (that is based nowhere near where I live). Terrified that any day now Elon or whoever else is gonna shut down remote access and/or they'll be forced to let us all go because of the Return To The Office order.

I'm getting school credit for this, am taking a significantly smaller amount of classes because of it and I'm terrified at how fucked I'm going to be if I'm 'fired' mid semester. Also still scrambling to find something for the summer since everything I was interested in/applying for is now defunct because of the freeze. Tonight was the first time I broke down and cried about it. I feel so helpless.

I really hope this post doesn't come off as insensitive but I ended my first semester 1L with a much better gpa than I expected to. Everyone always talks about how certain firms and stuff don't really care about grades, but .. what are the opportunities out there that I should be applying to with my GPA? I know people say big law heavily considers GPAs but I don't know if big law is right for me.
I'm a first gen law student and I really don't know what I'm doing in this whole process so any advice would really be appreciated. I'm interested in criminal law, appellate law and civil rights litigation.

Has anyone heard back from the NFL about their legal intern position? Application was due in dec but its almost february and its been crickets

I know this might entirely depend on the district or even individual judges, but those who have applied in the past—what did you notice?

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What the title says lol

I don't know if this garners any interest, but I wish I would have learned more about what it is like being an attorney when I was in law school. So, here goes.

A little background on me -

I practice in a small market. I previously worked at mid-size firm (biggest in the area) before moving to a small firm. We focus mostly on commercial litigation and insurance defense type work, but we practice in most areas outside of criminal, family, and bankruptcy.

Cheers!

EDIT: First lesson, proofread your work, so you don't put Fromer instead of Former.

what is your list of things you must have. I'm talking laptop, rolling book bag, specific notebooks, stuff like that, I need to prepare

He has: Political Economy BSc, Kings College London Economics and Developments MSc, University of Oxford

He achieved a 1st class (4.0 GPA) in both of them. He doesn’t really have much law experience but did do an internship for a solicitors firm. He has a 176 LSAT.

I just got an interview offer with a federal judge but the interview time they offered was during one of my classes. I know with federal judges if they offer you a job, you accept it on the spot. I’m wondering if I should accept the time offered and miss my class or if I should ask for a different time?

Hi everyone,

I’m working full time while studying for the July 2025 bar exam. What is the best bar prep to use?

While I procrastinate this essay that's due tonight, why don't other students help answer a burning question I have.

When a Professor assigns a 10 page length essay, as an example, at what point do you consider it a counted page?

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Assume I were to land a 1 year role as a Legal Officer or Judicial Fellow at the ICJ in the Hague. Would that experience have a:

• negative effect
• neutral effect
• possitive effect

on my ability to then go back to North America or Western Europe and except to get a decent job at a big firm? would I be restricted to lateralling to government or PI work?

Current 2L at a T14. Struck out during OCI last year so I unfortunately don't have a biglaw job lined up for this upcoming summer but I really want to lateral into BL later. I recently got two offers for this summer. Which one should I take to maximize my chance of lateraling into BL later? (Also, I am pretty set on not doing a clerkship after grad although I know that a lot of BL firms like that, so pls don't mention it here lol)

Offer 1: In-house legal intern at a very well known firm in the private investment/finance sector.

Offer 2: Legal intern at a regional (but not well known) boutique firm specializing in complex commercial litigation and real estate law.

Both offers have a possibility of a post-grad position as well. I'm asking this on here bc I feel like the work I'll be doing at the boutique firm will probs be more similar to the work that a BL firm does, but I'm wondering if the name value of the company in offer 1 will maybe give me a resume boost. Let me know your thoughts, thanks.

Do you write most things down, or just the key points?

my school has a deadline to apply for summer funding if you have an unpaid summer internship secured. the deadline is coming up next month & in order to apply you have to have accepted the summer offer already.

I really want to work at my local DA’s office but they told me they won’t even start scheduling interviews until after my school’s deadline.

would it be unprofessional to inform them of this deadline and request a sooner interview?