Introduction

Professor Carper’s Pre-law Advice

Introduction

I have no desire to write a tome or repeat advice you can find from many good sources. I am convinced after many years of trial and error what matters most in the advice business is whether someone is ready at a particular time to understand the available information. Timing is everything. Most of us need to hear something several times before it sinks into our brain. For students interested in law school the Internet is a helpful aid because you can return to it anytime you are ready to learn. I wish the Internet had been available when I was considering law school.

What I intend to do on this website is answer a few frequently asked questions; make a few pithy and wise comments, and then send you to other websites where others before me have already addressed important questions. This presentation is informal. The questions come from a hypothetical composite student and I am calling him Ferd Ardmeyer. Ferd and I have been together many years as my former students can attest. My major contribution may be when I say something that differs from conventional wisdom.

Cautions

1. My site is a forum for my opinions and an attempt to provide advice to those that seek it; the official CSUS website is hosted by the government department. It is a good site and I have few quarrels with its content. Neither CSUS, or the College of Business is responsible for my comments, I am. My listing of sites is not an endorsement of a site. I did not and cannot read every word and even if I had site content constantly changes. To use a 60's expression – “hang loose.”

2. I do not revise this website save for once each summer (my so-called free time). So be cautious with any date specific information. Also note that websites are not stable so links may be outdated. Using Internet search tools allows you to find the information you seek on your own.

What about Law as a Life Choice

So you have decided that you want to be a lawyer or more likely you are thinking that "maybe" you want to be lawyer. Or perhaps your medical school application was denied and you need new options to actually going to work. The decision to seek a legal career should not be made in haste or by default. The law can provide a wonderful and fulfilling career if chosen wisely and entered into for sound reasons. If you are after money, it is my opinion that law is not the best choice. I believe that most wealthy and successful lawyers become so in spite of being lawyers. They would have been successful no mater what career they chose.

As an aside lawyer jokes are not new to this century.

"A 1773 census from the county of Grafton New Hampshire “ We have a county of over 3000 square miles, a population of 6549 souls of which 90 are students at Dartmouth College. We have 25 incorporated towns all in a thriving condition including 4 grist mills, 5 Saddler shops, 7 mill wrights, 8 physicians, 17 clergymen and not a single lawyer. For this happy state of affairs we taken no credit unto ourselves but render all glory to god” From the book: “The Conscience of a Lawyer.”

It is very difficult to understand any job or career without having done it. The best one can do is observe, read, and ask questions of those who have made the law a career. Asking questions, particularly good ones are easier than you might think. Most lawyers (this is true for most professionals) enjoy talking about themselves if the questioner is respectful. Give it a try.

In ancient Wales a tradition existed called the sin eater. "A Sin Eater would be attached to a village but would live outside it, as a recluse. He was only brought into the village when a person died, at which time the body was laid out with bread and salt on its chest and coins in its eyes. The bread and salt absorbed the person's sins and the job of the Sin Eater was to eat these items, to take on the person's sins and to absolve him or her. The Sin Eater's payment was to take the coins, whereupon he was hounded out of the village, like a scapegoat." I have always found the "sin eater" an apt description for much of what a lawyer is expected to do. S/he absorbs the legal troubles of his or her client and the service is essential for the community and when the work is done treatment of a lawyer is much like what a "sin eater" might expect. If you are a dainty soul try toxic chemical cleanup instead.

A defendant in Superior Court decided to be his own lawyer, which some say was mistake number one. His second mistake was the first question he asked the victim: "Did you see my face clearly when I took your purse?"

The sentence: Two to ten years.

Sacramento Bee, February 9, 1977

An attorney-at-law (also called a lawyer) is a person authorized by law to represent persons (clients) in legal matters. Parties involved in serious legal matters need skilled attorneys to represent them. If they lack this help the result may be similar to that of the criminal defendant in the above story. Knowing which questions to ask in court is one of the things an attorney is good at doing. Attorneys, however, also draft documents involving legal rights and duties and give expert advice on legal questions. Countless businesses and public organizations routinely look to attorneys for such help.

It has been estimated that more than two-thirds of the adults in the United States will consult attorneys for assistance with personal legal problems. Most of these problems involve the preparation of wills, the purchase or sale of real property, divorce, or serious personal injuries caused by other persons. People also seek legal assistance when dealing with difficulties with governmental agencies and consumer problems (e.g., disputes with landlords or with lenders).

Only licensed attorneys may perform most legal services for clients. A person who provides legal services without a license may be charged with a crime. State statutes provide for the regulation of lawyers and the practice of law. Each state sets its own qualifications for admission to practice law within its borders. To practice in more than one state, an attorney must get a separate license from each state.

To get a license to practice law a person must satisfy four requirements. These requirements are:

1) Possession of good moral character

2) Completion of certain minimum educational requirements. In most states an undergraduate degree from a college and law degree from a law school. It usually takes a minimum of 7 years of college. Most law schools do not require any particular undergraduate degree.

3) Passage of an examination (the bar examination). In many states the examination takes two to three days to complete.

4) Taking an oath to support the law and the rules of professional conduct in the state.

A law license permits an attorney to practice all types of law. In reality most attorneys specialize in one or a few areas. Examples include, divorce law, tax law, criminal law, personal injury law, business law, and consumer law. All attorneys are allowed to represent clients in court. However, most attorneys consider trial work a specialty. A majority of lawyers do not go to court.

Most attorneys make a very good living. However, the type of law practice, the size of the law firm, the nature of the lawyer's specialty, and whether the practice is in a city or the country are among the factors that determine a lawyer's salary. It is not unusual for lawyers in a big city law firm to work more than 60-70 hours a week and be very well paid. Some lawyers representing indigent (needy) clients work the same long hours and make far less money. A surprisingly large number of attorneys practice alone.

Specialties in law practice

Although the license to practice law authorizes an attorney to work in any area of the law, they often specialize. To be knowledgeable and keep current in theory and practice in all the fields of the law is impossible.

Many states (including Texas, New Mexico, Florida, and California) allow specially educated and experienced attorneys to identify and advertise themselves as certified specialists. To do so they must meet the standards of education and experience set by the state bar. In California, for example, specialties now include: criminal law; family law; immigration and nationality law; tax law; workers' compensation law; and probate, estate planning, and trust law.

Below are just a few of the legal specialties available.

"May your life be filled with lawyers."

Mexican curse

Business attorney

Business law practice is a major specialty sometimes called corporate law. These attorneys work with businesses in negotiating contracts, selection of the proper business form, tax problems, raising capital, employment, and other issues. The business attorney is counselor, drafter and negotiator.

Business attorneys seldom go to court. If a problem requires extensive courtroom appearances, the business attorney will associate with a litigation (trial work) specialist. Business attorneys do represent clients in their dealings with governmental agencies. This representation may include appearing before boards or political bodies (i.e., county board of supervisors). Some business attorney's work as company employees and are often called corporate counsel. The American Bar Association has a sub group of attorneys called the Business Law Section.

Criminal defense attorney

Next to the public prosecutor, this is a type of law practice likely to be portrayed in books, movies and television. The criminal defense attorney is a trial attorney providing courtroom defense to individuals accused a crime.

Under the adversary legal system, the state is obligated to prove that a person charged with a crime is guilty. The criminal defense attorney's job is to represent the client vigorously. For example, a criminal law attorney must attempt to persuade a judge and jury to free a client, even though the attorney suspects that the client is guilty. This is considered ethically correct because the lawyer's duty is not to judge that is the duty of a jury or judge and everyone is entitled to all available legal advantages. Even after a client has been convicted, the attorney will argue for probation rather than prison. A criminal defense attorney is ethically bound to support and try to win the client's case.

A defendant has a constitutional right to be represented by a competent attorney at all stages of legal proceedings if accused of a serious crime (i.e., a felony). If a defendant is indigent (unable to afford the services of a private attorney), the court will appoint an attorney, often called a public defender. Contrary to some popularly expressed views, attorneys in public defender roles are generally very competent and zealous advocates for the defense. They are specialists. They handle a heavy caseload, develop vast experience in a short time, spend much time in court and know the judges and court staff. Since they handle many criminal matters, they know the probable results of a plea negotiation or bargain. Often records of losses reflect that they are unable to choose their clients. Public defenders by inclination fight for the underdog.

Criminal defense attorneys spend much of their time negotiating or in trial work. Most are very competitive and aggressive. Among the organizations available for criminal defense lawyers is the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

Labor Lawyer

The labor lawyer represents either employers or unions on issues related to collective bargaining. The may assist in the negotiation of collective bargaining agreements between labor and management. If there are accusations of wrongful labor acts (practices), they will investigate and either bring or defend charges.

When job related complaints (grievances) are made the union attorney will often represent the employee. The company attorney may work on the grievance defense. If job related complaints are brought concerning a breach of the collective bargaining contract, the labor law attorney will represent the parties in administrative agency or court hearings. Some labor lawyers become labor arbitrators after several years of experience. The ABA Section on Labor and Employment Law provides good links to other employment law sites.

Personal injury attorney

Attorneys that represent injured parties who claim the injuries were the fault of another. Automobile collisions, airplane crashes, defective products, unsafe working conditions are but a few of the events that bring lawsuits by personal injury attorneys. Most legal advertising on television is by personal injury attorneys.

Often personal injury attorneys specialize in particular types of cases, such as motorcycle accidents. Many good lawyers become well versed in physiology (study of the human body). They know how injuries occur and the nature of their effect on the lives of the injured.

In personal injury cases, legal services are usually available on a contingent fee basis. The fee (a percentage of the amount recovered) is contingent on the outcome of the case. No fee is paid unless money is won for the client. The client, however, pays court costs.

Personal injury attorneys are litigator's. Although they will usually attempt to settle cases, they must be prepared to go to court. Like criminal defense attorneys a premium is placed on negotiation skills and advocacy skills. A few years ago the California Trial Lawyer's Association changed its name to the Consumer Attorneys of California. They think it sounds better. What do you think?

Public Prosecutor

The public prosecutor may be called a district attorney, attorney general or county prosecutor. His or her role is representing the state in criminal prosecutions brought against criminal defendants.

Unlike some other areas of law the public prosecutor lives in court. When they are not in trial they are working with investigators, negotiating, or attending hearings for arraignments, pleas, or sentencing. The prosecutor has a primary duty to see that justice is carried out, not simply to win a case. For example, a prosecutor is legally and ethical required to notify the defense of any evidence in a criminal case that shows the defendant's innocence. Although defense counsel is not obligated in the same way, she or he may not destroy nor present as true any evidence that is known as false, nor solicit or condone perjury to win a case.

Sports attorney/agent

Not long ago, at least in giant tortoise years, most professional athletes negotiated their own contracts with the team's general manager or owner. The results were not good for the athlete. Now, these athletes are virtually all represented by an agent for contract negotiations. Agents are usually lawyers or business professionals who may also represent the athlete in business dealings, such as advertising and promotions.

A good sport's agent can evaluate the value of the client, based on comparable contracts awarded others. The agent also should consider the needs of the client with respect to deferred compensation (pay over time), injury protection, taxation, education and other contract features. If agreement cannot be reached with the client's team, the agent must decide whether the player should "hold out" and refuse to play until a contract is reached.

Sports agents have suffered from several scandals in recent years. Some agents paid money to excellent collegiate athletes in hopes of getting lucrative representation when the athlete becomes a professional. This arrangement has caused several players to be ineligible for further college competition. Other agents have been criticized for conflict of interest in representing players.

Tax Attorney

Imagine paying someone money to convince a government official that your land (including all the buildings on it) is not worth as much as the government says it is. It may sound crazy, but many people pay tax attorneys to do just that. The more your land is worth, the higher your property tax will be. The tax attorney may appear before the county assessor or other tax official and argue your case. Is the tax attorney ever successful? Certainly, especially when armed with new evidence-like your garage collapsed in the last storm or for us Californians earthquake.

A tax attorney also looks vigilantly for favorable laws (loopholes) to allow a client to reduce or avoid tax payments legitimately. Ethically, this is proper so long as no evasion (violation of tax law) or fraudulent practice (such as forging documents) is involved. Congress often authorizes loopholes or tax shelters to encourage certain types of socially desirable investments. For example, Congress allows interest paid on home mortgages to be deducted from taxable income reducing the income taxes paid by homeowners.

Tax attorneys are highly educated people. Many of them have attended two additional years of tax law school (LLM) after obtaining their regular law degree (JD). All of this helps them to wade through very difficult tax regulations. If you enjoy working with numbers, tax law may be the profession for you. If politicians ever get serious about tax reform (very doubtful) demand for such tax work will be dramatically reduced. The good news for tax lawyers (and bad news for everyone else) is most so-called tax reform legislation creates makes more work for lawyers. Don't blame the lawyers for bad laws any more than you blame the mortician for the death of a loved one.

About Applying to Law School

As in any professional career, law requires preparation but the preparation is general not specific. A good well-rounded student "could" make the decision to go to law school rather late. Note I said could not should. Most law students are competitive including in my experience even those who say they aren't. Application is generally made in the fall of the year in which you receive your baccalaureate degree.

As part of the admissions process you must take the Law School Admissions Test. The test is a service of the Law School Admissions Service and is required by most if not all law schools. It is not a pass or fail test. Instead you get a score that translates into a percentile placing you on a scale with all other applicants. The better your score the more attractive you look relative to other applicants. The test is given several times a year. You can find out when it is given by clicking on the following LSAT date source. You also may have questions about where to apply and checking some of the general pre-law advice websites should help.

Are there too many lawyers?

Of course, in a perfect world we would not need any. Actually we would not need any physicians, police, locksmiths or talk show hosts either. If the question is rooted in concern as to whether there will be sufficient employment after you graduate it is legitimate. It is still, however, hard to answer. I know there are too many basketball players but the best player's should still keep competing. The question you might ask is how good a lawyer you are going to be. If you are just getting by in your other pursuits becoming a lawyer will probably not change that.

What is the appropriate pre-law major?

The good news is there is no answer to this question and that of course is also the bad news. Law schools expect that a student will be able read and understand significant amounts of new material, be able to write with clarity and grammatical correctness, be able to engage in problem analysis and critical thinking, and be capable of independent research.

My advice is simple

· Your major should be challenging. Law schools are good at looking at transcripts and determining whether a student engaged in rigorous study or sought to manipulate GPA by seeking easy courses.

· You should study some topic in depth so you are aware of the important distinction between surface knowledge and the more demanding requirements of in depth knowledge.

· Whatever your major-select electives which allow you to be well rounded as to your knowledge and skills.

· If you expect to have clear and deep interests in some particular area of practice take substantive courses in that area. Law school prepares lawyers not engineers, businesspersons, or computer specialists. Knowledge about a particular practice area may well need to come from life or other college work.

There is excellent information provided on pre-law preparation at the ABA website. I cannot say it better so why try?

What about law courses at undergraduate school?

The general advice from law schools is to avoid such courses. The dilemma for many is how I find out if I will enjoy the study or practice of law without some exposure to it. I guess the compromise answer is to take a sufficient number of law courses to test your interest and then no more. A quote from a former student and teaching assistant who graduated from law school in 1999 may be instructive. “I also find myself building most of my knowledge from a foundation I formed from your class and my later work with Business law students. That tells me that exposure to law in undergraduate classes is a good thing for future law students. Most law schools discourage that, as does the ABA and most pre law programs I have read or learned about. I guess the bottom line is that pre-law programs could help students learn more about the field of law and the subject matter of law and even help them begin to develop analysis and understanding skills that will serve them well in law school and in their careers. “

Books to read about the law

Most pre-law websites make excellent recommendations about which books to read for those interested in law. I will not repeat their efforts but instead occasionally add books that might be on these lists.

· "The Conscience of a Lawyer" by David Mellinkoff. I think this is a great book. It is about real occurrence in England but it is written like a mystery novel and it deals with the most difficult of ethical questions for a lawyer.

· "A Civil Action" by Jonathan Harr. This popular book presents an unusual and difficult situation that reveals many truths about the American Adversary system. The book is far superior to the movie. My overall conclusion is our legal system stinks but to paraphrase Winston Churchill it is better than any other existing system.

The best law schools

Most advisors will tell a student to go to the best law school one can get into. It makes sense- after all prestigious schools lead to prestigious jobs. Unfortunately the most prestigious law school is not necessarily the one that offers the best education. At graduate and professional schools general reputations are built on the quality of faculty and alumni--not on the quality of educational programs. The quality of the faculty is based on their writing, research, prior prestigious law positions, and the schools they graduated from and on and on. Whether these faculty members can teach or even care to teach is not really part of the determination of quality and prestige. The students at the "best schools" need less tender loving care because after all they are bright enough to take care of themselves and they often need to. Students learn to learn from each other and on their own with only general guidance and prodding. Often the best teachers are found at second tier schools as they love “to teach” as much or more than doing research.

There are several lists of the “best law schools” provided to sell magazines or books but these lists seldom can tell you anything but perceptions or numbers. For example, faculty student ratio is generally determined by number of students per faculty member. If there are lots of faculty members but they don’t teach many classes then your class size may be larger at the schools with a low faculty ratio than at a school with a higher student faculty ratio. I assure you anybody with half a brain can spin. I would give examples but would no doubt offend.

So what do you want? Prestige, nurturing, opportunity, special programs, etc.; are among the factors you should consider. The best law school for you may change depending on your needs.

Websites with additional useful information

ABA Approved Law Schools

The complete list of the nationally accredited law schools

This site provides a good starting point for most questions about going to law school.

The Internet Legal Resource Guide

Need money look at information about financial aids?

FindLaw

This is the club for Law School Faculty members

AALS

LSAT preparation courses

Kaplan Educational Centers

Princeton Review