Modern police department accepting DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE hand me downs are up up-armoring& upweaponing all over the place. You do have to be on a "special team"(SWAT, etc...). Beat cops don't get the good stuff, though.
For some of us, the absurd overweighting of LSAT is a tremendous benefit and can practically give you a clean slate, provided you score high enough. I literally failed UG classes and managed to get into a top 6 law school. Key was several months of practice LSATs.
Yep. I had terrible high school and undergraduate records but got in to a great undergrad program on the strength of a 1600 SAT (also an IQ test) and then in to a master's program on the strength of a GRE 169/161, and then in to a good law school on the strength of decent performance in my master's program and a 179 LSAT. All of them are IQ tests which are rather heavily g-loaded (to greater and lesser degrees) and all will make up having nothing but test scores in your favor. IQ really is everything.
Isaac MacDonald Same! I actually didn’t really do much LSAT prep, but that was only because I had always done those Logic Puzzles you get in books. They were great prep. But yep, my grades sucked, the LSAT was my ticket.
I got good grades and aced the law school entrance exam. During the interview the Asst. Dean asked me why I wanted to be a lawyer and I replied "I want to be different from the rest of my family who are into engineering and medical fields." He then told me: "You want to be different? Well, you can become acrobat instead."
@@MilA-eh3gf I still got admitted to the law school. My friends, who were also being interviewed for admission with me, were trying their best not to laugh out loud. :D
@@PolishedProfessionals I eventually became a lawyer. Though while in law school I did some fire dancing and blew fire in front of the dean and the faculty. Sadly, I got cold called all the time. They always say, "You're the guy who eats fire, right?"
@A. Meowzki one out of nine is not a achievement, if the child came out to be successful then I think it was all the child's effort.no half ass dad would have any affect on kids.
I have several friends who double majored in Theatre and poli sci and then went onto Law school and are literally kicking ass as lawyers. I DO think theatre classes in performance greatly improve many qualities that benefit a career in law. Being able to present yourself and perform matters and theatre is great at instilling that.
@@maryhalverson5713 - It’s a widespread myth that lawyers actually lie. What we do is to emphasize truths that make our case/client look better over others that make them look bad. Telling outright lies will get us disbarred.
@@AllYourBaseRBelong2Us - I feel like that's a really reductive way of looking at practicing law. Why would the goal not be justice? Don't we all win when justice prevails? And if you want to achieve justice, you have to be able to approach it objectively and with sound reasoning. Law involves more than just logic, but logic is definitely at play in structuring a sound and persuasive argument. Even if your goal was only to win, you need logic to help disprove fallacious arguments from your opponent and to structure relevant arguments and counterpoints for yourself. If no one in the room is fluent in logic, you can get by without it, but if one lawyer is well versed in logic while the other isn't, the one with logic on their side can potentially use that logic to eviscerated their opponents arguments.
@johnson Philosophy also encompasses rhetoric. You can't put together good twists of logic (or cut down the illogic of opposing counsel) without understanding logic, and for most fields of law a good grasp of how all the ststutory and case law interacts is quite important. It seems you're thinking of trial law or even CD more specifically
my business law class definitely cemented my love for law. i'm currently working as a legal assistant for my aunt and learning how to draft, ask questions, and file, even sitting in on court hearings. honestly i've enjoyed everything about it! i've even been able to utilise some of my training for my main job as a board member :D
Bruh... You always inspire me to study way harder than I do right now. That determination and passion for your degree is something I lost somewhere along the way. But everytime you talk about how you climbed your way to be an excellent lawyer, it simply moves something in me. Thanks man. Keep doing as you do
@@arcisvar4863 You seem to know an awful lot about what the Stanford study partner does for a living and how he defines success, and what "equally successful" means in this case, and....oh, never mind.
Armando Angeles that’s alright just would say don’t let it distract you from your current stuff... I know some that made that mistake. Would wait until junior year tbh like he said in the video he started in his last semester of college. And sometimes we forget the LSAT is just one test... sure it’s one huge test but you don’t need years to study for one test. Months is good but yeah you got this. 🙌
Armando Angeles not really necessary, just focus on getting a good GPA as an undergrad for now (this also matters a lot, it’s not just LSAT score btw) and then start studying nearer the end since your score won’t improve much more from studying 2 years early anyways
I really appreciate your honesty and straightforwardness. A lot of the videos I see on here are all very intimidating but it was very refreshing to see a practicing attorney seem very upbeat. Thanks for the insight and keep up the good content!
Great video. I take breaks from studying for my USMLE (United States Medical Licensing Exam) to watch your videos. I find it very inspiring and motivational to hear other people's hard work and success stories. Even if it's in other fields! :D Big fan and subscriber from Saudi Arabia!
I just got into UCLA off the waitlist literally two days ago and I'll be starting in two weeks! It's been a little bit of a shock getting everything ready for school when the rest of the class got months, but I'm so excited to start my future as a Bruin🤟
I also took a break from studying for the LSAT to watch this! I like you, just graduated UCLA undergrad, and I have the same exact mentality and desires that you explained that you had! Taking the Lsat in September!
Im in my final semester of my accounting degree and even though i love what im doing, BLaw was definitely one of my favourite courses as well. this video brought back good memories
"Get Into Law School: The Applicant's Guide" (book) helped me when I was applying to law school. Only $5 on Amazon and it told me what to do to get into the best law school possible for me. Best of Luck!
I have a degree in Computer Science & Mathematics. Some of the LSAT questions remind me of the logic courses I took. Some of them can even be answered using a truth table.
I graduated from law school. I worked at the Attorney General's Office for three months, and I can tell you the bar exam has nothing to do with the practice of law.
@@justinsimon154 its all about remedial law, the part of law where you will enforce your rights through the judicial system. Black letter law is nothing, anybody can read and understand it, but not all can understand the process on how to enforce once right in court.
Interesting side note regarding the LA Law hiring observations: Graduates from prestigious schools - well, essentially most lawyers starting out - will be hired at a standardized base salary, and in this example the salary was stated between $160k-190k, but these new attorneys are expected to worked consistently over 80 hours a week as well as expect to be on-call at the whim of established attorneys working cases. Don't expect to live anything resembling a normal life for many years and make sure you're prepared for high stress burnout. Lots of hard, difficult work lay ahead.
Sounds just like investment banking. I'm pretty sure if you want to be in the 'top' of any field you can expect to work a lot of hours under immense stress
That’s why a lot of lawyers leave big law at the two-year mark, when they have a decent amount of experience and (hopefully) managed to save some money/ knock out a good chunk of debt. I read somewhere that by year five, about 80 percent of associates in big law are gone-I’m not sure the accuracy of the statistic, but it wouldn’t be surprising.
I am a Venezuelan Lawyer, soon I will be taking an International Maritime Law LLM on UK and I found this video quite useful. Thank you very much for it. (sorry for any grammar mistake)
I totally agree! I did a video on this. I think people have misconception about what the right major should be. I think it can be a lot of things! Great comment!
@@OhHayFrands That's not logic. In philosophy, logic is a pseudo-mathematical field where you study things like what it means for a statement to be "if-then," prove logical equivalences (De Morgan's laws, contrapositives, etc), and a lot of times work with set theory.
I relate to your childhood dream Sir, i myself wanted to be a lawyer at very young age and my first debate was actually to convince my parents no matter the odds that i wanted to be a lawyer and thank God it took me a year to see my dreams through and i have enrolled in a university in Cyprus and I'm doing my LLB undergraduate
Amazing video! I’m currently a senior in college and have thought about taking the LSAT. I’m currently on my way to be a history teacher however it’s 50/50 now, and the tips for the LSAT will definitely help
I’m not even going to law school, have no interest in law school, and I’m watching this video 😂 that’s a compliment! It means that I enjoy your videos so much that I want to watch a video that will do nothing to help me in my future academic endeavors. (Although just knowing something for the sake of knowing it is cool too, it makes me a better human being to understand others). You’re awesome and keep it up!
When I went to university, my goal was to major in poli-sci and minor in law, but about halfway through the semester I realized that the law classes were not only more interesting, but more useful. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the money to continue my degree and had to drop out.
I never took a prep class for a standardized test. Too poor and stingy. I bought a prep book (for both the ACT and GRE) and went through each question in the book. Yes, the whole thing. When I took the actual tests, there were questions I was able to skip because I ready knew the answer from having solved that question before. I scored in the 90+ percentile in the ACT except in English (had just learned, emigrant) and for the GRE I scored 80 & 96% on Math and Verbal. Good enough to get into my program. Diligent study, kids, that's where it's at.
Relatable. I studied only from Khan Academy for my SAT last year (after my sophomore year in high school in India), and scored a 1580 out of 1600. Keep your brain sharp and minds open kids, push yourself cause no one else can motivate you like yourselves!
"Get Into Law School: The Applicant's Guide" (book) helped me when I was applying to law school. Only $5 on Amazon and it told me what to do to get into the best law school possible for me. Best of Luck!
I got a 160 on the LSAT with almost no study at all. I just took one pactice test. Thank god I didn't waste a whole summer just to get a mid-160s. I'm currently doing just fine as a litigator.
We bought our son a LSAT test prep book (at Barnes & Noble), which included free access to the publisher's website, with additional practice tests online. He had a single room in a private dorm at UIUC (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), and had plenty of quiet time to study as an undergrad, so he did pretty well on his LSATs (haven't memorized the score, though), and was offered admission to all 3 Illinois law schools outside Chicago (UIUC, SIU-Carbondale, and NIU-DeKalb). UIUC offered our son a partial tuition scholarship, but SIU offered him a full-tuition scholarship (plus, he was getting tired of UIUC). He graduated from SIU in 2017, took BarBri over the summer to prep for the bar exam, and was admitted to the state and federal bars that fall. He's been a partner in his dad's law firm ever since. (So at least he was spared job-hunting!)
This man is clearly special. He really makes me listen. I would like to give him some advice now, don't let your increasing talents that are increasingly noticed, get to your head. Keep real
Wow, what a coincidence...my path to law school was extremely similar to D. James Stone. I also majored in poli sci at UCLA, graduating summa cum laude, and then took a TestMasters course. I was waitlisted at UCLA Law but was accepted around late spring -- probably because I was an "Early Decision Program" applicant, meaning the admissions office prioritized my application and, in return, I was contractually committed to UCLA Law if accepted. (For reference, my LSAC GPA was a 3.95 and my LSAT score was a mediocre 163). It seems like a large chunk of UCLA Law students are "Double Bruins" (i.e. attended UCLA for undergrad), which is cool. I hope my litigation career eventually flourishes like D. James Stone's...as of now, I'm in bar exam limbo, waiting for results :(
What a great story! Summa how very impressive. You passed the bar and that's more important than the lsat. You are also very successful, so don't be reminded by a test in the past. Move on forward and make your future brighter. Thanks for the inspiration. You got this!
I was an economics major in undergrad, in a school that had/has one of the top 3 business schools in the country ... and I was losing interest until one of my electives was "Law and Antitrust" = the purest crossover of business and law. And it was the first time I was EXCITED about my major. So I took another elective, "Philosophy of Law" ... and I learned how my own mind worked. This was all bizarre because not only was I artist, but I also was a DJ for frats, organizations and on the college radio station. I was the most uptight artist you could run into. But, LAW ... those two classes made me realize my calling. And when I found out there were lawyers who SPECIALIZED in entertainment, well ... my life course was charted. It went a little off track after that because ... LIFE. But ... Intellectual Property, music, graphic art ... I used my law degree to work in or help people in all those areas and I found career happiness ... and no one jumping over a counsel table to choke me out. So ... there is THAT wonderful silver lining ...
While you were talking about mock trial, I was trying to figure out where you went for undergrad, and then 2 championships and the coach, that had to be Gonzalo right? A Bruin was the only answer haha
Objection: a paralegal degree from a community college will teach you essentially everything you learn in the first year of law school, plus you can work in a firm earning yourself some great experience!
Obviously, but you could also say that a paralegal who spent a few years working in a specialized field of law will know more about that particular area than a recent graduate ( because you learn the actual practice instead of hypothetical theory). And so if you already know what area of law you want to practice in working as a paralegal in that field can certainty give you a comparative advantage over your peers. Furthermore, don't quote me on this, but if you work as a paralegal for x amount of years you can become eligible to take the bar exam.
Excellent point! I have a paralegal degree and it gives you a fundamental understanding of what you'd learn in law school. Of course, you will go much more in-depth and paralegals are not lawyers, but going into law school with a great grasp on the different types of law and how to do briefs, legal research, arguments, etc. will do nothing but help you and put you ahead of your peers.
Paralegal degree (2yrs) then complete a bachelors (2 more years) in legal studies should be a great plan. Then of to law school and by then you should have at least 3 years experience in the field. Seems like a great plan to me.
Hahahaha just found your videos today, but I can already tell that I will spend A LOT of time on this channel. I just graduated from a college program for Policing, initially signed up because of a transfer program to a local University for Political Science. This entire time my ambition has been to eventually go to Law School. Thanks for the insight from your experience. Personally, I expect each post-secondary program to be its own beast. I loved that in my policing program we dealt a lot with family law, the courts, and even had a chance to host a legal aide and Crown attorney (I'm in Canada, ambition is to practice law in America). Also, understanding police powers as developed through case law, loved reading through the arguments and decisions.
My son is starting law school in a few weeks sent him your link. He is going to University of Oregon school of law. We just road tripped out there, spent the week seeing the country. Should be interesting him being so conservative living in Eugene, Oregon. Thanks for what you are doing, keep it up.
Nah. LA is pretty awesome. I went to UCLA. Got accepted to all the Ivy Leagues for my doctorate. I also got accepted to the number one school in my discipline, UC Berkeley. Still chose UCLA. Los Angeles is just another level of great. I followed the same strategy as the guy in the video: I applied to all the top twenty but reserved applications so that 7 additional slots kept me in the Southland. It's just an amazing city. BTW: your personal reasons can be because you love to surf, the chicks are hot, the dudes are fine, the cars are nice, the food is amazing, the skiing is off the charts, your parents are elderly and in need of care.
You go into debt. Aside from a select few and those of us born with silver spoons, most of us have to go into deep debt in our late teens and early 20s, then pay it off during our professional lives. That being said, pick a professional life that will pay off that debt or perish under the weight of it.
@@filipferencak2717 Quick note: American citizens outside the US are expected to pay American income tax on their earnings as well as tax to the host country. Unless you're really well paid, the burden can be crushing.
Question 1- How would you rate your satisfaction level working in big law? Something that I come across in articles and blogs is practicing attorney's speaking negatively about their work environments and levels of joy. Question 2- Would you take a private practice job would a good salary over a low salaried government job that offers debt forgiveness? I know this channel tyipically addresses matters that are specific to school. You give great advise on this channel and I wanted to hear your opinion on some post graduation issue's.
Those are great questions. I'd rate my satisfaction as 6-9 out of 10. Would depend on the day. Most often 8/10. I would take the private practice job every time. Debt forgiveness locks you in to one (low paying job) and only pays off if 1) the debt forgiveness program is still around and 2) you stick with that job for a long time (usually 10 years). Much better to have a medium to high paying job, live frugally, and pay off your debts the old fashioned way.
Thank you, these have been areas of concern for me. I'm leaving law enforcement to pursue a longtime dream of being an attorney. The last thing I want to do, is go back into government service again. Thank you for your help!
Hi, great video! I have a couple of questions: 1. What tactics did you use to get in off the waitlist at UCLA? I read that it's not good to pester admissions offices with frequent calls/emails and to spread out communications to no more than once every three weeks. I am currently waitlisted at three different law schools, and I don't want to go to any of the schools I actually got into. I've sent one LOCI each to the three schools, but I'm worried that if I haven't been given an offer by now, I'm probably not going to get off of these waitlists. :( 2. Do you remember what day and month you were given the offer from UCLA? Was it in July? August? Thanks!
My understanding is it's just that a list. You have to wait til your number comes up unless you can make a compelling case that you are a special case in need of an exception. Most wait lists don't start to move til the start of the school year, few people take the time to provide a courtesy call to schools they were accepted to but won't be attending. Therefore it isn't til they have not provided confirmation that the schools find out how many openings they have and open up the wait lists. Many on the wait lists will have made other plans not wanting to take a chance of sitting out a semester so what seems like a longshot may come through. A better tactic would be to contact the law department, explain your situation, your desire to attend their specific school, and ask how you could best prep yourself to transfer in after a semester or two at one of the schools you did get accepted to. ie limit yourself to classes you know will transfer and allow you keep a high GPA. I've known people who couldn't outright afford an Ivy League or elite private school and waited til the last semester to transfer just so the sheepskin would have a prestigious name. This is why schools require you have a minimum number of credits at their institution.
Hey James, I have a question about mock trials. I am not from the US and I know only basic things about law and judicial system in America but I know that every state has different laws and rules for lawyers. I was wondering how mock trials are conducted if you are studying law in California and competition is held in Vegas with Nevadan judge. I'm not sure if it's just in my brain but I feel like going from Californian law to Nevadan judge is like going from German law to French judge. Please correct me if I'm wrong and I would really appreciate the answer. Sorry for any language mistakes, I'm not native English speaker.
Hey! I did mock trial in high school, and while we didn't cross state lines for competitions then, it's not that different from national college mock trial in terms of rules/set up and what not and I have a bit of experience with college mock trial, although my university doesn't have a team. First of all, it is a /Mock/ Trial, emphasis on mock. So you actually don't really use "real" law. Instead, the governing body of the league has their own established rules of evidence and criminal/civil legal codes and whatnot. These are based on real US law and are essentially the same as you might find in any given state, they're just a slightly simplified version (ie there are some short cuts in evidence so that competitions run a bit quicker that real trials might) and provide a standard legal code for everyone to go on. So if you're from CA competing at a NV tournament in front of a Nevada judge, everyone is still on the same page because everyone is using the league's rules of evidence and legal codes/statutes instead of their respective states. Most states have very very very similar legal codes and rules of evidence (with the exception of special places like Lousianna) but naming/numbering conventions can differ, so thats where standardization plays the biggest role.
I disagree with the idea that no major really helps. Philosophy is an immense help to springboarding people into thinking like a lawyer. In philosophy, there are entire subfields that directly relate to logical reasoning and critical analysis, two required skills to succeed at being a lawyer. Understanding formal fallacies helps build a clarity of thought which is a prerequisite to successfully thinking like a lawyer. My time studying logic, or at least using formal logic rules of inference in building/critiquing arguments, helped immeasurably with the LSAT as well. Additionally, as a philosophy major, you do an incredible amount of reading and writing - honing yet again required skills to be successful in both law school and as a lawyer. Philosophy actually requires that you are able to succinctly and clearly write out your argument without including extraneous information. The best philosophers write like technical writers. Philosophy also demands that you be able to extract arguments written in not-always-easy-to-digest forms. That is, you're able to find and pull out exactly what the person is saying and which premises support their argument. I hold a paralegal degree and a BA in philosophy with an emphasis in morality, law, and politics. For my paralegal degree I took 'law school lite' classes that included legal writing, legal research, contracts, property law, evidence, and other topics where 'thinking like a lawyer' got you a solid grade. I was able to see both sides, where 'thinking like a lawyer' bridges the gap with the mental skills I gained during my time as a philosophy undergrad. So yes, it's possible to get into law school with any undergrad degree, but to say that none of them help you prepare for or through law school is an incorrect assertion. edit: speaking of clearly expressing ideas, YT won't let me format my comment into easier-to-read sections. :(
Very informative, thanks for the upload. Can you please suggest a book that general public can read to have some basic idea about LAW, PROCESSES AND GOVERNANCE. I found one( Street law : a course in practical law) which I found very simple to read and very interesting. Any other? Thanks...
I'm a life-long L&O fan, though I detest SVU. Not only is it boring and repetitive, but I hate the back stories and side plots of its detectives. I did love Criminal Intent, though. Goren was based off of Sherlock Holmes except with a psychology bent rather than relying strictly on physical evidence. L&O: CI, however, gives little to no time to the lawyers except in a handful of episodes that actually make it to court. And, in typical L&O fashion, those episodes had their own problems. Off the top of my head: "In the Wee Small Hours" part 2 consists mainly of courtroom drama where it turns out a judge had sex with a drugged-up minor they think he killed, and he gets caught up in his testimony. I believe it's in season 6 somewhere but I'd have to look it up. "The Good Doctor" (season 1, I'm sure of it) features the trial of a plastic surgeon who possibly murdered and dismembered his wife. Detective Goren gets on the stand and gives testimony that poisons the jury, which was purposely done to get the doctor to testify (he hadn't planned to) in order to rebut the accusations. The actions probably would have resulted in a mistrial and contempt for more than one person (I'm assuming). "Shrink Wrapped" has very little courtroom interaction, but it does have a psychologist and a psychiatrist who are wrapped up in a murder, the latter of whom gets her friends to commit the former to an institution in order to present an insanity defense. She also gets her friends to dummy up documents saying he'd been behaving erratically for months. It'd be interesting to hear your take on expert witnesses and this kind of thing, which I find preposterous. I believe there were roughly 200 episodes and I can only think of 3 with significant courtroom involvement. Eek.
Hi Legal Eagle, I've been interested in law since undergrad, but I decided to go a different route for my masters and entered the work force before deciding on going to law school. This may be a small question with regards to all the age questions you get but I will be 27 or 28 when I enter law school. Will that preclude me from any big law careers (at least during my first few years while I gain experience practicing law). I really appreciate your input!
Nope. What matters is the ranking of your law school and your GPA, mainly. Several 30-something year olds from my law school (UCLA Law) went into big law, including top big law firms like Latham & Watkins.
he is the most lawyer looking lawyer I've ever seen
Exactly. He got into a top law school by his appearance. Being a privileged white male goes a long way.
@@xstatic-ow5mz ... Dude. Dont.
THE PROLETARIAT this is so true 😅😂
THE PROLETARIAT I think you dropped your clown licence pal
THE PROLETARIAT stfu
I really wanted to be an architect, but turns out they aren’t allowed to carry machine guns either.
I always wanted to pretend to be an architect
Hmm, so i guess lawyers are allowed to have machine guns..
@@rishabhmahajan6607 It's a secret they take to the grave...
Modern police department accepting DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE hand me downs are up up-armoring& upweaponing all over the place. You do have to be on a "special team"(SWAT, etc...). Beat cops don't get the good stuff, though.
I wanted to be an architect, but it turns out I'm not allowed to be absolutely terrible at many necessary forms of math...
I have an idea for a video. You could explain the different types of lawyers and their pros and cons.
Not a bad idea...
I second this
3rd this
OBJECTION!!! ..... Couldn't help myself I just came from LegalEagle's Ace Attorney video. =P Great stuff man thanks for the uploads.
LegalEagle this would be great
For some of us, the absurd overweighting of LSAT is a tremendous benefit and can practically give you a clean slate, provided you score high enough. I literally failed UG classes and managed to get into a top 6 law school. Key was several months of practice LSATs.
Yep. I had terrible high school and undergraduate records but got in to a great undergrad program on the strength of a 1600 SAT (also an IQ test) and then in to a master's program on the strength of a GRE 169/161, and then in to a good law school on the strength of decent performance in my master's program and a 179 LSAT.
All of them are IQ tests which are rather heavily g-loaded (to greater and lesser degrees) and all will make up having nothing but test scores in your favor. IQ really is everything.
Excellent [Mr. Burns voice]
Great points.
Isaac MacDonald Same! I actually didn’t really do much LSAT prep, but that was only because I had always done those Logic Puzzles you get in books. They were great prep. But yep, my grades sucked, the LSAT was my ticket.
true. I failed 2-3 classes in college...did decent on the LSAT (like 20th Percentile) and got into a top 20 school with a small scholarship.
I got good grades and aced the law school entrance exam. During the interview the Asst. Dean asked me why I wanted to be a lawyer and I replied "I want to be different from the rest of my family who are into engineering and medical fields." He then told me: "You want to be different? Well, you can become acrobat instead."
Wow I can't believe you answered with that and can't believe the examiner responded with that... Did you get in somewhere or will try again next year?
@@MilA-eh3gf I still got admitted to the law school. My friends, who were also being interviewed for admission with me, were trying their best not to laugh out loud. :D
@@mirasga Hahaha I would have been holding my laughter too! Well done and congrats to you!
Did you do acrobats or law???? too funny! And who says you cannot be an acrobatic lawyer?? I am a dancing lawyer....
@@PolishedProfessionals I eventually became a lawyer. Though while in law school I did some fire dancing and blew fire in front of the dean and the faculty.
Sadly, I got cold called all the time. They always say, "You're the guy who eats fire, right?"
Shoutout to Loyola. They have night law classes and are the main reason I am getting a law degree while being a father with a a full time job
Bro.. being a lawyer requires time. A lot of time. Good luck having a life with your kids.
Best of luck to you!
One out of nine. LOL!
@A. Meowzki one out of nine is not a achievement, if the child came out to be successful then I think it was all the child's effort.no half ass dad would have any affect on kids.
Congrats being a 👨
I love how he implies lawyers are allowed to carry machine guns
If you register as a corporation you can buy some guns that individuals cant.... not machine guns but hes not entirely wrong😂😂😂
He implied that he is violent.
I have several friends who double majored in Theatre and poli sci and then went onto Law school and are literally kicking ass as lawyers. I DO think theatre classes in performance greatly improve many qualities that benefit a career in law. Being able to present yourself and perform matters and theatre is great at instilling that.
Lawyers have to be trained to convincingly lie to others, as well as themselves.
My boss who is a law professor was also a theater major and poli sci.
@@lhia0416 - La-de-da.
Learning to lie and put on an act is nothing to crow about.
There’s definitely a big element of showmanship to being a litigator.
@@maryhalverson5713 - It’s a widespread myth that lawyers actually lie. What we do is to emphasize truths that make our case/client look better over others that make them look bad. Telling outright lies will get us disbarred.
Philosophy with an emphasis on logic is probably the best and most helpful degree for law school
I second this as a philosophy grad.
I don't see how logic is really that helpful in lawyering. The object isn't to gravitate towards reason, the object is to win.
@@AllYourBaseRBelong2Us - I feel like that's a really reductive way of looking at practicing law. Why would the goal not be justice? Don't we all win when justice prevails? And if you want to achieve justice, you have to be able to approach it objectively and with sound reasoning. Law involves more than just logic, but logic is definitely at play in structuring a sound and persuasive argument. Even if your goal was only to win, you need logic to help disprove fallacious arguments from your opponent and to structure relevant arguments and counterpoints for yourself. If no one in the room is fluent in logic, you can get by without it, but if one lawyer is well versed in logic while the other isn't, the one with logic on their side can potentially use that logic to eviscerated their opponents arguments.
From a big picture, i think you are right....but I was approaching it from the point of a cynic looking for advantage. :)
@johnson
Philosophy also encompasses rhetoric. You can't put together good twists of logic (or cut down the illogic of opposing counsel) without understanding logic, and for most fields of law a good grasp of how all the ststutory and case law interacts is quite important. It seems you're thinking of trial law or even CD more specifically
my business law class definitely cemented my love for law. i'm currently working as a legal assistant for my aunt and learning how to draft, ask questions, and file, even sitting in on court hearings. honestly i've enjoyed everything about it! i've even been able to utilise some of my training for my main job as a board member :D
That great that you have 1st hand experience seeing what it is like!
Bruh... You always inspire me to study way harder than I do right now.
That determination and passion for your degree is something I lost somewhere along the way. But everytime you talk about how you climbed your way to be an excellent lawyer, it simply moves something in me.
Thanks man. Keep doing as you do
Took a break in LSAT study to watch!! Love your videos. LSAT test day Sept 8th.
GET BACK TO WORK. (and good luck!)
Right on both counts. Sorry, it's been almost 15 years since I took the LSAT...thank god.
Good luck!!!
good luck!!!
best of luck this Saturday! I believe in you!
The half hearted dead laughter when he said his study partner went to stanford (11:24)
It doesn't matter tho, just the cost of attending, they are equally successful and he is even more successful being famous and all.
@@arcisvar4863 You seem to know an awful lot about what the Stanford study partner does for a living and how he defines success, and what "equally successful" means in this case, and....oh, never mind.
After watching a few of your videos you've convinced me to start preparing for the LSAT on my 2nd year of college. Thank you.
Armando Angeles don’t let it distract you from your classes though! You have plenty of time!
Armando Angeles that’s alright just would say don’t let it distract you from your current stuff... I know some that made that mistake. Would wait until junior year tbh like he said in the video he started in his last semester of college. And sometimes we forget the LSAT is just one test... sure it’s one huge test but you don’t need years to study for one test. Months is good but yeah you got this. 🙌
Armando Angeles not really necessary, just focus on getting a good GPA as an undergrad for now (this also matters a lot, it’s not just LSAT score btw) and then start studying nearer the end since your score won’t improve much more from studying 2 years early anyways
Now I'm motivated to study for the LSAT in a high school summer (even though I haven't even taken the SAT yet).
D. your life is so interesting I wish I had your drive. It goes to show if you want to be successful you have work super hard.
He got in by getting straight A's, winning national mock trial twice in a row, slaying a dragon, and taking a lot of LSAT practice
I really appreciate your honesty and straightforwardness. A lot of the videos I see on here are all very intimidating but it was very refreshing to see a practicing attorney seem very upbeat. Thanks for the insight and keep up the good content!
BTW, the LSAT is scored between 120-180, not 0-180.
Ya, that's right. Sorry, it's been 15 years since I had to take the LSAT.
How the fuck does that make sense
writing your name gives you 120, hahaha, just kidding, no clue.
John R Watters II that comment really made me laugh. Thanks man!
@@Klaus99999 No problem 👍
Great video. I take breaks from studying for my USMLE (United States Medical Licensing Exam) to watch your videos. I find it very inspiring and motivational to hear other people's hard work and success stories. Even if it's in other fields! :D
Big fan and subscriber from Saudi Arabia!
How did your usmle go?
I just got into UCLA off the waitlist literally two days ago and I'll be starting in two weeks! It's been a little bit of a shock getting everything ready for school when the rest of the class got months, but I'm so excited to start my future as a Bruin🤟
Boom! Go Bruins!
Ayyyyyeeeeeeee a fellow Bruin!
Hope you are having fun with that college debt
How many months did you study for your lsat?
I also took a break from studying for the LSAT to watch this! I like you, just graduated UCLA undergrad, and I have the same exact mentality and desires that you explained that you had! Taking the Lsat in September!
Nice. Go Bruins!
This has been very helpful to me. I don't want to abandon my dreams.
Im in my final semester of my accounting degree and even though i love what im doing, BLaw was definitely one of my favourite courses as well. this video brought back good memories
"Get Into Law School: The Applicant's Guide" (book) helped me when I was applying to law school. Only $5 on Amazon and it told me what to do to get into the best law school possible for me. Best of Luck!
Taking Blaw right now for My accounting degree and it’s interesting
since im not a lawyer and dont want to go to law school, im here because the thumbnail literally made me laugh out loud.... legally brunette 🤣
"Son, that argument was so persuasive, it looks like we won't even need to put you through law school."
Law & Order is STILL my show. Your videos are helping me prep during my LSAT and thinking about law school (:
I have a degree in Computer Science & Mathematics. Some of the LSAT questions remind me of the logic courses I took. Some of them can even be answered using a truth table.
Majored in statistics, and now thinking of going into law school, andand yes a lot of the logic is similar
You will do awesome. I went back after my law degree to get my MBA and I wish I would have had statistics first! @@kronus4915
you are totally right. I wish I would have had more math before law school
did you major in cs and minored math or was it a double major
sw0rdz true , some circuit design logic , but the LSAT is more in-depth , and the the language is more sophisticated material.
I graduated from law school. I worked at the Attorney General's Office for three months, and I can tell you the bar exam has nothing to do with the practice of law.
damien Smith cafe to explain?
@@justinsimon154 its all about remedial law, the part of law where you will enforce your rights through the judicial system.
Black letter law is nothing, anybody can read and understand it, but not all can understand the process on how to enforce once right in court.
I mostly agree. I did learn some useful stuff about wills and family law studying for my state's bar exam though.
.
Interesting side note regarding the LA Law hiring observations: Graduates from prestigious schools - well, essentially most lawyers starting out - will be hired at a standardized base salary, and in this example the salary was stated between $160k-190k, but these new attorneys are expected to worked consistently over 80 hours a week as well as expect to be on-call at the whim of established attorneys working cases.
Don't expect to live anything resembling a normal life for many years and make sure you're prepared for high stress burnout. Lots of hard, difficult work lay ahead.
Sounds just like investment banking. I'm pretty sure if you want to be in the 'top' of any field you can expect to work a lot of hours under immense stress
That’s why a lot of lawyers leave big law at the two-year mark, when they have a decent amount of experience and (hopefully) managed to save some money/ knock out a good chunk of debt. I read somewhere that by year five, about 80 percent of associates in big law are gone-I’m not sure the accuracy of the statistic, but it wouldn’t be surprising.
I am a Venezuelan Lawyer, soon I will be taking an International Maritime Law LLM on UK and I found this video quite useful. Thank you very much for it. (sorry for any grammar mistake)
Juan Enmanuel Abud Gonzalez very cool!
Is Venezuela's law system common or civil law?
@@refeeance Civil Law
OBJECTION! A philosphy major will greatly help you with the path of becoming a lawyer. I took like 3 logic classes alone!
Agreed, taking Logic has helped me understanding LR so much better.
I totally agree! I did a video on this. I think people have misconception about what the right major should be. I think it can be a lot of things! Great comment!
No. Philosophy’s version of logic is fully idiotic. Just look at the idiots that spent 20 years trying to logically explain the existence of a God.
@@OhHayFrands Not really what logic classes are about these days.
@@OhHayFrands That's not logic. In philosophy, logic is a pseudo-mathematical field where you study things like what it means for a statement to be "if-then," prove logical equivalences (De Morgan's laws, contrapositives, etc), and a lot of times work with set theory.
thank you for this video. its a good reminder that hardwork and diligence pay off on the long run
This is just the motivation and information I need, thanks man, thanks
I relate to your childhood dream Sir, i myself wanted to be a lawyer at very young age and my first debate was actually to convince my parents no matter the odds that i wanted to be a lawyer and thank God it took me a year to see my dreams through and i have enrolled in a university in Cyprus and I'm doing my LLB undergraduate
Nigel Madzima I’m aspiring to do the same! Thank you for showing it is indeed possible.
it is indeed possible you just have to put in work
"Police men aren't allowed to carry machine guns"
/laughs in 2019
/cries in 2019
Oh 2019.... you poor innocent child...
@@DirtyJerseyProductions I was about to say. That poor, poor country.
@@razorcola5434 they do have an insane amount of weaponry tho... police rolling up in straight up tanks
@@idontneedaname318 APCs aren’t Tanks, boyo
Did my undergrad at UCLA, hopefully I get into UCLA's school of law
Did you get in?
Did you get in?
Did you get in?
No
Amazing video! I’m currently a senior in college and have thought about taking the LSAT. I’m currently on my way to be a history teacher however it’s 50/50 now, and the tips for the LSAT will definitely help
You look like a model for just for men
What???
😂😂😂 I can't with the internet...you aren't wrong though.
lol that was funny
Wtf
I can't tell if this is a compliment or insult
I’m not even going to law school, have no interest in law school, and I’m watching this video 😂 that’s a compliment! It means that I enjoy your videos so much that I want to watch a video that will do nothing to help me in my future academic endeavors. (Although just knowing something for the sake of knowing it is cool too, it makes me a better human being to understand others). You’re awesome and keep it up!
When I went to university, my goal was to major in poli-sci and minor in law, but about halfway through the semester I realized that the law classes were not only more interesting, but more useful. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the money to continue my degree and had to drop out.
I could give a rip about anything California. My bias aside, getting on the bar in CA is one hell of an accomplishment! Thanks for sharing your story.
I never took a prep class for a standardized test. Too poor and stingy. I bought a prep book (for both the ACT and GRE) and went through each question in the book. Yes, the whole thing. When I took the actual tests, there were questions I was able to skip because I ready knew the answer from having solved that question before. I scored in the 90+ percentile in the ACT except in English (had just learned, emigrant) and for the GRE I scored 80 & 96% on Math and Verbal. Good enough to get into my program. Diligent study, kids, that's where it's at.
Relatable. I studied only from Khan Academy for my SAT last year (after my sophomore year in high school in India), and scored a 1580 out of 1600. Keep your brain sharp and minds open kids, push yourself cause no one else can motivate you like yourselves!
I’m not even a pre-law student and I’m subbed! Good stuff!
6:57 The LSAT is actually scored from 120-180. I am sure that was just a slip up.
Just finished my undergraduate application and your story is getting me a deja vu of the personal statement.
"Get Into Law School: The Applicant's Guide" (book) helped me when I was applying to law school. Only $5 on Amazon and it told me what to do to get into the best law school possible for me. Best of Luck!
This guy is really interesting to listen to. I have learned things listening to his videos. Thanks
I got a 160 on the LSAT with almost no study at all. I just took one pactice test. Thank god I didn't waste a whole summer just to get a mid-160s. I'm currently doing just fine as a litigator.
That's great to hear!
Thanks for being real and transparent.
"When I learned that policemen can't carry machine gun I decided to become a lawyer"
Hearing this in 2020 is jarring.
very weird hearing this in 2020
We bought our son a LSAT test prep book (at Barnes & Noble), which included free access to the publisher's website, with additional practice tests online. He had a single room in a private dorm at UIUC (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), and had plenty of quiet time to study as an undergrad, so he did pretty well on his LSATs (haven't memorized the score, though), and was offered admission to all 3 Illinois law schools outside Chicago (UIUC, SIU-Carbondale, and NIU-DeKalb). UIUC offered our son a partial tuition scholarship, but SIU offered him a full-tuition scholarship (plus, he was getting tired of UIUC). He graduated from SIU in 2017, took BarBri over the summer to prep for the bar exam, and was admitted to the state and federal bars that fall. He's been a partner in his dad's law firm ever since. (So at least he was spared job-hunting!)
Great that it worked out for him!
I got into the top law school in my country and I'm terrified.
I will be forever grateful for this video.
Right here from a lawyer in Pakistan- enjoy watching these videos! thank you for uploading👍
This man is clearly special. He really makes me listen. I would like to give him some advice now, don't let your increasing talents that are increasingly noticed, get to your head. Keep real
I’m 14 and already learning as much as I can. Your videos help. Thank you.
If your profile picture is any indication, then yes, you have much learning to do.
Slysky0 lmaooo
You seem to be learning the wrong things...
Thanks for sharing your tips on getting into law school! Your videos are continuing to inspire me to pursue my dream to be a lawyer! 👍🏾
Wow, what a coincidence...my path to law school was extremely similar to D. James Stone. I also majored in poli sci at UCLA, graduating summa cum laude, and then took a TestMasters course. I was waitlisted at UCLA Law but was accepted around late spring -- probably because I was an "Early Decision Program" applicant, meaning the admissions office prioritized my application and, in return, I was contractually committed to UCLA Law if accepted. (For reference, my LSAC GPA was a 3.95 and my LSAT score was a mediocre 163). It seems like a large chunk of UCLA Law students are "Double Bruins" (i.e. attended UCLA for undergrad), which is cool. I hope my litigation career eventually flourishes like D. James Stone's...as of now, I'm in bar exam limbo, waiting for results :(
@jacqueline did you pass?
Wow that's awesome! I'm currently in undergrad at UCLA majoring in poli sci and also hoping to be a double-bruin. Hope you passed the bar!
OMG!!! I'm a Freshman at UCLA as well! 😂😂😂 I literally just started watching your channel after the fall quarter instruction begins (today)
Besides having a 4.0 and scoring high enough on the LSAT, is there any other extracurricular things I should do when applying to the Top 20’s? Thanks!
What a great story! Summa how very impressive. You passed the bar and that's more important than the lsat. You are also very successful, so don't be reminded by a test in the past. Move on forward and make your future brighter. Thanks for the inspiration. You got this!
Working to hopefully get into Northwestern. Also a Poli-Sci major!
Thanks for sharing, I’m glad that I found your channel.
I debated in High School and College. I think it helped me a lot.
It definitely helped me clarify my thinking.
I think that intercollegiate debate was the best possible prep for law school. Law school is debate writ large.
Debating is what made me realize I didn't want to be a lawyer not what ace attorney made it look like at all
I was an economics major in undergrad, in a school that had/has one of the top 3 business schools in the country ... and I was losing interest until one of my electives was "Law and Antitrust" = the purest crossover of business and law. And it was the first time I was EXCITED about my major. So I took another elective, "Philosophy of Law" ... and I learned how my own mind worked. This was all bizarre because not only was I artist, but I also was a DJ for frats, organizations and on the college radio station. I was the most uptight artist you could run into. But, LAW ... those two classes made me realize my calling. And when I found out there were lawyers who SPECIALIZED in entertainment, well ... my life course was charted. It went a little off track after that because ... LIFE. But ... Intellectual Property, music, graphic art ... I used my law degree to work in or help people in all those areas and I found career happiness ... and no one jumping over a counsel table to choke me out. So ... there is THAT wonderful silver lining ...
While you were talking about mock trial, I was trying to figure out where you went for undergrad, and then 2 championships and the coach, that had to be Gonzalo right? A Bruin was the only answer haha
I just took my LSAT the other day! I’m super nervous to get my results but I’m one step closer to being an attorney so that’s a W.
Objection: a paralegal degree from a community college will teach you essentially everything you learn in the first year of law school, plus you can work in a firm earning yourself some great experience!
long run though u can't compare lawyers to paralegals
Obviously, but you could also say that a paralegal who spent a few years working in a specialized field of law will know more about that particular area than a recent graduate ( because you learn the actual practice instead of hypothetical theory). And so if you already know what area of law you want to practice in working as a paralegal in that field can certainty give you a comparative advantage over your peers. Furthermore, don't quote me on this, but if you work as a paralegal for x amount of years you can become eligible to take the bar exam.
Excellent point! I have a paralegal degree and it gives you a fundamental understanding of what you'd learn in law school. Of course, you will go much more in-depth and paralegals are not lawyers, but going into law school with a great grasp on the different types of law and how to do briefs, legal research, arguments, etc. will do nothing but help you and put you ahead of your peers.
I agree with this, did a lot of research about becoming a paralegal myself
Paralegal degree (2yrs) then complete a bachelors (2 more years) in legal studies should be a great plan. Then of to law school and by then you should have at least 3 years experience in the field. Seems like a great plan to me.
Hahahaha just found your videos today, but I can already tell that I will spend A LOT of time on this channel. I just graduated from a college program for Policing, initially signed up because of a transfer program to a local University for Political Science. This entire time my ambition has been to eventually go to Law School.
Thanks for the insight from your experience. Personally, I expect each post-secondary program to be its own beast. I loved that in my policing program we dealt a lot with family law, the courts, and even had a chance to host a legal aide and Crown attorney (I'm in Canada, ambition is to practice law in America). Also, understanding police powers as developed through case law, loved reading through the arguments and decisions.
Ma, I wanna join the Army! Rambo is educational.
I wanna be a pornstar, pornhub is educational 😂
They let them carry machine guns
My son is starting law school in a few weeks sent him your link. He is going to University of Oregon school of law. We just road tripped out there, spent the week seeing the country. Should be interesting him being so conservative living in Eugene, Oregon. Thanks for what you are doing, keep it up.
I have no interest in becoming a lawyer but really love your videos!
I have always loved Law and Order too. Did you ever addictively watch court tv as well??? I LOVED that channel!!!
Everyone scoring higher on practice tests than on the actual exam should definitely retake.
supertrain55 why?
@@jamielannister3627 You're leaving points on the table that can get you into better schools and/or better scholarship offers
Thank you for sharing very thorough and informative
I want to hear more about your Hollywood lease! Did you have to pay a fee for breaking it? You left us on a cliffhanger dude!
Thanks for sharing your story, it was very helpful
"For personal reasons I wanted to stay in the LA area" YOU LET A GIRLFRIEND INFLUENCE YOUR COLLEGE CHOICE?!
Nah. LA is pretty awesome. I went to UCLA. Got accepted to all the Ivy Leagues for my doctorate. I also got accepted to the number one school in my discipline, UC Berkeley. Still chose UCLA. Los Angeles is just another level of great. I followed the same strategy as the guy in the video: I applied to all the top twenty but reserved applications so that 7 additional slots kept me in the Southland. It's just an amazing city. BTW: your personal reasons can be because you love to surf, the chicks are hot, the dudes are fine, the cars are nice, the food is amazing, the skiing is off the charts, your parents are elderly and in need of care.
Idk why i watched the whole playlist about Law School tips when i have no interest being a lawyer. But this is so interesting!
NYT Crossword love putting LSAT as an answer
Thank you for sharing your story!
why is being in your early 20s so God damb expensive
I'm 13 and already stressed about it
because you live in USA
want a more stable, cheap life? go live in Europe
You go into debt. Aside from a select few and those of us born with silver spoons, most of us have to go into deep debt in our late teens and early 20s, then pay it off during our professional lives. That being said, pick a professional life that will pay off that debt or perish under the weight of it.
@Austin Martín Hernández Our taxes are universally far easier to pay off than your debts though...look it up.
@@filipferencak2717 Quick note: American citizens outside the US are expected to pay American income tax on their earnings as well as tax to the host country. Unless you're really well paid, the burden can be crushing.
Nathaniel Mohr I will have no debt after my undergrad degrees and law school degree lol
Got my LSAT score back. 168! Top 5%!
Question 1- How would you rate your satisfaction level working in big law? Something that I come across in articles and blogs is practicing attorney's speaking negatively about their work environments and levels of joy.
Question 2- Would you take a private practice job would a good salary over a low salaried government job that offers debt forgiveness?
I know this channel tyipically addresses matters that are specific to school. You give great advise on this channel and I wanted to hear your opinion on some post graduation issue's.
Those are great questions. I'd rate my satisfaction as 6-9 out of 10. Would depend on the day. Most often 8/10. I would take the private practice job every time. Debt forgiveness locks you in to one (low paying job) and only pays off if 1) the debt forgiveness program is still around and 2) you stick with that job for a long time (usually 10 years). Much better to have a medium to high paying job, live frugally, and pay off your debts the old fashioned way.
Thank you, these have been areas of concern for me. I'm leaving law enforcement to pursue a longtime dream of being an attorney. The last thing I want to do, is go back into government service again. Thank you for your help!
How do you not have millions of views?! This is really a great video. Thumbs up! :)
Hi, great video! I have a couple of questions:
1. What tactics did you use to get in off the waitlist at UCLA? I read that it's not good to pester admissions offices with frequent calls/emails and to spread out communications to no more than once every three weeks. I am currently waitlisted at three different law schools, and I don't want to go to any of the schools I actually got into. I've sent one LOCI each to the three schools, but I'm worried that if I haven't been given an offer by now, I'm probably not going to get off of these waitlists. :(
2. Do you remember what day and month you were given the offer from UCLA? Was it in July? August?
Thanks!
You didn’t get in huh?
My understanding is it's just that a list. You have to wait til your number comes up unless you can make a compelling case that you are a special case in need of an exception.
Most wait lists don't start to move til the start of the school year, few people take the time to provide a courtesy call to schools they were accepted to but won't be attending. Therefore it isn't til they have not provided confirmation that the schools find out how many openings they have and open up the wait lists. Many on the wait lists will have made other plans not wanting to take a chance of sitting out a semester so what seems like a longshot may come through.
A better tactic would be to contact the law department, explain your situation, your desire to attend their specific school, and ask how you could best prep yourself to transfer in after a semester or two at one of the schools you did get accepted to. ie limit yourself to classes you know will transfer and allow you keep a high GPA.
I've known people who couldn't outright afford an Ivy League or elite private school and waited til the last semester to transfer just so the sheepskin would have a prestigious name. This is why schools require you have a minimum number of credits at their institution.
Hell yes, I want part 2 of this story.
Hey James, I have a question about mock trials. I am not from the US and I know only basic things about law and judicial system in America but I know that every state has different laws and rules for lawyers. I was wondering how mock trials are conducted if you are studying law in California and competition is held in Vegas with Nevadan judge. I'm not sure if it's just in my brain but I feel like going from Californian law to Nevadan judge is like going from German law to French judge.
Please correct me if I'm wrong and I would really appreciate the answer.
Sorry for any language mistakes, I'm not native English speaker.
Hey! I did mock trial in high school, and while we didn't cross state lines for competitions then, it's not that different from national college mock trial in terms of rules/set up and what not and I have a bit of experience with college mock trial, although my university doesn't have a team. First of all, it is a /Mock/ Trial, emphasis on mock. So you actually don't really use "real" law. Instead, the governing body of the league has their own established rules of evidence and criminal/civil legal codes and whatnot. These are based on real US law and are essentially the same as you might find in any given state, they're just a slightly simplified version (ie there are some short cuts in evidence so that competitions run a bit quicker that real trials might) and provide a standard legal code for everyone to go on. So if you're from CA competing at a NV tournament in front of a Nevada judge, everyone is still on the same page because everyone is using the league's rules of evidence and legal codes/statutes instead of their respective states. Most states have very very very similar legal codes and rules of evidence (with the exception of special places like Lousianna) but naming/numbering conventions can differ, so thats where standardization plays the biggest role.
Bridget Maas thanks for the comment! it was interesting
What a great story. Thanks for sharing.
I disagree with the idea that no major really helps.
Philosophy is an immense help to springboarding people into thinking like a lawyer. In philosophy, there are entire subfields that directly relate to logical reasoning and critical analysis, two required skills to succeed at being a lawyer. Understanding formal fallacies helps build a clarity of thought which is a prerequisite to successfully thinking like a lawyer. My time studying logic, or at least using formal logic rules of inference in building/critiquing arguments, helped immeasurably with the LSAT as well.
Additionally, as a philosophy major, you do an incredible amount of reading and writing - honing yet again required skills to be successful in both law school and as a lawyer. Philosophy actually requires that you are able to succinctly and clearly write out your argument without including extraneous information. The best philosophers write like technical writers. Philosophy also demands that you be able to extract arguments written in not-always-easy-to-digest forms. That is, you're able to find and pull out exactly what the person is saying and which premises support their argument.
I hold a paralegal degree and a BA in philosophy with an emphasis in morality, law, and politics. For my paralegal degree I took 'law school lite' classes that included legal writing, legal research, contracts, property law, evidence, and other topics where 'thinking like a lawyer' got you a solid grade. I was able to see both sides, where 'thinking like a lawyer' bridges the gap with the mental skills I gained during my time as a philosophy undergrad.
So yes, it's possible to get into law school with any undergrad degree, but to say that none of them help you prepare for or through law school is an incorrect assertion.
edit: speaking of clearly expressing ideas, YT won't let me format my comment into easier-to-read sections. :(
Thank you for sharing your story...
Very informative, thanks for the upload.
Can you please suggest a book that general public can read to have some basic idea about LAW, PROCESSES AND GOVERNANCE. I found one( Street law : a course in practical law) which I found very simple to read and very interesting. Any other? Thanks...
Law & Order has been my favorite TV show since 1990! I never got into the other L&O spin offs.
SVU doesn't give equal time to the lawyers! Boooo.
I'm a life-long L&O fan, though I detest SVU. Not only is it boring and repetitive, but I hate the back stories and side plots of its detectives.
I did love Criminal Intent, though. Goren was based off of Sherlock Holmes except with a psychology bent rather than relying strictly on physical evidence. L&O: CI, however, gives little to no time to the lawyers except in a handful of episodes that actually make it to court. And, in typical L&O fashion, those episodes had their own problems. Off the top of my head:
"In the Wee Small Hours" part 2 consists mainly of courtroom drama where it turns out a judge had sex with a drugged-up minor they think he killed, and he gets caught up in his testimony. I believe it's in season 6 somewhere but I'd have to look it up.
"The Good Doctor" (season 1, I'm sure of it) features the trial of a plastic surgeon who possibly murdered and dismembered his wife. Detective Goren gets on the stand and gives testimony that poisons the jury, which was purposely done to get the doctor to testify (he hadn't planned to) in order to rebut the accusations. The actions probably would have resulted in a mistrial and contempt for more than one person (I'm assuming).
"Shrink Wrapped" has very little courtroom interaction, but it does have a psychologist and a psychiatrist who are wrapped up in a murder, the latter of whom gets her friends to commit the former to an institution in order to present an insanity defense. She also gets her friends to dummy up documents saying he'd been behaving erratically for months. It'd be interesting to hear your take on expert witnesses and this kind of thing, which I find preposterous.
I believe there were roughly 200 episodes and I can only think of 3 with significant courtroom involvement. Eek.
"unlimited amount of eduction TV" LOLOL
Crazy to watch this video while I'm an undergrad at UCLA, majoring in polysci, and planning to go to law school straight out of college.
I had a really bad experience with my testmaster instructor, he was a horrible instructor he barely taught and flirted with some students
Was he hot?
Pronunciation is very good. Very easy to understand though i am not native. Thank you for your advice.
If you look at this guy for a while, he starts to look like a simulation
Salty about the roommate getting in early . I love it :)
Hi Legal Eagle, I've been interested in law since undergrad, but I decided to go a different route for my masters and entered the work force before deciding on going to law school. This may be a small question with regards to all the age questions you get but I will be 27 or 28 when I enter law school. Will that preclude me from any big law careers (at least during my first few years while I gain experience practicing law). I really appreciate your input!
Nope. What matters is the ranking of your law school and your GPA, mainly. Several 30-something year olds from my law school (UCLA Law) went into big law, including top big law firms like Latham & Watkins.
@@jacqueline716 Thanks for the reply! And I'm glad to hear that a career in big law won't be entirely out of the question.
I agree with Jacqueline. Being 27 or 28 is not "old" at all. Being over 35 would count as being "old" to legal employers. Good luck!