Didn't work so well for Mike Ross.
Becoming a Lawyer Without Going to Law School (2015)
31–40 of 98 posts
Re: Becoming a Lawyer Without Going to Law School (2015)
#32Lawyers currently have one of the most bi-modal salary distributions of any profession. It seems to me that for folks who want to enter the profession doing low pay work that this should be a more supported and common path as law school is a ridiculous choice for someone who is going to make less than a teacher for the rest of their life. I’ve known a handful of public defenders in my time and almost all of them had…
"Barristers have a more arduous path" That's not true in Scotland - solicitors have two years of on the job training after a law degree and a postgraduate qualification. Training to become an advocate (Scottish equivalent of a barrister) takes a year as a "devil" which means passing some extra exams and basically following a senior junior (or two) about for most of a year and you can do that after a single year of tr…
Agreed, as a Scots qualified lawyer and now an engineer I don't feel that choosing the solicitor route was somehow the 'lesser option'.
Additionally most advocates/barristers will work as a solicitor for several years before making the leap to the bar. It's useful to have contacts and to be somewhat known before you do your devilling/pupillage as the minority of the advocates/barristers will pull in the majority of the work and it can be slim pickings for someone who is new.
Re: Becoming a Lawyer Without Going to Law School (2015)
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It's a prosecutor's job to get someone convicted. It's their job to seek justice. May seem like a distinction without a difference, but it's a crucial one. http://www.henrycty.com/Departments/States-Attorney/The-Role... https://sidebarsblog.com/prosecutorial-misconduct-spiderman-...
From your link: "It is as much his duty to refrain from improper methods calculated to produce a wrongful conviction as it is to use every legitimate means to bring about a just one." Assuming the prosecutor believed the man to be guilty, and that the prosecutor didn't use improper methods to secure a conviction, I'd say they were competent. Now, if they used _improper methods _to secure the conviction of an innocent…
> But the post to which I replied made no mention of this evil intent, so I gave the prosecutor the benefit of the doubt.
It made mention of incompetence. I'll give OP the benefit of it here, since that's what sparked this whole thread.
For what it's worth, I think this is the case:
Re: Becoming a Lawyer Without Going to Law School (2015)
#34Lawyers currently have one of the most bi-modal salary distributions of any profession. It seems to me that for folks who want to enter the profession doing low pay work that this should be a more supported and common path as law school is a ridiculous choice for someone who is going to make less than a teacher for the rest of their life. I’ve known a handful of public defenders in my time and almost all of them had…
> Lawyers currently have one of the most bi-modal salary distributions of any profession. I understand what you're saying but I feel like the top 50 would be occupied by people in various types of art, food preparation/serving, personal care/service, and writing. It would probably be top 3 easily for the amount of debt most of the lawyers go into for their degree(which seems to be the issue you are getting at anyways…
You’re probably not wrong to which you could add sports, entertainment etc. but there’s a distinction between professions that have a fairly large number, if overall minority, of well paid to very well paid members and those that almost have a lottery winner sort of effect.
Re: Becoming a Lawyer Without Going to Law School (2015)
#35Next: Becoming a medical doctor without studying medicine
Re: Becoming a Lawyer Without Going to Law School (2015)
#36My cousin, who is a former K St lawyer, told me about how in the 80s(?), Texas passed a law that allowed people who fit very narrow requirements to take the bar exam without attending law school. One high profile businessman passed the bar exam this way. So.. If you want to skip law school, have one of your legislator cronies slip in a law school loophole in a bill. Non-lawyers are allowed to take the patent bar exam…
I thought Vermont permitted this, and according to the article, it is (or was) four states:
"Today, only four states — California, Virginia, Vermont, and Washington — allow aspiring lawyers to take the bar exam without going to law school. Instead, they are given the option to apprentice with a practicing attorney or judge."
Re: Becoming a Lawyer Without Going to Law School (2015)
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
From your link: "It is as much his duty to refrain from improper methods calculated to produce a wrongful conviction as it is to use every legitimate means to bring about a just one." Assuming the prosecutor believed the man to be guilty, and that the prosecutor didn't use improper methods to secure a conviction, I'd say they were competent. Now, if they used _improper methods _to secure the conviction of an innocent…
> But the post to which I replied made no mention of this evil intent, so I gave the prosecutor the benefit of the doubt. It made mention of incompetence. I'll give OP the benefit of it here, since that's what sparked this whole thread. For what it's worth, I think this is the case: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14814597
Just spent a minute skimming it and it looks like an episode of Suits, except with real people's lives affected :(
Re: Becoming a Lawyer Without Going to Law School (2015)
#38Re: Becoming a Lawyer Without Going to Law School (2015)
#39My cousin, who is a former K St lawyer, told me about how in the 80s(?), Texas passed a law that allowed people who fit very narrow requirements to take the bar exam without attending law school. One high profile businessman passed the bar exam this way. So.. If you want to skip law school, have one of your legislator cronies slip in a law school loophole in a bill. Non-lawyers are allowed to take the patent bar exam…
You still have to have an accredited BS in engineering or science to take it. I assumed a degree from an accredited school would fit the bill but found out that was not the case when I wanted to take the patent bar years ago. You have to check the website to see if your degree qualifies.
I have a BS in Computer Information Systems which is almost identical to the CS degree that I could have gotten. The difference was that it switched out some general classes and the foreign language requirement for business classes...which seemed like a good idea to me.
Only the BS in CS was accredited. I also have an MS but the patent bar strictly cares about your BS.
Re: Becoming a Lawyer Without Going to Law School (2015)
#40First, this article only addresses the USA. If you don't want to practice in the US, there are lots of options. See Korshak, Landing a Legal Job Overseas. Law school is an American anomaly. In Canada/UK/Ireland, you can major in law as an undergraduate. You can't do so in the US. With a LLB degree, you can do legal work in lots of countries--and even qualify to take the bar in the U.S. The author leaves out little de…
Not true in Canada. Law degree's first require an Undergraduate degree prior to entrance into the law faculty:
https://www.law.utoronto.ca/admissions/youth-outreach/so-you...