Youths! let me give you all of my law school advice hey guys welcome back to my
channel thank you so much for joining me I am so excited that some of you are
heading off to law school soon you must have made your decisions and that's
super exciting so today I thought I would switch it up
a little bit and talk to my very very good friend Anna over here
Anna just finished her last year of law school at Duke and is heading off to a
really prestigious big firm job so that's super exciting and and it's
actually the one who inspired me to go to law school which is just super
meaningful to me and so I wanted to take a quick second to talk with her about
her experience and her thought process going into it so thanks for watching
your videos and I'm so proud of you and I'm so excited to be here I love Anna
she is my guiding spirit animal so Anna can you maybe just tell us a little bit
about why you decided to go to law school were you always interested in it
or was it something that you kind of came to later on in life so um it's
something that I got interested in I think like early on in college I'm going
into college I was actually planning on being a science major I started college
as a physics major um it was fun but I think when I tried
to understand the realities of what like being a physics PhD and all that would
actually entail what type of work I be doing and the sort of lifestyle that
came with it I just started to realize it was really the right thing for me and
I started thinking about what I like doing and like throughout like middle
school onward my strongest areas have always been English and science so it's
like two really distinct different sort of like modes of thinking yeah but I've
always like loved writing and I love sort of like the logical math stuff and
I sort of came to understand the law as something that combines those things and
actually when I was in high school and I was on the
at math teen wasn't mentally it was so cool my life is Lindsay Lohan over here
and oh shit what's it about maybe Katy Katy hearing Katy Harry yes with Mu
Alpha Theta is like the competitive math thing in the southeast anyway my event
was actually like a logic event it was like logic based so it's kind of like it
was like similar to LSAT stuff so anyway that's how I started getting really
interested in it thinking like okay it kind of combines these two things that I
love my turn doing research about it and yeah I mean it was it was a not like a
straightforward path necessarily because whenever I started really thinking about
go to law school that was like a couple of years after the economic crash which
for those of you who remember there was a time where it was really popular to
write think pieces about how no one should go to law school right I read 20
different articles that were like no one should go law school here's why didn't
these think pieces and thinking like does this apply to me does it's not
apply to me like how did my life get into this sort of yeah absolutely so it
was something that I did a water free search about and thought about very hard
because I had all these there were all these warning signs that were like don't
do this and so I took two years off after undergrad and I worked in a
different feeling work in marketing the whole time like strengths the LSAT on
and off and something I would do is I would set up to her like informational
interviews with attorneys in different fields and ask them like what is your
job entail what is your day-to-day life like what could have worked you to you
how do you feel about it and after it's like what in the end kind of turned out
to be years of research I was like okay I want to do this went through the
application process so he go Duke which was the best agent I've ever made I love
Duke do forever um and yeah I just turned out to be great so I could not be
more excited about starting work in the fall starting for the bar right now but
it was definitely like the right thing awesome so we're the informational
interviews you did did they kind of match up with the reality of the thing
that the kind of work that you saw people doing over the summer like what
you expect to be doing as well or all different something that came out of it
was that there's just so many different types of careers in law and what it
means to be a lawyer is gonna vary from city to city and job to job within those
city so that's true I thought like what
before I came to law school I kind of didn't want to be a lawyer because I saw
it as kind of a cheesy profession they like really saying like dudes no I mean
even before you did it though like when I was in high school setup people feel
like oh you should be a lawyer because you're like writing and whatever and I
was like no only like asshole because people who like to go up in court and be
like I object or like that's exactly what I do back that's actually what I
thought have you dudes later drugs oh no I mean it's it's just like people with
different types of jobs can have really different the the work they do their
day-to-day lives in relation with you yeah yeah absolutely so I think it's
something where you know you can really find a niche that works for you that
being said it's still not the right thing for everybody and I do think a lot
of that backlash from like 2010 ish I want to do with a lot of people going
into law where it was really not the right fit but I think with you're
someone who you know has those you know like that writing and research skill and
then maybe also some of that analytical skills you're it's a good so I think
it's still prudent to kind of like look into like what does this really look
like but I think that that there was there was a period where there's like
over warning because there's so many people who were like really not really
not awful yeah and it didn't to be fair also in that time the job market was
like really bad so they're just
struggling and having a quarter life crisis and so I think what I've liked
the best about law school I think would actually probably be like my
relationships with my classmates everyone has a different experience with
this of course every school and your year but I feel like with my class at
Duke I have a lot of really really great friends and I feel like both a personal
and professional level I've made like really amazing connections that I expect
to last for decades and I feel like that's really been helpful both on a
personal level and also just in terms of professional stuff like I have like one
we graduate and we start our jobs I'm gonna hurt
use me ready graduated but we turned our jobs I'm gonna have friends in like
every major market who I can call on I know I keep forgetting I keep like
people ask me like what I do and I keeping like imma lost it I was a law
student I mean this weird well I'm in this weird limbo so I can't say that I'm
an attorney yet because I haven't passed the bar I'm also not a law student I'm
just a person who studies for the bar that is my existence yeah I think
anybody repair my law school has definitely been like the the
relationships in the community that I've ever experienced at Duke and because one
thing I've discovered I don't know if it's true for you too but like when I
arrived in law school it's really really cool to meet so many people who are so
similar and yet so different like people up there are different things leading up
to get to where they are now yeah absolutely I think people have have had
a really interesting array of backgrounds among my friends and also in
terms of like what they're doing and that's cool like I feel like if I'm in a
situation I'm like hey and you you know talk to somebody about securities and
bounce a ball around a little bit I don't know people like a call and also
like in terms of career advice older students we're always like so helpful if
I like posted something like hey I want to talk to somebody about text is I have
like 500 people message me and say like hey I'm gonna Dallas I'm gonna keep Stan
like let's talk and that's been really great that's something I hope to be able
to do for younger law students to do girl that I know from other means find
some students somewhere to them um so what has been one thing that surprised
you the most about law school either positive or negatively so I think what
surprised me the most and it's something I've thought about a lot I think there's
a sort of cyclical pattern where people are like law school is portable and then
some people go and it's like they're the expect and they're like oh law school is
great and then like the next people go and they're like what
this is horrible you told me this but so so we watch this a play at this played
out between us there's like five there's like a handful
of people who are like one two two L's who I advised I was like what else
awesome and so fun and then like that he's been like what are you doing
really hard but so anyway with my background of like like I said I read
every article on the internet that had a headline to the effect of don't go to
law school so I went in with these expectations of like law school is gonna
be horrible if you're gonna work horrible hours you're gonna make no
friends it's gonna be terrible and miserable every second and so I went in
kind of prepared for that and I had some people we've been through law school
tell me when I was give me the worst year of your life ended up honestly kind
of being one of the best and so I was surprised by how much fun I had in law
school again that's everyone's experience is really different but I
thought that to me the work was manageable and really rewarding and I
really had a pretty good time while I did it so that's I think that's what
surprised me given sort of the preparation work I had now that now that
I've said that someone's gonna watch this and like like law school so fine
and then go in and be like oh my god there's so much rain because they
probably already seen my video once told me it would be as easy as undergrad but
it's it's I mean it's it's not like easy but I think it's just I was so hyped up
to me is like it's gonna be the worst and it's ever happened to you and I
thought it was really awesome I think it's always sort of you know whenever
your expectations are so I think the people who went straight through there's
pros and cons to going straight through were waiting I personally advocate for
waiting but I think more and more also schools are advocating for waiting or
staying like it would be good because the way that the law school job search
is structured it's so compressed timewise that you really don't have a
lot of time to figure out what you want out of a working environment and then
once you choose something you're kind of you're kind of committed to that for
like at least a couple of years so I personally agree I think that it makes
sense to work for a couple years so you get to know at least one option whether
you like it or not try to fit yourself to
yeah I think there's there's so much value to waiting a little bit and I
think one of the types the one the types of value is like they I think it gives
you an appreciation for being in school again if you can go straight through and
say undergrad my major was East Asian languages and civilizations it's a mouth
my double major but that was the early love studying and I got to take really
cool classes like independent Chinese documentary and that was dope I think
they've had gone straight from that like property that I might have had a
different experience but I said a few years tunku films and then towards yes
give me torts are really funny but again towards early reports experience insert
your dry doctrinal class of choice there yeah whatever um but I like submissive
you know I think working so like I did marketing for a really funny commerce
company but day to day having like a like a real job I think is convened
tedious in a lot of ways even though is like a fun job that I liked so I think
going from that to school I had like this energy of being so excited to like
learn even if it was something like property which is that's my example of
like the most boring 1l class even something like property to do reading
and they could think critically and talk to my you know super intelligent
classmates about like God like what is the law like I love that versus I think
that sometimes you can go straight through if you have like an undergrad
major that you love that's something you know more interesting property law which
and those things then you know I think I think that working helps you have a
different perspective that's like more positive but there there are benefits to
going straight through but I do think like overall I was really pleased with
my decision so now that you've finished 3l have there ever been times in law
school where you felt like it was really a drag and you feel like you didn't
really want to do it anymore and how did you motivate yourself
through that or did you feel the whole time that you were like really committed
to what you were doing what's going you thought it was like
really fun so I think there were individual classes that I found
challenging in a less rewarding way like there's some classes where like this is
hard but who and like learning and there's others where you're like this is
really hard and I feel like this is just like difficult um but I feel like I
never overall lost sight of feeling very motivated by it and I think that's again
everyone's experience is different but I feel like every semester I had at least
one class where I was like really into it and really enjoying it and I think
that something we're just kind of like always giving you a perspective of like
what's the light at the end of the tunnel and so yeah also kind of always
like thinking about I think this is like for an attorney instinct I try to always
think about the worst case scenario trying to calm myself down where it's
like okay this class is hard like worst case scenario what's the worst great I
think I'm actually gonna get you all have like past yeah yeah we don't have
we have like those of you with stun food you know you understand grades but like
you know I was like okay realistically it's gonna be fine and I know kind of
like understanding yeah yeah because I think that's I think like I think
everyone has different ways they cope with the stress of loss folks I think it
is I think one of the biggest challenges for really hard-working motivated people
to come into an environment where suddenly there's like this curve and you
can work as hard as you can and you know you think you're the smartest but then
you know you still might make like median which again that's first and for
people a great thing but but you know I think they everybody and on that I think
that's I think that's one of the biggest stressors for a lot of people in law
school and I think that um like having perspective and trying to like just just
keep just keep it in perspective about like okay maybe I don't have to get like
the 4.0 in every class yeah in fact you are not going to we right so if it's
being the person who gets like 4.0 like a 3.8 in terms of like job outcomes
or anything or a 3.5 or through whatever what are all the creeping averages is
it's not it's not the foot it's not it's not that like these things don't matter
but it's I just think that it's uh you can be happy right I think that like
kind of keeping I think that like trying to keep like a balanced perspective is
really healthy I think that's an adjustment for a lot of people so one of
the things that I found challenging as someone who just finished one out is
looking up from my one else log and having perspective on the amount of time
I have left because three years is actually a very short time to pack in
basically the foundation for a lifetime of evil knowledge and practice so even
though we went to different schools and everyone's going to have a different
experience at their particular school what are some classes that you wish you
had taken or what is the way that you approached picking classes that were
really important to you and you're really glad that you took yeah totally I
do think that in classes is really scary and it's funny like even this last
semester I had times where like someone talked about a class they were I mean
like I'll take that next semester and I was like no I can't
oh but I think that you were excited like I dare his classes I wish I could
do I mean I'm excited to like be an attorney but like I wish I had like a
time-turner like a Harry Potter and I could go back and take more classes but
that being said I think for upper-level classes in terms of choosing I think
talking to upper-level people you already know about like teachers they
like and things like that is really great and just generally I think a lot
of people come to law school with like ideas about what they want to do but a
lot of people coming honest have no idea and so I think that especially earlier
in your career taking like a wide breadth and just getting an exposure to
a lot of different things is really helpful because you might not like you
might take tax law and be like wow I kind of love this and I'm not going into
tax law but I did take to the semesters of tax law and I actually like really
love to do this I took federal income tax and corporate tax and it also was
really helpful because I understanding the law from different perspectives
helped solidify things like coming into you law school just my knowledge
like how corporations work I think was weaker then people who worked in certain
other sectors and taking classes like corporate tax help me understand
corporations like more generally and I think that's also a good thing to keep
in mind going into your summer jobs with firms I think even if you I think trying
as many different things as you can with however your summer program is
structured um is really helpful because a lot of us don't really know we want to
do and there's maybe something that sounds dry to you but then when you get
into it you're like wow I love this work this is like really interesting and also
I would always try to have some balance my class choices with like what I
thought of is like more difficult doctrinal classes and I thought of this
fun constant yeah it's like even saying that like it was a fun class for you um
okay so one of my favorite fun classes was called racing the law I was a
professor that I really really loved geat Charles at Duke dancing he it was
it was sort of like a surveyed class where we looked at different areas of
law where race had come into play historically we talked about how should
functional what is it really and so it was like kind of a multi multi
disciplinary class in a lot of ways and then I also took a class called civil
rights litigation which was a lot of Civil Procedure and a lot of a lot of
overlap with spent courts but kind of through this like the interesting lens
of like how do we how do we litigate civil rights yeah yeah and so that was
like a class that was like really interesting then also really useful
straight to the bar right now the constitutional law section has been
there are a lot of things going through that I'm like oh I recognize this yeah
because it's something I covered this class very thoroughly yeah yeah and so
what's the other thing is I think if you ever have a time babies if you ever have
a time when you're like torn between two classes maybe you are little legal
babies if you ever tired Toby to classes at someone's strengthen bar right now
definitely I recommend taking classes they're gonna be on the bar someone told
me that it doesn't matter because you can just learn things in the
summer and just when I'm doing a topic that I have studied before versus I have
not it feels very different I mean this summer is only like two months long yeah
yes so I definitely and it's it I'm surprised by which classes have like you
and for example race in the law it's a lot of constitutional law and so like
going in out of the subjects like cars if our constitutional law I'm like I
know this like the back of my hands not you brag lots of things I don't know
many things I don't know but I will yeah so I think I think like doing a wide
range of things and having a balance between like their classes that you
you're gonna feel like whatever it is at your school there's Kloster don't feel
like you have to take Mia balancing that with something kind of fun and trying to
have like some you know don't do like every big heavy nervousness class every
semester have some smaller classes have some writing classes and kind of have
some balance that way thank you so much Anna for sharing your will so if you
guys haven't subscribed yet please subscribe now and I'll talk to you next
time