- "Legally Blonde" itself is surprisingly accurate
for a first year law movie.
(upbeat music)
- My name is Bekki.
- I'm Ramsey.
- Hi, I'm Rachel.
- I'm Jelena,
and today we're going to be answering
your questions about law school,
what it's like to be a law student,
- Anything you've got--
- Anything more--
- We'll answer.
- What did you envision yourself doing with your law degree?
- I wanted to do talent rights.
I have a lot of friends who are boys in bands,
and growing up, I watched them sign
some really not great deals,
and I felt really bad for them,
and I was like, "They need someone on their side."
To some extent, that's what I'm doing.
- That is literally my same exact story.
I lived in Austin. I toured with a jazz band.
If I wasn't going to be a musician,
I at least wanted to grab them,
cause they were all signing these terrible deals
and I was like "I'm gonna go ahead and see
if I can put a stop to that."
- I first envisioned myself doing entertainment law
and being and advocate for musicians
that maybe, you know, weren't able to
adequately represent themselves.
I'm not sure what I'm doing now.
(laughing)
- I was like, thinking, like Amal Clooney,
(laughing)
I'm gonna save the children, like,
I really want a like--
- Find my George.
- A UN approach.
First week of orientation, I remember one of our professors
being like "Yeah, don't do that, you have to
make money first in order to get into that world."
- Yeah. I think you envision yourself
doing something that maybe, you know--
- Yeah.
- Might shift into something else.
- It shifts.
- What's your most embarrassing, funniest story
about law school?
- It's gotta be getting cold called on
when you haven't read.
- Cold calling is probably one of the terrors of law school.
Today Ramsey's gonna speak on behalf of this case.
- There was a bad day in Constitutional Law, third year.
You're in the final stretch; you're not reading.
And uh, yeah, I got cold called on and it was bad.
- That did happen to me.
She was like, "What did you think about this case?"
And I'm like, "Sorry, I'm not even gonna lie,
I did not read this page."
She was like "Okay, that's okay.
Somebody left their wallet under the seat in their car.
Can they legally search for that if the police observe that?
Well what do you think?"
And I'm like "I just can't think right now."
I'm obviously hung over. I had a night.
She would not let me go.
- For me, it was I had to write a paper on something
and I kept doing Title IX.
It was employment law, so
I talked about "Vandiver Bruels," like--
- She did!
- 20 pages.
- I drink a lot of coffee.
I've always drank a lot of coffee.
Before going to law school, I was a full time student
and a bar tender, so I just,
I've like run on caffeine my whole life.
I remember in Contracts, my first semester, my first year,
I pulled out my trusty, handy dandy law school coffee mug.
(loud bang)
It holds a whole pot so it lasted me for the whole day.
I took a sip and my Contracts professor looked over
right at that moment and goes,
"Rebekka, is that a keg?"
It's a class of like 92 people in your first year.
Everyone turns to look at me and I was like
"Nope, just my coffee."
- Is it anything like the movies and what we see
on TV (i.e. "Legally Blonde"?)
- With "Legally Blonde," yeah, it's not nearly as dramatic.
It's a long tedious process, but--
- Yeah.
But some of the classroom aspects, I would say
could be similar.
- "Legally Blonde" is one of my favorite movies ever.
It was always on when I was having
the hardest time in school.
"Legally Blonde" itself is surprisingly accurate
for a first year law movie.
It goes through the Socratic Method,
it goes through the cliquiness,
the expectation of knowledge,
how to logically analyze a case,
how to have debates in class.
I think "Legally Blonde" is the gold standard
for legal or law school things.
I'm sorry! I, forever, best movie ever.
- How do you get into law school?
- Good undergrad grades.
You get a good LSAT score and
you write a personal statement.
- You take the LSAT.
From there, you know, you apply,
you write your personal statement, and then you wait.
- You have to be able to say, like,
"Okay. These are the schools within my scope.
- Yeah.
- This is where I know I can apply."
- Right. You have to be a realist.
- You've gotta keep adjusting your expectation
because some people, they really psych themselves out.
Which I say "have faith in yourself."
- Yeah. Don't let yourself get paralyzed.
- Why does it appear as though certain people
get a worse sentencing than others?
Can you shed some light?
- That is, for a multitude of reasons, a specific sentence
is never guaranteed for a crime.
It's generally a range.
Different state laws have different ranges
for the same crime.
Federal has different laws than state.
And there still is some implicit bias in our legal system
that I think a lot of us are working to try and get out,
but it exists.
- It's also an unfortunate truth that, it's like,
how much does your lawyer cost and how much are you willing
to pay somebody as well?
- Having the ability to pay for representation.
It shouldn't be that way in our criminal justice system,
but a lot of times it is.
- I will say, though, our public defenders
really do a great job with what they have.
- Have you ever been arrested?
- No--
- No.
- I have not been arrested.
- No.
- Yes, I have.
I got pulled over for my license plate light being out.
It was like 2:30 in the morning.
I had had something to drink.
I passed all those, um--
- Sobriety tests.
- Sobriety tests. And then he searched my car illegally,
which I now know thanks to law school.
He found my acceptance letter into law school
in the driver's seat during that illegal search.
And he was like "Well, you're starting law school in a month
I'm gonna take you in because you're obviously drunk,
but I'm gonna charge you
with driving with defective equipment."
So it cost me more to get my car out of impound
than for me to get out of jail.
- How do I prepare for a consultation with a lawyer?
- That is a very smart question.
The more prepared you are going into that consultation,
the more money you'll likely save.
Come with all of the facts that you have,
the background of the situation, and any documentation
or evidence that helps promote your side of the case.
And anything that might help promote the other side.
That way, I can kind of review everything holistically
and at least make a good game plan.
- It's all lies.
So many people, I go in there and they have, like,
their own version of the story.
If you're deposing a client and they keep telling you
a different story, it's hard for us
to, you know, present something.
- Do a lot of research.
See if you can get a free consultation, first and foremost.
- Yeah. The lawyer's probably going to try to give you
some kind of realistic expectation.
- Yeah.
- Stick to your story but be willing to negotiate.
- Yeah.
(laughing)
- Do you think your job is rewarding enough
for all the work you put in?
- I just graduated, and technically I'm--
- I just graduated, too so--
- I am not--
- Unemployed.
(Laughing)
- Overall yeah, I do.
I put in long days, long hours.
I work in-house and still somehow manage to work weekends
and at the dog park, and in the middle of mosh pits.
But I have some really great co-workers
who say thank you, at the very least,
or recognize that they see the work.
I'm gonna cry. That really does help.
- I don't think the work they do is that significant.
I'm not saving lives or saving people's homes.
But I do find it rewarding in my own right.
I work at an agency.
We have clients who work jobs.
I definitely look at their contracts,
red-line reviewed them.
- Honestly, like, I know that the entertainment industry
seems like kind of a joke,
but there are a lot of people who work here
and who need legal services and legal help.
- For me, it's a lot of teaching.
Most of our clients see a contract and they're like
"Well, should I just sign it?"
And I'm like "Well, let's go ahead and look at it first."
- Do you think going to law school was worth it for you?
- Yes.
- I can definitively say that it was the best decision
that I've ever made.
It's gratifying.
- Yep.
- Ooh. Ramsey answer!
- I'm going to go with a yes.
For what I do now, I'm not an actual practicing litigator,
so I don't actually need to be barred.
I've also had a boss who's above me,
who was not a lawyer at all.
He didn't go to law school.
That's called business and legal affairs.
- I'm going to say I don't know yet.
I'm still, class of 2015, so I'm still working in my career.
I am in a barred position, I'm a staff attorney.
It's a lot of work. It's really rewarding.
I actually really do like my job,
I just, uh, today's the day my student loan debits.
Those days can be harder than others.
- Hopefully we were able to clear up any burning questions,
misconceptions, anything that you have about law school.
- My personal law school experience
was a lot of ups and downs.
- Law school gave me more confidence than anything.
- Yeah.
- Think about the bigger picture.
Think what you want to do with it.
Make sure it's where your heart really is,
because it's a lot of work and a lot of money.
- That too.
- It's not as terrible as everyone says it is either.
- It's terrible.
- Law school
(upbeat music).