Job Responsibilities
I am currently a 2L day student at Cleveland-Marshall College of
Law. I work part-time as a research assistant / teaching assistant
for a professor (approx. 8-10 hours/week) and usually spend
approximately 40-50 hours/week on schoolwork. (Right now, I'm
spending more time because finals start on Monday!)
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Job Requirements
The workload is not overwhelming, but law school needs to be your
number one priority when you come to this school -- if it's not,
your grades will reflect it. The program is a 3-year full-time,
4-year part-time program, with a variety of different types of
students. The classes here range from typical bar classes to
everything from Tax to Mental Health Law -- there's quite a
variety, including various concentrations that students may focus
on. I've never had a problem getting into a class; I've
ocassionally been put on a waiting list, but always ended up in
the classes I wanted. Grading is tough -- first year is on a "C"
curve, and subsequently I would say it's bumped up to about a "B"
curve for upper-level classes. You need to be in class, do the
reading assignments, and be on top of your studies to do well
here. The professors are fantastic --- very accessible to students
both in and out of the classroom, and in my experience they
definitely make teaching their first priority.
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Uppers
I enjoy being in the classroom, especially after taking a few years off between
college and law school -- the fact that school is now my "job" is a great change!
I spent two years after graduating from Denison University working as a paralegal
-- one year as a corporate paralegal with Baker & Hostetler LLP, then another
year as an Intellectual Property paralegal with Jones Day. I was subsequently
accepted into an actor training program with a Broadway theatre in NYC, so I
moved to New York and spent a year acting and working as a manager of a
restaurant in mid-town Manhattan. That winter, I applied and was accepted to C-M,
and made the decision to go back to school. C-M has been an amazing fit for me
--- and I came back when I was finally ready to be here and make it my first
priority.
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Downers
It's a big time commitment, and when you start law school, your life changes
considerably. People who haven't
been through this have trouble understanding how and why you need to spend
Saturdays (and sometimes
Sundays) all day at the library, after you've been there all week. It can
definitely put stress on outside
relationships. But, on the up-side, because of this fact, you definitely learn
quickly (hopefully) how to balance
different areas of your life and make time for everything and everyone.
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Lifestyle
As I've said, this requires a person to put law school above (almost) all else,
in order to truly be successful and get the most out of your experience. You also
want to get as much out of this time and these classes as possible in order to
pass the bar successfully upon your first attempt! There are a variety of social
events and "outlets" throughout the year, in addition to various student
organizations you can get involved in on-campus outside of classes. But remember,
the reason you are here is for school --- that needs to be #1.
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Compensation
N/A (yet) --- happily, I am employed with a firm for the summer --- so
compensation can be a nice result after
working hard for a year or two!
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Advice to Jobseekers
I would talk to lawyers, and law students, and get a feel for what you'll be
getting yourself into; sit in on law
school classes if there's a law school in your area, and go to some recruiting
events to see what you think. Take
the LSAT -- get it over with! Ideally, working as a paralegal (as I did) is also
an invaluable experience before law
school, because it lets you see what life in a law firm is like, and if it's an
environment you would be happy in.
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