One of the hardest pills for me to swallow in law school is the simple fact that my grades sometimes suffered simply because I did not have enough time to prepare.  This is not to say that my grades are bad (honor roll, deans list), just that I believe I could do better if I had more time.  But then I think, what is really important in my life?

Sure, it would be great to go through law school making the deans list every single term and pulling all As.  But the reality is that I just simply do not have the time to devote to getting all As in law school if I want to maintain some semblance of a happy family life.

When we decide as non traditional law students that we want that law degree, we must consider the demands on our time that we are willing to keep and to give up.  For me, my family time is something that I treasure and value.  Getting all As is just not worth my family or sanity.  Although it was a hard pill to swallow, and perhaps a somewhat humbling experience, I am still a very blessed and happy man.  Law school is for 3 years, family is forever.

God bless and have a great day.

It is often tempting to spout off in the heat of debate.  Be wary lest ye look like a fool.  It is great to have an opinion.  Just remember, everyone has an opinion.  To be truly intelligent and make your case you must have a reason for your opinion and be able to articulate it in a persuasive manner.  This is what good lawyers do, and this is what good law students should be learning to do.

God bless and have a great day.

I have known many law students that get so excited about finally graduating that they forget to put forth their best efforts during the last term.  Generally speaking, non traditional law students do not have this problem to the extent traditional law students do.  Perhaps that is because we tend to have many more responsibilities that continue regardless of where we are in our law school studies.  Still, it can and does happen.

Remember that our GPA does not differentiate between the first term and the last.  Remember that a bad grade in the last term is still a bad grade.  In fact, a downward slide in performance during the last term or last few classes could actually work against us.  Future employers do not want to see that we start strong and finish weak.  If anything, we should always finish strong.  Moreover, the last few classes are usually electives.  If we cannot do well in classes we actually chose to take, what does that say about us?

Senioritis is a real phenomenon.  Just don’t let it get the best of you.  God bless and have a great day.

The same is true in law school.  You will be told by countless other students “this is the way it is.”  You will be told by professors that “this is the law.”  This very well may be true, but why is it true?  Is it true because your fellow classmates said so?  Is it true because your professor said so?  If you take for truth what someone else says merely because they said it, you may want to choose a profession other than law.

There are of course many people I trust and whose opinions I value.  But I still question those things I have not researched for myself.  Think about it.  When we are lawyers someday, will we tell our clients they have no case because opposing counsel told us what the law was?  NO!  We will do our own research on the issues.  We will decide for ourselves what the law is and how it can best serve the needs of our clients.

Why wait until we are lawyers?  Do your research now while you are in law school.  Question every decision.  Form your own opinions based on what you have learned.  Only then will you be able to be a true advocate.  The law is not static because good lawyers have firm beliefs and argue those beliefs persuasively.  And those same lawyers started out where we are right now, in law school.

Who do you want to be when you get out of law school?  The guy that sat next to you?  Your professor?  I hope not.  You want to be You.  To truly be yourself in law school and as a lawyer, you must do your research or don’t believe it.  At the very least, question it until you are able to form a basis for the belief yourself.  God bless and have a great day.

If you want to keep sane – especially if you are a non traditional law student – you must take time for yourself often.  It does not need to be a long time, but you simply must take time.  If you go through law school without taking the proper time to just relax and enjoy yourself your brain will literally melt.  Well, it may not literally melt, but it won’t do it any good.

When I get overwhelmed I take 20 minutes and go outside.  That’s it.  I love God’s world around me.  I look at the animals, the trees, and the flowers.  It relaxes me.  You may not like the outdoors like I do, but there is something that you like to do that relaxes you.  When law school (and live in general for that matter) gets you down, do what you like to do for a while.  You will thank me later.  And your brain won’t melt.  God bless and have a great night.

For the most part, a traditional law student will devote most of her time to school (study, law review, moot court, etc.).  For the non traditional law student however, law school is in addition to work, family, and probably many other responsibilities.  Of course we must also balance the fact that many non traditional law students do not attend full time either.  That notwithstanding, most stresses for traditional law students come from school, while for the non traditional law student they come from many more sources.

That being said, for a law student who has basically all of her time to devote to school, she will probably obtain a very nice GPA if she wants to.  For the rest of us, it may be almost impossible to pull the same GPA simply because we do not have enough time to devote to our studies.  Does that mean that we are not as intelligent or as hard working as our traditional counter parts?  No.

I do not have a 4.0 GPA.  But I work full time.  I have a wife and six children.  I cut the grass and pay the bills.  I take the kids to activities.  The list goes on and on.  If you are like me, and I know some of you are, you know exactly what I am talking about.

I am very competitive and put a lot of pressure on myself.  During my first few terms I did very well grade wise, but my family and personal life suffered somewhat as a result.  In my later terms I have decided that being a 4.0 student is not worth three years of alienating my family, church, and friends.  This is not to say that I do not strive to do the best that I can do.  This is only to say that I realize that I must prioritize my life and create a proper balance.  Grades are certainly important, but they are not the most important.

I carry a class load that I feel comfortable with; that I can maintain a good GPA and still have time for the other important things in my life.  I have just had to except the fact that if I want to graduate from law school before I am, ahem, too old, I will probably not attain the GPA that I wish I could.

But consider this.  If you can average a 3.0 (or even a 2.5) with a moderate amount of study time, just think of what you can do if you really apply yourself during your study for the bar exam.  If you are serious about learning you will learn the material.  When you go for your bar review course it will all come back to you.  Then you can take 2-3 months and really cement the material into your mind.  Moreover, once you are a lawyer you will not have a full time job other than that of lawyer.  For me this means 40+ hours a week that I will have to familiarize myself with areas of the law that I did not have each week I was in law school.  After all, ethics do not require you to know the law in an area before you take a case.  They do require you to be able to learn the law through proper research and preparation.

So if your GPA is not as high as you would like it to be, take a moment to reflect why.  Is it because you are lazy?  Is it because you really just don’t care?  Or is it because you have made the commitment to prioritize your life and accept the fact that law school is not the most important thing in the world to a non traditional law student?

Don’t read this and think for one minute that I am promoting any slackers out there.  I study hard.  I just don’t study as much as I would like to because there are only 24 hours in a day (and I like it when my kids remember who I am.)  If you are doing the best you can, and you are not on academic probation, buck up and be happy.  When the bar review rolls around you will kick some booty!  God bless and have a great day.

However, one very important matter to consider is that our next president will likely have the power to appoint several Supreme Court Justices.  These Justices have the power to change our nation for decades or even centuries to come.  The economy of this great country has gone up and down, and it will continue to do so no matter who occupies the presidency.  But according to our great Constitution, the Supreme Court (more appropriately, at least 5 Justices on the Court) determines the Supreme Law of the Land!  This is GREAT power!

When you go to cast your vote this November remember this; the economy is not the only issue.  In my humble opinion, it is not even the primary issue.  A lifetime appointment with the ability to shape the supreme laws of a nation is no small matter.  This issue is by no means lost on the candidates, and lawyers and law students alike should be weighing this issue heavily.

When you cast your vote think this – What kind of America do I want for my grandchildren?  Your vote could very well determine the answer to that question.  God bless and have a great day.

P.S. I am not endorsing one candidate over another as each have different qualities.  Rather, I am inviting you to think about a very important issue that could very well shape the face of this Nation for generations to come.

I have often been asked, “how do you do it?”  My reply is always the same, “I just don’t think about it.”  I have found that the more I think about everything that I have to do the more stressed out I feel.  This is not to say that I do not care or plan for situations.  What I mean when I say that I just don’t think about it is simply this: I know I must do it, so I just do it.

In one of my very first posts I outlined what I thought about before deciding to attend law school.  If you can follow this method then why continue to dwell on everything you are doing?  The time for dwelling or planning is before you make committments.  After you have committed to law school you should quit dwelling on all the work, time, and energy it takes and just do it.

I knew what my responsibilities were before law school and so did you.  I heavily researched what law school entailed and (presumably) so did you.  Although I could not envision everything law school would entail, I knew it would be difficult.  But I also knew that I could do it.  You can do it too if you don’t think about it too much.  Keep your mind on the goal and not the journey.  Your mind will thank you in the long run.  God bless and have a great day!

Many of you other non traditional law students know what I am talking about.  The sacrifice is real, but it is not forever.  I am in my last year, and there is light at the end of the tunnel.  Remember, three years is a small price to pay for the privilege of someday being able to practice law.  God bless and have a great day.

Much of our power as law students (and future lawyers) comes from our unique ability to use and interpret words and language.  Words can elicite anger, joy, sadness, regret, etc…  The course of our nation has many times been altered according to the way a majority of Supreme Court justices have interpreted words in a document that is more than 200 years old.

The way we as law students use words can mean the difference between passing or failing an exam.  But the way we as lawyers will someday use our words could mean the difference between life and death, freedom or imprisonment, financial security or financial ruin, for the lives of people.

We as law students will someday be lawyers.  Let us all remember that we have the power.  With the stroke of a pen the lives of our clients could be changed forever.  As lawyers we can and will make a difference.  Let’s strive to make that difference a positive one.  Study hard and write with diligence and perseverance.  Let us remember to choose our words carefully and with great forethought.  We will be better law students and better lawyers for it.  God bless and have a great day.