Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[DogDayPM 9er9er9er]

I've used this too - there is a 255 character limit, but that should be plenty for most statements.

Weird.  Your reply got me to wondering.  I've got a couple that are well over 700 characters that continue to work fine, but when I tried to test load a long one in just now I got the 255 trunc warning.  Maybe the long ones are from an older version of WORD and the txt file imported.

[stuffball]

You're definitely getting some good advice and tricks here. 

I will again try to depress you because it is my nature to do so.

Being in patent prosecution while in law school is very much like being that little dutch kid sticking his fingers in a leaky dyke.  Basically, your job is to keep everything in your life (wife and kids, job, grades, etc.) one or more drips from total catastrophe.  Don't expect to be too good at anything in this period - just concentrate on surviving.  You are bound to screw things up here and there, lower your standards and don't let it get to you.  That way you'll feel less overwhelmed.

I'm not saying do a lousy job, I'm just saying that you have to realize you're running several races at once... and not necessarily on race tracks that run in the same direction.  If you get swamped at work, your grades will suffer.  If you work really hard on a paper for class, you will probably half-ass a couple of office action responses... whether you mean to or not.  You only have so much attention, mental capacity and time.

I will say this - when it comes to colossal fuck-ups remember that family is forever, law school is only four years and any job could end abruptly next week for reasons that may or may not be your fault.

[horsechute]

I know someone who traded her way up to being a partner, and took all her work frustration home with her every night. Now, she is no longer a partner in a law firm, and gets to trade the kids on the weekends.

[Ruined_My_Life]

Thank you all for your comments.  They were really helpful.

It's true that I kind of feel like I'm screwing everything up.  I'm not 100% at my job, not 100% at school and not really 100% husband/father. 

[DogDayPM 9er9er9er]

Thank you all for your comments.  They were really helpful.

It's true that I kind of feel like I'm screwing everything up.  I'm not 100% at my job, not 100% at school and not really 100% husband/father. 

Yeah, well, if so you'd be at 300%.  None of us can do that, man.

[iamddn]

Hey -the first couple of years will be the hardest - 1650 is a pretty serious billing requirement for a patent agent in law school.  Even as a patent attorney billing between 1800 - 2000 hours per year (an extra 14-29 hours per month) you will have a lot more free time.   This will all soon be a distant memory.

Myself, I did not work in law school, because I calculated that I would come out ahead by finishing in 3 years and earning attorney wages for that fourth year, and having flexibility to work where I wanted after law school - so I cannot advise on how to cope with your current situation.

[La-Z-Boy Life]

Hey -the first couple of years will be the hardest - 1650 is a pretty serious billing requirement for a patent agent in law school.  Even as a patent attorney billing between 1800 - 2000 hours per year (an extra 14-29 hours per month) you will have a lot more free time.   This will all soon be a distant memory.

To the OP, I agree with IAMDDN.  Heck, after a few years, you'll be rolling in the dough and the free time that you can afford a new wife and kids! 

[stuffball]

"the free time that you can afford a new wife and kids!"

Sadly, that happens very often.  One of my first year profs explicitly told us that "night law school tends to break up marriages."  At the time, people were pissed at him... but he was just being honest.

[La-Z-Boy Life]

"the free time that you can afford a new wife and kids!"

Sadly, that happens very often.  One of my first year profs explicitly told us that "night law school tends to break up marriages."  At the time, people were pissed at him... but he was just being honest.

Oh yeah-  under all that stress, you spend more time with your study group and she spends more time with her tennis instructor   

Although the legal profession, from personal experience, seems to not be the best for sustaining marriages anyway, so maybe your prof could have omitted "night" and have been succinctly profound   

Bottom line to the OP, put first things first, and if your marriage survives this period, remember you owe her and your kids BIG TIME 

[saintlos]

One other thing to consider: an in-house position.
I'm an in-house patent agent and part-time 1L like yourself. I don't work on weekends, and no matter what happens at 5:20 I'm out of there.

And about priorities: in this economy keeping your job is way more important than good grades at school. That's my approach, anyway.

[saintlos]

and if I had to measure, my balance is 95% at work, 60% at school (yes! keeping it realistic, aiming for those B's), 80% husband/father

[lukertin]

Since I can't speak to your other concerns, here's how to do the least amount of work for law school and still be at least median:

1. Don't read the cases, read the briefs on Westlaw/Lexis instead. (huge time saver)
2. Get the best hornbook for the class (either one written by the editor, one well known in the field), read the relevant sections for the daily assignments. (so you'll actually understand the significance of the case)
[These two steps will end up taking about 20 minutes per class, instead of ~45 reading and trying to understand a case written in archaic and confusing, meandering English that discusses a bunch of tangential shit that isn't important.  At the start you'll feel like you aren't doing what you need to for the class but the reality is you won't be missing anything.]
3. Find a good outline made by a previous student in the same class. (so you know what was taught)
4. Modify the outline to your class/ for your understanding. (so you know what's on the exam)
5. Sleep, play your daughter, sex up your wife
--
6. Bring your new outline to the final and earn a B+

[decom]

Just so that I understand clearly, you are a first year law student, and you are doing work and billing as a first year associate or agent?  If you are billing as an agent, imagine what the pressure would be billing as an attorney at a higher rate while the budget remains the same.
As for the extra hours, that's pretty much standard until you become more efficient.  The thing about reporting your hours, it's a double-edged sword.  Partners would tell you to report all the hours you work and they will decide how many they can bill.  However, this can hurt you in your hour management since you do now know the actual number of hours billed until possibly several months later.  As a result, you may be more behind than you think.  Another negative aspect of not being efficient is that the number of hours reduced by the partners may come back to haunch you at the end of the year.  Some firms will compare your cut-off hours with others to determine who to keep or who to give more bonuses.  My suggestion to to ask other associates about the firm's policies and plan accordingly.

[Robert K S]

may come back to haunch you

I'm not one to nitpick others' idiomatic mistakes, but I thought you might appreciate the heads-up that it's "come back to haunt you", like a poltergeist.  Haunch = buttock. :-)

[virus_guy]

I think everyone made some very good points. They will surely help me decide whether I want to continue down this path or move on to something else. My situation is a little bit different than the OP's but mostly similar. So everyone's advice has been immensely helpful.