The Intellectual Property Forum

no one is asking the important question - WHY would you want to lateral to Finnegan?

This is the credited question.  Why do you like Finnegan?  Why do you consider a law firm's rankings?  If you are looking outside for validation, you will never be happy - not even at [the best firm this year according to biased magazine X].

Seriously, want to enjoy what you do and who you work with.  Striving will not lead to validation; it will only lead to constant insecurity.

Gracias.

Welcoming any and all advice on how to own law school.

Read "Law School Confidential" and "Getting to Maybe"  It'll teach you all the time lines you need to be conscious of.

Get outlines for the profs from 2Ls, but don't rely exclusively or even substantially on them.  Let them be your guideposts.

PWN legal writing - its all about organization.  More importantly, good legal writing makes mediocre finals look a lot better.

Law school is about preparing for class and preparing for the final.  Emphasize the latter.

You'll be inefficient at first - everything takes more time the first time around.

Keep you calm - remember that everyone else is going through this.

Most importantly: don't be a jackass.  Humility will serve you well in law school and in life.  If you feel the need to be a gunner, be a closet gunner.

Am I being crazy (my wife thinks so)? 

Not if you don't mind being divorced...  jk

You need to get over your addiction to school, man.  You'll do just fine with a PhD; or rather, I really don't think an EE will open many more doors after you graduate from Suffolk.  If you are trying to over-compensate for going to a third or fourth tier law school, getting an EE will not do it.  Getting some patent prosecution experience, on the other hand, is a much better return on your investment.

The OP never mentioned moving to the U.S.  Not everyone wants to go into IP and move here.  And some of us want to go into IP and move out of here.

If the OP is not going to be a US lawyer, he shouldn't have anything to worry about conflicts then, should s/he?

If he is going to be a US barred lawyer living outside of the states and giving advice about the US legal system, I wonder if he would even have to worry about conflicts.  While ethically bound, he would be outside of the State's reach, wouldn't he?  It's been a while since I've looked at the rules for unauthorized practice of law, but I recall there being a territorial requirement - like the act of giving advice must occur in that state.  Does anyone know more about this?  Eg, if I live in NY and give advice to my client on IL law while in NY, have I subjected myself to the personal jurisdiction of IL?  Much less the Supreme Court of IL?  I know there is some reciprocity rule - like, in my hypo, the NY bar can punish me.  But what if, instead of NY, it was France? 

Just curious, is this ever a concern for expatriate US attorneys?  What if you lose your US law license, do some people still practice US law abroad? 

OK, enough procrastinating, back to work...

Of relevance may be that I’m not in US and the study requirements are not as onerous here.

Are you in a US law school?  If not, this is all moot because you cannot be a lawyer in just about any state unless you went to a law school in the states.  The only exception that I can think of is New York - if you get a law degree in another country, get an LLM in an ABA accredited law school and then take the NY bar exam, you can be a NY lawyer.  Otherwise, you can't be a US lawyer.  Last time I checked, even California does not allow people who go to online law school to sit for the California bar exam.

Please explain your situation more.

u turn on by 2$ hooker?

Yes, sometimes I like to splurge and pay the extra $1.

/thread

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Pretty much the whole V100. Average billables is well below 1900 this year because there isn't enough work.  Seriously, though, even if you work 3 hours to bill 2, 60 hour weeks gets you over 1900 billable hours, and a number of firms have that as the requirement.

And yes, they're all hiring. Maybe not a lot, but very few firms have canceled their 2010 summer classes, much less their 2012 ones (which is the one that would matter for OP).

So, you're saying that the market will only improve?  Will the value of my real estate also only increase?   

You are right that the Vault 100 is hiring, but it'll be a lot tougher to land those jobs this year and next.  OP will probably be fine, but may have to slum it the first year or so after law school before making some big bucks.  But if I need a DUI lawyer, he's got my business.

In the meantime though, let's hope for no more layoffs of first year associates who don't even have a chance to make 1900.  http://lawshucks.com/layoff-tracker/#rawdata