Ohio Law Library

Im currently in the cross-roads of whether to go to Law school or continue my career in Finance/Economics. I would like to know, specially from the experienced onces, how wouldI know if going to law school is the right thing to do. And also what are the qualities that prospective Law students must posses/develop in order to survive Law school? Thanks!

The person above me shows his arrogance, which is the hallmark of a lawyer. That said, he’s correct – the "do you like to argue?" idea is one of the silliest things ever. Do you like to analyze, pick apart fallacies, read things over and over trying to find flaws you can exploit? Further, do you mind reading – and I don’t mean just merely reading, but understanding to the point of being asked to explain the intricaties of it – many pages of dense, boring texts? If so, law school might be all you. Make sure and sit in on some classes though and do talk with lawyers and law students. It’s not for everyone by any means. A lot of people enter the profession disappointed, but I think that’s much more due to not being adequately informed about the profession and/or education in the first place. I think law school is a great idea for someone with a finance/economics background and, at least in the finance industry, it is often viewed by HR people as a better degree than a MBA (read more challenging).

Why do people always listen to the Supreme Court? What if they really disagree? Like, not just a person, but what if a whole state court system disagrees?

They are voluntarily complied with.

Back during Andrew Jackson’s presidency the court handed down a ruling he didn’t like. The supreme court, led by Chief Justice John Marshall, prohibited President Andrew Jackson from forcibly moving Indians from southeastern states to the western territories. Jackson refused to obey, saying "John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it!"

I am planning to attend Harvard Law School.
How many years will I be in Harvard?
How to be a lawyer?

first you need an undergraduate degree. this takes most people 4-5 years.
law school at harvard law will be 3 years, unless you take time off or fail a lot of classes.
that’s a total of 7-8 years of school after high school.

oh, yeah. if you plan to attend harvard, you need to have amazing grades and extracurricular activities in high school and the same from a very, very good university. kudos to you for planning ahead.

I have been very disappointed in the way that the U.S. supreme court sits in lofty debate on other issues while avoiding constrasting 2nd Amendment rulings at the circuit court level.

Resolve the issue and be done with it. This is their job and they owe it to all Americans.
No, I don’t want it overturned, I want it clarified (really, re-clarified, because it’s obvious it’s an individual right).

I want the Supreme Court to rule on this amendment as an "individual" or "states right", and nullify all federal gun control laws.

I look at it like this: the criminals don’t follow the laws, so regulating firearms will only put ridiculous and costly restrictions on law-abiding citizens. All the new legislation will just cause more taxes and government waste. There’s this quote I’m rather fond of: "An Armed Person is a Citizen; An Unarmed Person is a Subject." While I don’t really expect the government to turn into a serious dictatorship, the subjugation need not come from the government. If the criminals will be armed in spite of legislation, while we are not, it is then that we become subjects of the armed criminals.

I am fighting a case against a rogue builder in Blore. I have lost the case in High Court in Karnataka. Now need to file an appeal at supreme court & looking for a smart & honest lawyer who practices at Supreme Court, who can fight my case on its merit. Please introduce to me to the good lawyer in New Delhi, you know personally.

check for Mr Arun Jetli, Mr Kapil Sibbal, they are too good a lawyer.

In the 19th Century, people still "read" for the bar exam. When was the law school restriction put in, and on what was the reasoning for changing the law?

Like someone has already said, there are NO LAWS mandating someone have a JD to sit for the bar. The field of law is regulated by each state’s supreme court – the legislature has nothing to do with it. I’m licensed in two states. In both states, the process of becoming licensed was overseen by a board, the members of which were appointed by that state’s supreme court. The field is regulated, not legislated. It’s the judiciary that decides the requirements for being licensed.

Some state judiciaries decided that reading into the law is sufficient to sit for the bar. But like someone else said, it is a sucky way to learn the law, and people who do it have a high likelihood of not passing the bar. In the 19th century, dentists were trained by watching other dentists, and then practicing on their patients. I think it’s a good thing that my dentist was required to get a degree in dentistry before he was allowed to drill my teeth.

Is a supreme court oral argument a government publication a lecture a federal testimony a federal report or a court case?
I need to know because i need to konw how to do a bib for it.
http://www.supremecourtus.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/05-1056.pdf

It would formally be recorded as "Oral Argument."

It isn’t testimony because the attorney isn’t under oath.

It isn’t a government publication because the government isn’t authorizing the claims.

And it isn’t a lecture, because it is a give-and-take session between attorneys and justices.

There is no academic problem with characterizing the argument as "Oral Argument in the Case of…" That’s fine.

I would like to prepare for my first year in law school. I am looking to purchase books on torts, contracts, civil procedure, constitutional law, and criminal law. Any recommendations on which books to read? I’ve heard Gilbert’s Law Reviews have good outlines, but is it easy to read and understand? Please advise.

Emanuel’s is a good outline – I liked it better than Gilbert’s. Examples & Explanations is also good. For class, you should get High Court Case Notes, which are keyed to your textbooks and summarizes each case in the book. You do not need to purchase any books on the above topics until you get your book list though. The books are very expensive and you do not want to get the wrong book.
You should take it easy before heading to law school. Maybe read 1L or watch the Paper Chase. But, to begin reading textbooks is not something I would advise you do. You will be doing enough of that when school starts!!!!!

I work full time for a nonprofit, and I got into law school at night and I want to go, but nonprofit work doesn’t pay very much and law school is pretty expensive. The school I’m going to doesn’t have any scholarships available for its night program, so I’m wondering about the possibility of outside funding. I’ve looked at fastweb and those sites, but there aren’t very many scholarships out there for law schools, most of the financial aid is for more academic programs. Can anyone help me out?

Does your school accept the FAFSA?
You should be able to get financial aid through the federal government. As for scholarships, fastweb is really the biggest database out there.

How much time does each side have to present their arguments? What are the criteria for the supreme court to hear a case? List the two ways cases come to the supreme court?

8-9000 cases each year, but the USSC only hears a tiny fraction. 79 were heard last term. Of those, 59 were overturned. The court doesn’t announce why it agrees to hear a particular case, but it’s usually to clear up a piece of law, to "right a wrong", or because they want to change the reasoning behind a ruled in a prior decision. .

The 2 ways a case can get to the court are on appeal from a lower court, or Original Jurisdiction (where two states are suing each other, or between the US and a State, or there’s a foreign ambassador involved).