Florida Coastal School of Law...should I go? (Jacksonville, Miami: unemployed, schools)

[SJC2010]

I've read a lot of the posts on here and it has been quite informative. However, I have chosen FCSL and will be entering this fall, unless Marquette takes me from their waiting list. My ultimate goal is to practice law in business/sports/contracts area. I don't remember if I read it here or somewhere else, but there have been people that have said sports law programs and certificates don't really amount to anything. My question is, would this still be the case if I eventually applied to a law firm that dealt with sports and entertainment field, or should I not waste my time and just work on the jd by itself? Also, what is the best way to prepare for 0l year at FCSL? I got the complete idiot's guide to speed reading to improve my reading speed, bc it is rather slow. I, also, have Law School Confidential, Acing Your First Year of Law School, and Law 101. I doubt I'm going to have time to read all of those between enjoying the summer and traveling, which one would be the most beneficial in reading before the year begins?

Thanks for the advice.

[904jax]

SJC 2010,


Here are some suggestions to prepare for law school:

1. Develop and implement healthy stress management strategies, such as regular exercise and mediation.
2. Obtain bar preparation (BarBri & PMBR) outlines and begin to look over the outlines for contracts, property, torts, and criminal law.
3. After spending several hours a day 3 to 5 days a week reviewing the outlines for two to three weeks, begin working on bar prep multiple choice questions related to contracts, property, torts, and criminal law. Review the questions you answer wrong (as a non-lawyer you will miss many) and learn the correct answer. You should do 50 questions a day for a month.
4. The process of actively studying the law will familiarize you with the concepts that will be presented in your first year substantive law classes.
5. While it is important to learn to read the law, it is more important to be able to distill legal concepts/rules in concise packets of data and apply the legal rules to the facts. Doing practice exams and questions is the best method to learn this skill.
6. Think about how you will organize the information presented in law school. Try to find class outlines from successful law students to understand what effective organization looks like.

**In my opinion, prospective law students are better off focusing on improving LSAT scores to boost them out of the 4th tier, even if it means waiting an extra year. The practice areas mentioned in your post are “big firm” practice areas, which predominately hire out of the top tier.

While it is hard to predict the future, I believe the relative value of the 4th tier JD will continue to diminish in comparison to the 1st Tier JD as 4th Tier schools, developed as profit centers, continue to crank out more JDs than the legal job market can absorb.

[SJC2010]

Thanks 904jax,
My LSAT was pretty decent, my problem was that I waited so long to apply to law school, that the najority of tier 1 schools were already full and placed me on their waiting lists, but I've been told that it is rare for people who waited as long as I did to apply to get in off the waiting list. As for waiting a year, I just don't think I could sit idle for a year. I'm not going into this looking to transfer, but if it is true that 4th tiers don't really get "big" firm offers; what are the odds of being able to transfer to a tier 1 if you do very well your first year ar a t4? Again thank you for the prep info.

[904jax]

SJC 2010,

It is natural to want to get started, but I wouldn't count on being able to transfer. You may be placed in a section with the most competitive students, which could blunt your ability to get the rank necessary to transfer up to a better school. Perhaps some FCSL alumni can elucidate on whether or not FCSL puts its best incoming students together in one section?

[Robyn55]

I perhaps have an unusual perspective because I was an appellate lawyer. I had to be able to stand up in front of an appellate court and put my finger on a 2 sentence part of a 500 page transcript when a judge asked a question. I read *very* fast - and remember almost everything I read with great accuracy. Even a trial lawyer or a transactional lawyer - even in this age of computers - needs similar - although perhaps not as highly developed - skills. When you're a lawyer you frequently deal with a lot of words - and you have to be able to get through them quickly. So I would work hard developing your reading skills. Robyn

[904jax]

"When you're a lawyer you frequently deal with a lot of words - and you have to be able to get through them quickly. So I would work hard developing your reading skills." Robyn[/quote]



I agree 100% with this statement. For the law student, "issue spotting" and test taking skills are just as important.

[SJC2010]

904 and Robyn,
Thanks for the advice. I have the complete idiot's guide to speed reading; it had high reviews on amazon. Do you know of anyother resource that is good for increasing reading speed?

[Robyn55]

This skill kind of came to me naturally - so I don't have any suggestions. Except perhaps to practice. Robyn

[FCSL_08]

SJC2010 -

Apparently you have not read anything on these boards.

Sports law, entertainment law, and international law ARE NOT REAL AREAS WHERE YOU WILL EVER, EVER, EVER FIND A JOB GRADUATING FROM COASTAL!! There are no "sports law" firms. Jerry Maguire is not real life. People do not actually have jobs like that.

While Robyn55 means well, BUT SHE WENT TO ****ING HARVARD! Coastal is not Harvard. Coastal is to Harvard as kindergarten is to undergraduate. Graduating from Coastal absolutely will not qualify you for the same opportunities as someone from Harvard. Period.

If you are absolutely dead-set on going to Coastal, I can PROMISE you a few things:

1. You will not get a job at what you called a "big firm." You will not even get an interview. Your resume (along with the other 500 Coastal resumes the office manager sees) will go straight into the trash.

2. You will not get a paying summer job in the legal field.

3. You will have a very hard time finding ANY employment when you graduate. The public defender and state attorney offices have dozens of Coastal resumes sitting in a huge stack. I have seen this stack.

4. You have an 85% or so chance of losing your scholarship after your first year.

5. Family, friends, and colleagues will have never heard of your school, and will think/know you're going somewhere third or fourth rate. And it's a ****ty feeling.

6. Once you graduate with the other 600 or so people in your class at Veteran's Memorial Arena, you will forever be branded with a presumption of incompetence.

You've been warned. Have fun.

[SJC2010]

FCSL08,
I realize Jerry McGuire was a movie, but are sport agents not lawyers? Don't they deal with contracts and what not?

I guess what I mean by going into that type of field, is that I minored in business and would like to be a lawyer in that type of field. I do not really want to be a trial lawyer, but rather on the business side of law.

I appreciate your perspective. I understand you would not go to FCSL if you could do it all over again, but I am wondering what made you decide to go there?