Florida Coastal School of Law...should I go? (Jacksonville, Miami: apartment, to buy)

[SJC2010]

I should, also, mention that I have been thinking about going to get my MBA after law school. Would this make a difference in gaining employment? I had thought about doing a dual MBA/JD program, but realize the course work would be too much and it would be better to do it separately.

[Robyn55]

Some agents are lawyers. Many - perhaps most - aren't. But many sports and entertainment people have lawyers. Sometimes latching onto a super star client is a matter of luck - like this case of a Jacksonville lawyer who went to Stetson and now represents John Travolta:

http://www.superlawyers.com/florida/article/Star-Attraction/5df28e25-fe83-4fee-bdc0-0c52cdc12881.html

But usually it's a more predictable path. I have a friend who's an entertainment lawyer. He went to work in Los Angeles after law school (in about 1970) at a large firm with an "entertainment" group. But that's simply the beginning. He was good at cultivating existing clients - and bringing in new ones - and did ok. Note that getting the job at the firm isn't enough. If you don't "make rain" - you won't make it. And if a lawyer makes lots and lots of rain - he or she will frequently leave his/her firm and set up his/her own shop. Robyn

[SJC2010]

Thanks Robyn,

I figured getting hired by a firm was only half the battle, and that it would be like any corporation where the security of your job is about the coin you bring in.

I realize networking is going to be one of the main keys, outside of top grades and mc/lr; what are some of the best ways to network with the legal community in the Jax area?

[Robyn55]

Originally Posted by SJC2010

...I realize networking is going to be one of the main keys, outside of top grades and mc/lr; what are some of the best ways to network with the legal community in the Jax area?

Don't have a clue (I spent most of my lawyering careeer in Miami). The one thing I can say is I would never meet a potential client golfing at Pablo Creek. Because I'm a woman - and women aren't allowed to be members there. Robyn

[projectmaximus]

I dont have (and never had) any interest in being a lawyer, yet I can't stop reading this thread. And it's paid off now that I get to imagine Robyn "making lots of rain." So worth it. Hope my mom is that hip in a few years...

The only constructive comment I can add is that I now know three recent FCSL grads; one that's doing pretty well, one that's surviving, and one that's been unemployed for over a year.

[SJC2010]

Originally Posted by Robyn55

Don't have a clue (I spent most of my lawyering careeer in Miami). The one thing I can say is I would never meet a potential client golfing at Pablo Creek. Because I'm a woman - and women aren't allowed to be members there. Robyn

Really?!?! That seems a little backwards, that they won't let women be members.

[fsquid]

It's a proper golfing club.

[gobsmackedinjax]

FCSL is not a great law school, after 14 yrs, still tier 4. Dean Goplerud is a joke. Worst public speaker I have ever heard. I would think if you are an attorney and a Dean of a law school you could make a speech with out uh, uh, uh, uh........... Dean Goplerud, go to Toastmasters. The bar passage rate is pretty low. For profit law school puts many too many attorneys out in the working force without real skills. FCSL only cares about their bottom line.

[geaux6294]

Originally Posted by 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.

Ok, I am too looking for a little advice/perspective, mainly from FCSL_08. you seem to be the most realistic concerning the reality of attending this school.
I just graduated from LSU, wanted to be an attorney since I was old enough to say the word. I got waitlisted at LSU, got in at Loyola and Mississippi College. Now because of financial factors, Loyola being 34k and MC being 30k, my benefactors (parents) do not wish for me to attend these schools. I had not planned on this, and bc of this and my arrogance due to good LSAT I did not apply to Southern (a cheap 4T)
FCLS offered me 12k a year which is a third of the tuition.

LSU is about 15k/year and Southern 8k/year and my parents want me now to consider sitting out a year to make some money/ increase professional and then enter one of the cheaper LA public institutions. However, I really just want to be in school come August.

Assuming LSU does not admit me my question is, financial factors aside; do you think it is a viable option for me to attend FCLS for my first year with the sole intention of transferring? Whether its to Southern or hopefully LSU, either would be fine because I want to practice/live in LA and have many professional contacts here. Would that incompetent perception you mentioned adversely effect me that badly in attempting to transfer or more notably when trying to get a job later on?

Sorry, this was longer than I planned. Any advice is much appreciated.

[fsu813]

Just a general comment:

Finding a job out of law school, ANY law school, is difficult these days.

A friend of mine who went to FSU, out about a year now, is temping in Los Angeles along side of Yale graduates.

Tough pickens for everyone.

The hardest part is getting your foo in the door, but once it's in, after a few years, noone cares what school you went to at all. If you an do the job, they don't care where you went to college umpteen years ago.

There isn't a huge demand for lawyers anymore, simple as that. Oversaturation of the market, plus the economic decline = good luck!

Engineers, chemists, and architects are a much moreviable future, if you can swing it....