<p>I am a college sophomore very interested in finance and business. I was thinking about going into a wall street or consulting job after graduation but recently, I've been thinking about going to law school to become a corporate lawyer. </p>
<p>How much reading is there to do in law school? I'm a very slow reader, and it isn't my favorite thing to do, but I have a very sharp technical, mathematical, and financial mind.</p>
<p>there can be quite a bit of reading. but even more important than the number of pages, it is also very different type of reading than many people are used to prior to law school. </p>
<p>you're not just reading the pages to get the general drift of what is being said or the overall conclusions -- for the most part you are reading excepts from cases -- depends on the class and the casebook as to how extensive the excerpts are or if you are reading entire cases -- you have to analyze what you are reading carefully -- you are trying to see not only what the court decided but WHY -- is there language that might show how they would rule if the facts were slightly different? which of several reasons cited it the most important? etc.</p>
<p>as an undergrad i double majored in two social sciences that resulted in my having to read a couple of hundred of pages a week on a regular basis. the number of pages i had to read a week in law school was less - but it was a much more time consuming reading.</p>
<p>and in college, often you could sit through a class if you were a little behind in the reading and still understand -- the readings might often only be relevant come exam time (or in some classes, not even then :) ). in law school, class discussions focus on the cases -- if you haven't read them you are lost and possibly worse if you have a prof who calls on people regardless of who volunteers.</p>
<p>many students use review books that summarize the key points of cases in order to help themselves with the material -- i never did -- and it depends on the student, the course, and the prof as to how much of a help those aids can be in any given class.</p>
<p>in addition - the practice of law itself, especially for a junior associate, involves a lot of legal research, which again means carefully reading cases, statutes, and regs, in order to formulate a conclusion to pass along to the more senior attorney.</p>
<p>dvd56x,</p>
<p>From what you have told us about yourself, if sounds like law school would not be playing to your strengths. As a rule of thumb, the people who are happiest practicing law tend to be compulsive readers. There are exceptions, but not that many, in my experience. </p>
<p>There are other jobs that pay a high premium for someone with a sharp, technical, mathematical and financial mind. Your first instinct here (a financial or consulting job) might be a better way to go.</p>
<p>thanks for your responses.</p>
<p>I never considered law school before. I always wanted to go into consulting or investment banking. I actually find myself avoiding classes with a lot of reading at Princeton and taking the more mathmatical, financial, technical classes. </p>
<p>But I have recently looked into working at a law firm doing corporate law and M & A (which is what I would be doing on wall street, without the legal aspect). It kind of appeals to me, but then again, I'm not sure.</p>
<p>when you are considering whether or not you want to go to law school in order to do corporate work, i would suggest you carefully examine what corporate lawyers do at the various stages of their career -- if the type of work you are really interested in doing isn't something an attorney touches until having paid many years of dues at the lower ranks, ask yourself whether you are willing to put in the law firm time required to end up doing what you want to do.</p>