Constitutional Law - Story

<p>I was at UCSB, which is my probable undergrad school, on a bus. I started talking to someone who goes there and it turned out we had the same major and same goal of going to UCLA Law and both for Con Law. However, he told me that I wouldn't fit in at Constitutional Law because I am liberal, while most people there are Libertarian or Conservative. </p>

<p>My AP Gov/Econ teacher used to work at UCLA Law so I asked her, she said most people in Constitutional Law and the professors are actually very liberal. The former president of the UCLA Law was one of the most liberal person she ever knew.</p>

<p>So that's my story, now for this:</p>

<p>Any other Con Law people here?' What made you want to get into this field? What do you want to do with it later?</p>

<p>You don’t have a major in law school the way you do in undergrad. So you don’t really “go into Con Law” in law school and it’s not really a coherent practice area. A few firms have Supreme Court and appellate litigation practices (like Jenner & Block or Akin Gump) and some non-profits like the ACLU bring civil rights suits. That’s probably about as close as you’d come. And most law professors, including con law professors, are pretty liberal.</p>

<p>Can’t you focus in one aspect of law? I know some people do tax law, or bankruptcy, ect.</p>

<p>After the first year (when you have no control over your schedule), you could focus on a particular area if you wanted, though there probably won’t be any specific program. And again, only a very small subset of litigators deal with the kinds of issues you’d cover in con law on a regular basis.</p>

<p>Civil rights cases?</p>

<p>Civil rights cases are typically grounded in statutes like the Civil Rights Act, with perhaps some Constitutional claims thrown in for good measure (e.g. interstate commerce clause claims). </p>

<p>The Constitution underlies all laws in the U.S. Claims based upon violation of some provision of the Constitution can stem from almost anything (business, licensing, voting, education, politics, etc.). It is the folks who specialize in the “anything” who often work on all of the tort-, contract- and statute/regulatory-based claims in that area, as well as any Constitutional claims that may arise.</p>