7 ms·

both my father and a dear friend gave me some great advice... "if you can, go to law school. even if you're not a practicing lawyer, it's very useful to know ho

both my father and a dear friend gave me some great advice... "if you can, go to law school. even if you're not a practicing lawyer, it's very useful to know how they think." one friend commented "law school teaches you about the operating system of society"

Ancalagon 7y ago
I would agree. Too bad it costs an arm and a leg these days to go...
- ScottFree 7y ago
  I'm surprised there isn't a Khan Academy style online class for learning aspects of American law.
  - ummonk 7y ago
    There are online degree programs which are accepted by some state bar associations.
    - WrtCdEvrydy 7y ago
      ooh, gonna find that out later.
  - lonelappde 7y ago
    Barbri isn't free, but it's much cheaper than law school. You don't need school to learn the law, you just need to borrow and buy some books.
- Cynddl 7y ago
  It depends on the country. I'm assuming you're from the US, but (law) education in Europe is generally much more affordable.
  - Insanity 7y ago
    Yup, here (Belgium) it costs the same as anything else. :)
rolltiide 7y ago
I’d go just to learn the latin Would definitely fill in the pieces from some of my own study of law
- Deinos 7y ago
  A couple undergraduate classics courses would be far cheaper and much more useful in that regard. On a similar note, studying Greek and Latin in college gave me a large leg up in other areas of study (e.g. I had a much greater mastery of English and writing, programming language syntax was far easier to learn, etc.). Classical languages are far more useful than people realize.
  - heavenlyblue 7y ago
    How's Greek and Latin related to programming language syntax?
    - elliottkember 7y ago
      I studied Latin and to me it’s the syntax that’s interesting and useful for this career. Subject-object-verb structure, and the words change depending on their usage (declension/conjugation). Picking apart a sentence in a foreign language and making sense of the structure is a lot like programming so it’s a transferable skill
      - roel_v 7y ago
        "Picking apart a sentence in a foreign language and making sense of the structure is a lot like programming so it’s a transferable skill" ... yeah no those are nothing alike at all...
        elliottkember 7y ago
        Debugging, then. I don’t know. Your mileage may vary.
        7y ago
crimsonalucard 7y ago
Operating systems are suppose to assist the user. In this and most cases the law is a system of oppression. 16 years is a travesty. Economics and science are the true operating systems of society. You go to law school to learn security exploits.
- lone_haxx0r 7y ago
  Using security exploits is non-coercive. Law is coercive. You go to law school to learn how people convince other people to force other people to do things.
  - crimsonalucard 7y ago
    Why people follow law is not part of what you learn in law school. That is an anthropological phenomenon that has to do with culture, society and biology. What you learn in law school is less fundamental and more specific to the system at hand. You learn contracts, property, criminal law, constitutional law, legal methods, civil procerude... torts... You learn the specifics so that the system can be exploited. If you think people who study law have some deep insight on the true nature of civilizations and the rules that humans operate under you are completely wrong. Questions like which system is better? Communism or capitalism? Dictatorship or Democracy? Are not what you study in law school. Remember law school is about security exploits.
    - bjourne 7y ago
      I think you have not studied law.
    - ajdlinux 7y ago
      Putting aside the question of what they do and don't teach in law school - over in my part of the world, where, as is normal in the British Commonwealth, law is normally studied at an undergraduate level, it's fairly standard for law students to double major in the humanities or social sciences, where those questions do indeed get asked from a non-legal and more anthropological and cultural perspective.
solidsnack9000 7y ago
I've been reading "Lectures on Jurisprudence", a collation of lecture notes from a course Adam Smith gave in the 1760s. It is somewhat puzzling phrasing but seems to be a very structured introduction to the law, addressing questions like: * What are the ways recognised by the law in which people acquire property? One way is simply by holding it for a long time; another is by receiving it, as through an inheritance; a third is when property results from other property, as when an apple tree produces apples. * What do "rights" mean in a legal context and where do they originate from? Some are intrinsic, some are the result of agreements. * What are the laws of marriage and inheritance and how have they changed over time?
tasty_freeze 7y ago
I don't understand how this is great advice. You might as well say: if you can, go to med school so that when you have to deal with the medical establishment, you know how it works. Spend years as a carpenters apprentice so when you buy a house you will be able to recognize the quality/problems it has. etc
- 1123581321 7y ago
  It’s because (according to this thinking), a legal background combines well with almost anything else you end up doing as long as terms, contracts, long documents and regulations are unavoidable. Other fields are also useful, and the rigor from studying, e.g., medicine, may be useful for the discipline it instills, but aren’t as ubiquitous and scary to laypersons as law. It’s why you see a lot of COOs and CEOs with some legal background or at least familiarity.
  - deskglass 7y ago
    > It’s why you see a lot of COOs and CEOs with some legal background or at least familiarity. An alternative hypothesis based on people I know - traditionally, smart/middle-to-high class people pick between medicine, law, and finance, with law school being the default. Then many of these people realize they don't like practicing law so they transition into something else.
    - 1123581321 7y ago
      That’s reasonable. I think law’s especially well suited to that, too, because the lawyer job market is in tatters compared to medicine right now (no idea about finance.) The comparative advantage of using the degree to complement another field can be worth more than actually practicing.
ww520 7y ago
You don't have to go to law school. Just take a commercial law course in a college.

Ancalagon 7y ago

I would agree. Too bad it costs an arm and a leg these days to go...

ScottFree 7y ago
I'm surprised there isn't a Khan Academy style online class for learning aspects of American law.
- ummonk 7y ago
  There are online degree programs which are accepted by some state bar associations.
  - WrtCdEvrydy 7y ago
    ooh, gonna find that out later.
- lonelappde 7y ago
  Barbri isn't free, but it's much cheaper than law school. You don't need school to learn the law, you just need to borrow and buy some books.
Cynddl 7y ago
It depends on the country. I'm assuming you're from the US, but (law) education in Europe is generally much more affordable.
- Insanity 7y ago
  Yup, here (Belgium) it costs the same as anything else. :)

rolltiide 7y ago

I’d go just to learn the latin Would definitely fill in the pieces from some of my own study of law

Deinos 7y ago
A couple undergraduate classics courses would be far cheaper and much more useful in that regard. On a similar note, studying Greek and Latin in college gave me a large leg up in other areas of study (e.g. I had a much greater mastery of English and writing, programming language syntax was far easier to learn, etc.). Classical languages are far more useful than people realize.
- heavenlyblue 7y ago
  How's Greek and Latin related to programming language syntax?
  - elliottkember 7y ago
    I studied Latin and to me it’s the syntax that’s interesting and useful for this career. Subject-object-verb structure, and the words change depending on their usage (declension/conjugation). Picking apart a sentence in a foreign language and making sense of the structure is a lot like programming so it’s a transferable skill
    - roel_v 7y ago
      "Picking apart a sentence in a foreign language and making sense of the structure is a lot like programming so it’s a transferable skill" ... yeah no those are nothing alike at all...
      - elliottkember 7y ago
        Debugging, then. I don’t know. Your mileage may vary.
      - 7y ago

crimsonalucard 7y ago

Operating systems are suppose to assist the user. In this and most cases the law is a system of oppression. 16 years is a travesty. Economics and science are the true operating systems of society. You go to law school to learn security exploits.

lone_haxx0r 7y ago
Using security exploits is non-coercive. Law is coercive. You go to law school to learn how people convince other people to force other people to do things.
- crimsonalucard 7y ago
  Why people follow law is not part of what you learn in law school. That is an anthropological phenomenon that has to do with culture, society and biology. What you learn in law school is less fundamental and more specific to the system at hand. You learn contracts, property, criminal law, constitutional law, legal methods, civil procerude... torts... You learn the specifics so that the system can be exploited. If you think people who study law have some deep insight on the true nature of civilizations and the rules that humans operate under you are completely wrong. Questions like which system is better? Communism or capitalism? Dictatorship or Democracy? Are not what you study in law school. Remember law school is about security exploits.
  - bjourne 7y ago
    I think you have not studied law.
  - ajdlinux 7y ago
    Putting aside the question of what they do and don't teach in law school - over in my part of the world, where, as is normal in the British Commonwealth, law is normally studied at an undergraduate level, it's fairly standard for law students to double major in the humanities or social sciences, where those questions do indeed get asked from a non-legal and more anthropological and cultural perspective.

solidsnack9000 7y ago

I've been reading "Lectures on Jurisprudence", a collation of lecture notes from a course Adam Smith gave in the 1760s. It is somewhat puzzling phrasing but seems to be a very structured introduction to the law, addressing questions like: * What are the ways recognised by the law in which people acquire property? One way is simply by holding it for a long time; another is by receiving it, as through an inheritance; a third is when property results from other property, as when an apple tree produces apples. * What do "rights" mean in a legal context and where do they originate from? Some are intrinsic, some are the result of agreements. * What are the laws of marriage and inheritance and how have they changed over time?

tasty_freeze 7y ago

I don't understand how this is great advice. You might as well say: if you can, go to med school so that when you have to deal with the medical establishment, you know how it works. Spend years as a carpenters apprentice so when you buy a house you will be able to recognize the quality/problems it has. etc

1123581321 7y ago
It’s because (according to this thinking), a legal background combines well with almost anything else you end up doing as long as terms, contracts, long documents and regulations are unavoidable. Other fields are also useful, and the rigor from studying, e.g., medicine, may be useful for the discipline it instills, but aren’t as ubiquitous and scary to laypersons as law. It’s why you see a lot of COOs and CEOs with some legal background or at least familiarity.
- deskglass 7y ago
  > It’s why you see a lot of COOs and CEOs with some legal background or at least familiarity. An alternative hypothesis based on people I know - traditionally, smart/middle-to-high class people pick between medicine, law, and finance, with law school being the default. Then many of these people realize they don't like practicing law so they transition into something else.
  - 1123581321 7y ago
    That’s reasonable. I think law’s especially well suited to that, too, because the lawyer job market is in tatters compared to medicine right now (no idea about finance.) The comparative advantage of using the degree to complement another field can be worth more than actually practicing.

ww520 7y ago

You don't have to go to law school. Just take a commercial law course in a college.