I am applying and just wanted to know if there was anyone else out there facing similar challenges with the LSAT, etc.

I made it through law school and am currently a practicing criminal defense lawyer (trial level). I also clerked for one of our state Supreme Court justices for a one year term. Law school and ADD are not mutually exclusive! It was challenging, but the hardest part was completing the school and financial aid applications, and submitting them in a timely manner.

I hyperfocus, and that skill came in handy in law school. I focus on those things that interest me, and the law fascinates me. I love the creativity involved.

I scored in the 98th percentile on the LSAT test. Do not go into the test without preparation!! If you aren't able to take a course (I didn't), take practice exams - they are available (I did).

If you have any questions, just ask. I have written about law school and "lawyering" in other posts. If you do a search, save yourself a lot of time by skipping all the "word association" and "three word story posts." Good luck, Susan

Congrats on law school!!!!!

That is a great accomplishment for someone who is ADHD and to have gone that far.

I'm taking the lsats in october...Let's just say I'm pretty stressed out.

one question: are you on adderall? and if so, is it helping you with the lsats?

I am...but I'm not sure if it's actually helping me or not. The lsats is so time pressured, and adderall just makes me focus too much to the point where it may be back-firing...causing me to lose track of how much time I actually have left.

just curious on how you're doing. =)

good luck!

Kevin



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Kevin,

I am not on adderall, but I am on strattera. I started taking it around 3 weeks ago and it seemed to help at first, but the benefits have lessened over the last week and a half. I'm only taking 40 mg and will most likely be increased to 80 mg when I see my MD in another week.

Good luck on the October LSAT!!!!

MBeta

p.s. One important thing that I just learned is that since you are diagnosed with the ADD or ADHD you might be able to get "accomodated testing." This information is available on the LSAT web-site. I too was going to take the October test, but have decided to see if I can qualify for accomodated testing and take the test in December. I encourage you to consider doing the same if possible! Best of luck!!!

The administrators of the LSAT were sued a few years back by the Dept. of Justice for failure to accommodate those with disabilities. I hope things are better now. Good Luck to you future lawyers!

Oh, wow, that's real smart... the administrators of a test that EVERY FUTURE LAWYER IN AMERICA takes not following the law... :)

BTW, I'm not in law school, nor do I intend to go to law school, but I did study math in college. Believe me, high level math homework can start to resemble a legal brief really fast. ;)

how are all of you guys doing so well in school with ADD?? I was testing very high in all the intelligence test but only average student, i never studied or was able to study. Iwish i could study but i cant and now i dont know how. Life sucks.

I am a lawyer. I scored 99th percentile in the LSAT and ended up going to a top-10 law school and graduating with honors. I have never been diagnosed and didn't even suspect ADD (specifically) at that time. However, I did feel that all of my accomplishments up until that point were pretty much "fake" and "flying by the seat of my pants" and "snowing people" (I'm sure you can relate to this). So basically I realized that for the first time in my life I was going to have conquer the problems I had. I implemented lots of self-help, nutritional, excercise and organizational stuff that, from my perspective now, seems completely on-target for non-med ADD assistance. I just didn't know at the time that eating lots of fish, eating low-carb, taking lots of herbal supplements (including gingko) and vitamins (espcially B supps), drinking tons of water, color coding all my notebooks and outlines, keeping a hyper-organized to-do list for every activity every day, scheduling every minute of my study time, etc., was basic ADDer self-help. All I knew was that even if other people didn't have to do these things, I did in order to succeed at law school.

I really enjoyed many of my law school classes, and as a hyperfocusser that helped tremendously.

Then I started working in private practice. I didn't enjoy it. It was boring. I was drafting contracts all day. And I had to bill my time--distraction that I could make up for by studying twice as long as other students in school became just completely disabling when I suddenly had to account for every minute of every day. My main advice to you is: really think about what it means to be sitting in front of a computer every day all day, and really think about what it means to bill time. I'm not saying law practice is not possible, but you have to be aware of what you are getting yourself into and steer yourself towards more ADD-friendly career choices once you graduate. Good luck.

Oh, yeah, I highly suggest taking lots of practice tests for the LSATs--that's what I did. LOTS of them.

Let me underscore Ruby's excellent comments -- don't even think about going to law school unless you have a very good idea of what you want to do with your law degree and how you want to practice. The last thing you want is to spend three years of your life and god-knows-how-much-money only to find out that you hate being a lawyer (and trust me, many lawyers hate what they do).

the practice of law is not at all like it is shown on TV or in the movies. most lawyers rarely see a courtroom, and spend the vast majority of their time drafting documents (imagine the biggest term paper you wrote in high school...you'll write one of those every day). Another large part of practicing law is managing dozens and dozens of tiny little matters. And most lawyers bill their time on an hourly basis -- that means that clients will get a detailed listing of every minute that you spend on their matters, and will likely jump on you if you are inefficient. it also means that you will have to track your time all through the day (usually in six minute increments). this can be a very difficult thing to do with ADD.

the upside of law practice is that most firms do give you the flexibility to work or not work when it fits your schedule. lawyers generally get a lot of autonomy; the tradeoff is that these employers will require you to work some fixed (large) number of hours each week/month/year. if you are inefficient, you'll either overcharge your clients and/or have to work very, very hard and long to meet your hour requirements.

i don't want to discourage anyone -- the law is a very honorable profession, and i'm sure lots of people with ADD have practiced law successfully. But in general, if you're not a very efficient worker who thrives on long hours and tedious work, you really need to think long and hard before going to law school.

Well, also keep in mind that not everybody who goes to law school has to be a lawyer. That's just the most common thing to do with a law degree. I bet a lot of those people doing other things are probably people who started off as lawyers and hated it, though. :)

Oh, and the way I managed to get through a math degree with ADD is by hyperfocusing like hell on math. :D I hyperfocused on other things, too, like the time I wrote a 10-11 page paper 3-4 hours before class and received an A-, but mostly that got applied to the math classes.

It really sucked when I got depressed my third year and couldn't motivate myself to do that for classes other than math. :/

the thing about math-type courses is that you typically have homework that is due for every class, so you have to keep up with the work or your grade suffers. in law school your grade is entirely determined by one big (usually 3-4 hour) final essay exam at the end of the semester. for me, the daily deadlines of undergrad were great motivation, and kept me from falling behind. i did well in law school, but it was a lot more work to keep up.

the nice thing about law school is that you can literally blow off three or four months of classes, cram at the end, ace the test and get very good grades in law school. if you're the sort of person who can do that. then again, if the cramming doesn't work (or you happen to miss the one case that makes up 90% of the exam), you're pretty much out of luck with no chance to recover.

you are of course correct that there are lots of things to do with a law degree other than practicing law (politics, business, etc). but if you don't plan on practicing law in the first place, there are much easier, shorter and less expensive paths than law school.

also, i should have clarified that my previous post is most accurate for commercial lawyers, particularly those in large law firms. if you're in it for the money, you will amost certainly be headed in that direction whether you realize it now or not. but if you're interested in public interest law, criminal prosecution or defense, government work, etc., your mileage may definitely vary.

Well, also keep in mind that not everybody who goes to law school has to be a lawyer. That's just the most common thing to do with a law degree. I bet a lot of those people doing other things are probably people who started off as lawyers and hated it, though. :) Ah, yes. I remember saying the same thing, and having it said to me time and time again. I'm not sure, I'd say. But you scored 99th percentile, they'd say, how can you not go? But I'm not sure, I'd say again. Maybe I should use my English degree--do something creative. Creative? Lawyers are creative! They are practically like actors, and they make a lot of money!--they'd say again. Besides, they'd say, you don't have to be a lawyer. You will have so many options when you get that degree! It seemed that everyone was enamored with the IDEA of law school, and of Law & Order, LA Law, etc.

The truth is, if you want to go into the political sphere, get a degree in public policy or public administration. Or economics. Or a PhD in political science. OK? If you want to work with nonprofits, you can go the same route or just work your way up with no graduate school debt. Almost all of the "other things" (all those fictitious many, many things I was always told I could do with a law degree) pay at least half if not 1/4 or less than what you'd make it private practice. So unless you can pay for school out of pocket (I couldn't--I have about $80,000 remaining on my school loans, and that's after paying them down for awhile), you will end up with monthly payments on your school debt that make it almost impossible for you to get out of private practice if you don't like it or want to pursue government work or one of the other alternative avenues that might be available.

Besides, I've often run into the "but why do you want to do this when you have a law degree" syndrome when I've tried to explore alternative options.

I know this sounds very negative, I'm just trying to paint a realistic picture of just what it means to rack of $100,000+ of debt and then try to take a public interest job making $20,000/year.