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There are part time programs, if working is a must. But it's very difficult and grades matter so you'd be at a significant disadvantage.
Depends on where you work. I knew a classmate who worked late shift at a small motel (I think like 3-11 pm). Lots of downtime that she could use to study and get her reading done and still earn a little money.
Depends so how serious you are as a student. How hard are you willing to work? I had multiple part time jobs while in law school. Depending on the job(s) I had at any given time, I was working 20-30 hours a week. Mostly night jobs and some weekend shifts so I could do day time classes. For me, it meant working/studying/attending class 18 hours a day, 7 days a week. I slept from midnight to 6 am for the entire 3 years I was in law school. And I NEVER had time for mock trial, moor court, or law review, or any sort of school social events. But I worked for me. Made the money I needed to make, and graduated with honors.
Can you do it? Yes you can. Should you? No.
I am a first generation professional who worked from the time I was a freshman in high school, so I am not speaking from a place of ignorance when I tell you this. Don’t do it. The marginal difference between a 1L year with income and a 1L year without isn’t worth the difference in grades. Your 1L will determine your eligibility for biglaw, and therefore may determine your lifetime earnings. Debt is scary, but I bet on myself and I made much more in the long term for it.
I work in a small 2 attorney plaintiffs firm and made more than all but a few top big law firm associates I graduated for the last 5 years. I’ll surpass those this year, I think. Plus, I’ve already gotten to take a case to trial
I worked and did part-time law school. Graduated top of my class. Not hard (relative to law school, that is).
As long as you can take off before finals, imo it’s easy. I only ever got up to speed in reading week anyway. Quickly realized it’s just memorizing outlines. If you can understand on your own, it’s fine. Some people need to read the cases and keep up probably to do well.
I was a single mom of a teen and 6-9 yr old and worked full time (with a TON of help from family and friends). It’s very possible but you will have to skip out on a lot of the social things law school offers. If you want to join clubs and go,to events, you’re going to have to let go of some hours for sure.
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Don’t do it unless you absolutely have to due to financial circumstances (been there). Enjoy law school. As hard as people say it is, those people are usually exaggerating and their stress is often self-induced. Law school is def not as hard as practice, and practice never gets easier either. You just learn to manage it.
You have the rest of your life to work. Get good grades but otherwise try to enjoy yourself before practicing.
Being a single parent during law school or having small kids is a whole different beast and to those who did that or are doing that, you guys are badass.
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The goal of first year is to get really good grades. That's it. Full stop.
Can you work? Yes.
Should you work? Likely no, unless you have a job that's chill.
The difference in what you take out in loans versus your worse grades from trying to work is likely not worth it!
I worked full time and was a full time day student all 3 years of law school. It's totally doable you just have to become at master at managing your time and commitments. I graduated with a 3.5 GPA and had a job offer at graduation. It's doable, but definitely hard. I likely wouldn't recommend it to others.
Rising Star
I worked full-time all through law school (only earner in family) as a senior executive at the company that eventually named me GC when I graduated. I also had two kids under 3 yo when I started, and remodeled my basement at the same time. It’s doable. It’s not recommended.
I worked 20-30 hours a week as a law student at a school that was ranked about 25th at the time.
The work wasn’t that hard (front desk at a hotel, then I worked at Kaplan doing LSAT classes and working the office), but the general mental fatigue and overall stress level took its toll.
I graduated just around the top 1/3rd of my class. With more time and less stress, maybe I end up in the top 10% of my class. But who knows?
I wouldn't recommend it, but it's definitely possible. I worked 20 hours over the weekends as a server during my 1L and 2L year. I found it easier to do during 1L when your only responsibilities are getting good grades and you're not involved in internships, journals, etc. It took a lot of discipline and late hours during the week since I couldn't study on the weekends. I would take off the last two weeks before finals to make things easier on myself. I was in the top 10% of my class throughout law school. In the end I'm glad I did it so I didn't have to take out loans for living expenses (I also had an hour long commute each way, which I also do not recommend, but that's a story for another day), but law school definitely would have been easier if I didn't have to work.