Arco

This is very helpful. In terms of a historical period, I'm thinking on writing my sample on a short story from Junot Diaz, so I'm looking at contemporary literature. But I'm also interested primarily in theory - that's what originally got me interested in English, I spent a lot of time reading Foucault and Deleuze in undergrad, and applying them to literature. Though I also want to avoid an "application of theoretical framework" model, so I'm not entirely certain yet how I'm gonna frame my application. It'll probably be either 20th century and 21st century literature or theory. I'm definitely gonna look into the folks you're talking about. And also, I love the idea of talking about the concept of "corporation," as there's some really interesting legal work being done on that topic.

I don't have a list of programs yet. I haven't worked out details - I still need to write a sample - but I'm not applying until next year so there's lots of time to work out details. I was actually planning on getting in touch with a few of my professors from undergrad who wrote law school recommendation, so I'll be doing that first. I like your idea of taking graduate-level classes. I dunno if I'll have time for that but I'll definitely look into it.

Thanks for all the replies. I appreciate the warnings but I understand what grad school and academia entails. It's something I researched extensively before law school (I actually found this forum while I was in undergrad), so this isn't deterring me. Yes, you don't get to choose where you live. And, yes, you have to treat it like a profession. But law isn't much different. There's a monopoly on legal practice, so that if you want to move to a different state you need to take the bar exam for that state, which means studying for 2 months. And the professionalism aspect is, at least arguably, more intense and pronounced in the law. You need to market yourself to partners to even get work. If you make partner, you need to find clients. That means going to conferences, going to bar association events, going to networking events, and so on. The big difference is that in the law you research topics you don't want to research, you make arguments you don't want to make, and you have clients you don't like. I'd rather do 70+ hours of self-directed research on a topic that interests me than 70+ hours of research for a partner/client I disagree with, on a topic I care nothing about. That's the difference. I also think there's a misunderstanding about what working in big law is like - there's a required number of hours you need to bill every year, and that means you're working something like 70 hours a week, with maybe 2 weeks for vacation. Some folks work longer hours that than so that they can get bonuses. There's just no way academics consistently work that many hours. And even you're working 70+ hours a week, you set that schedule. As for grad school, of course it's a lot of work; law school is no different. As for the quantity of reading, law isn't any different. That's my point about legal work not being that different from literary work. Of course there's differences, but the point is that I'm fully capable of doing lots of reading, working long hours, being a professional, marketing myself, and so on.

Thanks for the reply. Re: GPA - that was my fear but it's crazy if they care more about undergrad grades - law school grades mean so much more since it's graded on a curve. Also, I'm not sure if English folks realize this but law school isn't that different from literary scholarship - research, writing, analysis. Of course, there are differences, but the skills are somewhat convertible. In law school, you read cases, talk about cases, talk about the theories underlying those cases (e.g. legal formalism vs legal realism), apply the law to new facts, interpret ambiguous statutes, talk about theories of legal interpretation (e.g. textualism vs intentionalism), and so on. Take a class on domestic violence law, you'll read the same feminists and queer theorists - you'll look at how gender norms inform rape laws, etc. Labor law, you read Marx. In seminars, you write 25 page papers using the same theoretical frameworks you use in a literary context. So there's got to be a way to highlight that kind of thing... maybe in a statement of purpose? Re: doing an MA - I'm hesitant about that because it seems like wasted time, and I don't need it to prepare a writing sample. It's a big commitment leaving a partner-track position for grad school, so I'm probably only going to do this if I get into a relatively decent PhD program. Re: leaving a well paid job for grad school - money's overrated and academia's underrated. Just ask the same question in reverse: why don't you leave grad school to work in big law? You have infinitely more control over your life as an academic than as a lawyer - you decide what you work on, when you work on it, how you work on it, etc. Law, you're at the mercy of partners... and if you make partner, you're at the mercy of clients. Disagree with your client's position? Too bad. And that's not to say that being a lawyer sucks; the law is great - it's intellectually challenging in all the same ways academic life is, and it's probably the last career where you can actually practice rhetoric/sophistry and make an absurd amount of money too. But it comes at huge costs to your independence. So it's largely a matter of taking control over my life - self-determination or whatever you want to call it. In terms of the money, I'm personally not one for material wealth - I don't drive, prefer renting to owning, and don't have expensive tastes. For me, the best thing about having money is that you don't ever worry about money. But if you can manage not to worry about money while making less, working less, and working a better job, I'd rather do that everytime.

I'm thinking about making that transition, and would love to get any insight into that process - how common/rare is it? is it an advantage? will undergrad or law school GPA still matter? To give you some background, I'm an associate at a prestigious law firm, clerked for a year with a federal judge before that, top of my class in law school, abysmal undergrad GPA in English, high LSAT score so I predict a high GRE score, don't have a writing sample yet but plan to write on theoretical intersections between law and literature. Will the low undergrad GPA hurt? Is there any interest by theorists in legal studies? I'd love to hear any thoughts you guys have. Also, I apologize if this has been asked before - new to this forum, trying to get as much information on the process from outside academia.