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Homer>>>>>>.
I’ll keep it brief (few words)
President Obama….elected and re-elected
VP Biden…great supporting actor, not a headliner
H.R. Clinton…too much baggage
Sen. Sanders….Mentsch, but it doesn’t play in Peoria
17 Republican aspirants….Circus Clowns, Foot Eaters
USA—seeking a true leader
There is still one year until the political conventions, maybe there will be a yet unannounced candidate who appears to save the day
Joseph,
Congratulations, something not made up such as promising on his dead mother’s life.
BTW>changes vary greatly by state and insurance carrier. Not all states set up health care exchanges. I’m thrilled CT did. I’m saving more than $600 per month with the same carrier and an improved policy with the same co-pays. Then again CT is the insurance capital of the US
Joseph…….
Literalist? or interested in truth?
You didn’t tell me a million times, or a thousand or a hundred or even 10.
I am an attorney, I have to deal with facts and the law. (BTW I’m not a trial attorney, so testilying isn’t an issue).
Joseph……….
making things up are you?
President Obama’s mother died of ovarian cancer in 1995. He became President on January 20, 2009.
Is your hatred so great that you must post untruths?
Homer,
You post generalizations and untruths (LIES) as well.
You defame Hillary Clinton claiming she lies almost every time she opens her mouth. You don’t like her, fine, but you have no way of knowing the truth of her every uttererance.
“Mrs. Clinton, would you like coffee or tea?”
“I’ll have coffee, thank you” and you would label it a lie.
Affordable Care Act–You FALSELY claim you can’t keep the same doctors, etc.
Are you covered under the ACA?
I previously had private coverage with Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield. They dropped all small groups. My small law firm replaced it through the CT Healthcare exchange and coverage is written by Connecticare. Not one doctor change or hospital change or pharmacy change was necessary. In fact I have a wider choice of pharmacies than before.
Methinks you protest too much and your hate for Democrats and Liberals shows your true self.
You can’t show a lie by Bernie Sanders so you dismiss him as a Socialist.
Coffee Addict….
Unlike Trump, most candidates don’t spend their own money on the race. neither O’Malley or Chafee have attracted enough interest from donors to finance much of a campaign.
Traditionally many of these minor candidates gather enough ‘favorite son’ delegates to insure a speaking role before a national audience, or to broker a deal putting a candidate over the top.
A speaking role can be a step to stardom, Who ever heard of the state senator from Chicago before Barack Obama gave the Keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention?
$250 week to teach my children, grandchildren?
In a day when we pay the cleaning lady $100 for 4 hours, the kid who weeds and cuts the lawn gets $20 hour it is a complete outrage that we pay our Morot starvation wages.
Abba_S
NO she could not have sued and won. Did you miss the year, 1964. Sexual Discrimination in hiring was NOT illegal back then.
There is actually a third side to this situation………..
Economic Reality Check…from the school’s perspective.
When we were first married, Mrs. CT Lawyer taught first grade for two years at a local day school. She finished the second year and gave birth to our eldest child two weeks later.
She was a stay at home mom, B”H we didn’t need her income. 25 years later, when our youngest was in high school, wife decided she missed being with children and applied to teach 2nd grade at the same day school The same family runs the school, the son of the previous previous director is now menahel. My wife has a teaching certificate, classroom experience and a Master’s Degree in early childhood education.
She didn’t get the job, the Menahel explained to her: We want young female teachers who will get married, get pregnant and leave. Teachers who are through having babies, gain seniority and expect more than starting salaries (yearly raises, benefits, etc.) Illegal, yes, but who’s going to take this to court and ruin the school/Rabbi’s reputation.
The irony is that in 1964, when I turned 10 (youngest child), my mother A”L with 10 year’s public school teaching experience and a Doctorate in Education applied for a teaching position in the New Haven Public Schools. The Superintendent told her that she was the most qualified for the job, but he only hired young Yale Wives, because they either left to have babies or their husbands graduated and they moved on. He didn’t want mature married woman who’d stay 30 or 40 years until retirement gaining tenure and salary increases. Mom took a position in a neighboring town and 5 years later when the Superintendent was gone, she was hired as a Principal and stayed for 25 years. When she retired they were able to hire 4 teachers for the total she was earning each year.
Coffee Addict,,,When I say ‘in play’ I mean having an actual organization working in many states to gather votes, support, raise funds, hold functions, rallies, contact delegates to the state convention….
I’ve been to 3 Hillary events and 2 for Sanders, I regularly get calls and email from both. I have also been contacted by the chair of a state committee that has organized itself to support Biden if he enters the race.
Not one peep from the other 2
Coffee addict……….
I have heard of Martin O’Malley, I’ve even met Lincoln Chafee.
I don’t consider either of them as serious candidates for the nomination.
As you say, Chafee is from my neighboring state to the east, Clinton from the neighboring state to the west, and Sanders straight up the Connecticut River..only 60 miles separate CT from Vermont.
That said, I am a member of the Democratic Town Committee where I live and a delegate to the CT Democratic State Convention in 2016. There has been no activity by Chafee or O’Malley attempting to win our votes. We are a small state, but get extra votes at the national convention because we’ve voted D in the past Presidential elections and have an elected D administration plus all members of Congress.
Coffee Addict,
There are millions of Democrats, just these are the three in the limelight right now.
My post states ‘barring a surprise late entry into the race’
Right now these are the people in play.
If there was a Democratic party primary with the 3 candidates:
Biden, Clinton, Sanders…I’d vote Sanders.
I have no questions about his honesty and integrity. He has never sold out to special interests.
That said, I don’t expect such a primary to happen. I first met Hillary Rodham when she was a student at Yale Law School in the early 1970s (introduced by Joe Lieberman) in my home town of New Haven. I felt then that she was the smarter of the Clintons and would go far. I think she can beat Joe Biden hands down in primaries and fundraising and barring a Sanders surge or surprise late entry into the race she will be the candidate.
In all candor, I don’t think middle America will vote for a socialist Jew after 8 years of a Black President. They are ready for another White Protestant, not a Roman Catholic such as Biden (or Jeb Bush for that matter-born a WASP but converted to Catholicism).
edited
Joseph,
the rebbi embarrassed himself. I could have asked? Don’t you remember you were mechubad with a brocha under the chupah at my chasunah? Better to let him overhear the question to my wife.
BTW>>he sent the baby a gift, and we laugh about this whenever we meet. Plus he was mechubad with a brocha under the chupah at my son’s chasunah as well.
In 1989 I got a call from a rebbi I had in yeshiva back in high school. I answered the phone and he went on and on about a young lady that he wanted to set me up with. He told me all about her attributes and the family’s yichus. Would I please consider going out with Miss X on Sunday because she’d be in town for a Bris that morning. I said to the rebbi; ‘let me check my calendar. Not covering the phone to block my conversation.
I asked my wife out loud…Sweetheart, Rebbi so and so wants to know if it’s ok for me to go on a shidduch date with your younger sister Sunday after the baby’s bris?
I returned to the phone to hear a dial tone.
You can tell this is a Yeshivish group.
Most have no understanding that most classical European opera ended with a fat female soprano singing over the body of the slain hero…etc.
zahavasdad…
How else can a shul raise money?
By charging and collecting realistic dues.
Those us us living out of town know that a shul cannot be maintained without realistic dues. $1,000+ per year for a family is not unusual.
This is not the case in large communities with tons of shtieblach.
I couldn’t answer about Galitzianers, as my paternal side is Litvish and maternal German.
That said, I grew up in close proximity to many paternal cousins of my generation. There were 6 boys born in early 1954. All of us were named for our paternal Great Grandfather A”H who had died in December 1953. Rather than having mass confusion when mother, grandmother, aunt called for Yitzhak to stop playing ball and come inside, we were all called by our middle names (which were all different from each other). Only when signing our names, in yeshiva, or after Bar Mitzvah when being called for an aliyah are we called by our given first names.
Guess I’m a 62 year old rebel
My suits, never a jacket and slacks, are dark blues and charcoal, occasionally brown. The judge wears a black robe, attorneys wear other colors.
My hats all are color coordinated to the suit I’m wearing, including straw for summer wear. I wear a hat for Mincha/Maariv, not Shacharis-when my talis covers my bald head.
No hair-no haircut.
Extremely short well trimmed beard–longer is frowned upon in court.
Suede yarmulke in colors to match suit
Shirts are a white background with a pinstripe the color of the suit I’m wearing.
Glasses are gold wire rimmed…a vestige of the 1960s and not wanting to grow old
1971 Jaguar XKE…living my second youth–personal car
2015 Jaguar XJR LWB for when I have clients or children with me
Living outside NY relieves certain pressure to conform by the Chevra
EpesAhYid………..
MartyB?
Planning is crucial for Shabbos. It’s nice to know what’s available.
I live in CT. Here a kiddush is served every Shabbos, BUT unless it’s a special simcha, it’s a cold Kiddush…herring, kichel, schnapps. Shabbos Mevorchim will also have kugel, salads and cakes.
Cholent is only served in the dead of winter to warm everyone’s body for a long, cold walk home (2 miles is the norm).
No bagels are served…that’s for every Sunday morning after minyan when a full breakfast is served and wives and children are welcome and an educational program included.
Flatbusher
My mother said it in English translation. The longer the beard the greater the thief!
My father’s side was Litvish….I never heard that expression used by them.
BTW, I’m more than 60 years old, and heard this the first time more than 60 years ago.
Much of this reaction is meaningless. Same sex civil marriage has been legal in most states for a number of years. It does not affect the average reader of this website.
No one is forced to marry another person of the same sex, nor are you being forced by the government to perform a civil marriage ceremony between same sex partners.
What the Court decoded is that there are 14th Amendment rights that must apply to all in the USA and they cannot be denied by individual rights.
American society evolves over time. States used to give charters to synagogues permitting them to open and operate. Jews, Women, Blacks and non-property owners were not allowed the vote in the past. Goyische prayer was forced upon Jewish children in public schools. The Court has interpreted the Constitution to right these injustices.
Nothing in today’s decision forces an individual to do something that is morally reprehensible to one’s religious beliefs.
One of the most important portions of the ruling is that states MUST recognize legal marriages performed in other states. Some states permit marriage between first cousins, others don’t. But those who don’t recognize those permitted marriages should the couple later move to the state who does not permit those marriages. Now a same sex married couple from CT or NY who moves to Virginia doesn’t lose marital rights.
Coffee addict……………
your advice is not correct.
I’m an attorney. I handle name changes in Probate Court in CT, and have in Surrogates Court in NY. There is nothing you need a notary public for except to notarize your signature, and that verification can be done by other officials.
In fact in CT, EVERY lawyer is an officer of the court and can authenticate that a document is being signed by the person who is who he/she says he/she is.
Most Notaries Public do little more than authenticate the validity of a signature, or that someone is affirming a statement as their free act and deed.
Power varies by state. In Florida, a notary can perform marriages.
Excluding the 9 Days, Fast Days (and the night after) and Shavous I tend to eat meat or poultry twice a day.
Back when I was single, mor with a small than 40 years ago, I had a fleishiges apartment service for 2 set of pareve. I drink my coffee black, and was happy with toast and pareve margarine, eggs and coffee for breakfast.
B”H we have separate kitchens in our home and it is no problem for me to have a fleischige meal when the wife and daughters may be having milchiges.
Today is Father’s Day. My youngest daughter made me salami and eggs for breakfast at 8 after I came from Minyan. I had a cookout at 1PM where I grilled burgers, franks, and steaks with veg kabobs, corn on the cob. Tonight after I get home from shul will be a cold meal. A tossed salad topped with sliced turkey, roast beef and pastrami.
It’s a great menu to celebrate…three meat meals…I’m very satisfied.
Charliehall
We have had cats for all the years of our marriage (40+).
Never had kittens, never altered a cat.
HOW? We have indoor only cats and only have females. Yidden don’t believe in immaculate conception…no problem
As my name states, I live in CT. Far enough away from NY to enjoy open space, but within a 90 minute drive to NYC.
That said, the close commute to NY is used by Yeshivos and Shuls to lower the pay rates for rebbeim and Rabbis. Applicants are told that it’s an easy trip in to Monsey, Queens or Brooklyn to see family, shop, eat, etc. Therefore you are not sacrificing as much as communities 3 hours or more away from the city and we can pay you less.
Also, it is quite common for rebbeim to teach a full day in out of town day schools/Yeshivos. They may teach elementary in the morning and High School in the afternoon or vice versa.
One of the biggest problems ion employment is that many of these Yeshivos (particularly Chabad) have become dynastic, employing mostly family members. Non family members tend to be hired for a year or so and when they seek a raise they are not retained and another beginner, who comes at beginner salary is hired.
Tuition discount is not a selling point for employment, faculty kids attend free.
Why would you make your daughter ask 77 days in a row. When my princesses asked for kittens or puppies, the answer was Yes darling, when would you like to go choose one?
Then again, I live in a large home in the suburbs, not a NYC apartment, and keeping dogs and cats as pets is the norm.
BTW>>>Thank G-D she asked. My eldest daughter, now grown and on her own brought home two kittens and a puppy over the years without asking. She brought home our 4th dog two years ago, introduced him to me and announced: Happy Father’s Day!
That means poppa gets to pay the food and vet bills, get up at 4AM to let him out, etc.
But I wouldn’t trade my daughters for anything or anyone and we love our 4 dogs and two cats
We have used Vonage for 5 years for both home and office. We have no complaints and it saves us lots of money each month. They included features at no charge that AT&T was charging us for (voice mail, directory assistance, three way calling).
My wife’s favorite feature from Vonage: if dialing a number in your same area code you only dial SEVEN digits.
Oldest daughter works on a private ship in Europe. She uses MagicJack. It drops about half the calls, but as there are no cell towers at sea, the alternative is a Satellite phone and the cost is prohibitive.
akuperma………….
Frankly I’m not in Eretz Yisrael. As my handle indicates I’m a lawyer in Connecticut.
I’m not a judge…no reason to take a cut in income. In CT all attorneys are officers of the court. Most attorneys never go to court, they process paperwork and mediate between their clients and other attorneys and their clients.
I respectfully disagree that a degree from a second or third tier law school is just as useful as one from an Ivy League school if all you want to do is hang out a shingle.
A lawyer in a large firm with many Top Tier Law School attorneys has that yichus to stand behind. A independent who hangs out a shingle is often judged by prospective clients by the diploma on the wall…and those prospective clients have more faith in an Ivy League lawyer than one from a cut rate institution.
I have no idea why some maggid shiur would pontificate this way. Who do Yeshivos come to when they have zoning issues, want government money for feeding students, special education funds, etc.? They come to us lawyers…and they expect us to do their bidding for free.
As for Jewish lawyers who can’t find a job for 2 years>>>this applies to non-Jews as well. The field is over-saturated. The return on your tuition investment, as much as 150K in a top school is not guarranteed.
When I retire my children or grandchildren will not continue the firm.
Newbee…
B”H I’ve made a good living over the years. Professionally I handle the affairs of 5 generations of one family. Anything from their trusts, contracts, property transactions or the occasional aynekele who gets into trouble.
I’m paid a salary to do this and be on call for their needs all through the year. My arrangement does not allow me to take any other paid legal work, but does permit me to take Pro Bono Juvenile work. Not only do I find it rewarding, but my clients feel it is part of their efforts at Tikkun Olam.
And as both and adoptive parent and a licensed foster parent I know how badly children need qualified representation while they go through the court system, not the fleeting attention of a court appointed lawyer being paid $25 hr, who meets the child for the first time in court.
Gnug, I’ll get off my soapbox
Newbee…
FYI…
I am semi-retired, my income practice does not involve litigation. I only appear in court for Pro Bono cases, generally representing youth in the Juvenile Court or Probate (equivalent of NY Surrogate’s) Court System. It doesn’t cost these clients one cent for me to represent them or appeal rulings that are incorrect.
BTW, I understood the poster’s use of the word ‘listen’ to me ‘follow’ but allowed for the true meaning of the English word as to mean hear the expression, not adhere to the advice/instructions. We learn in law school to never ask a question to which we don’t already know the answer. So if you know from experience how your Rav will answer and feel it will be an answer you should not follow, don’t ask.
DaasYochid….
Yes, you should listen, that’s only polite. BUT if you know it’s wrong you don’t do it. The fact that your local Rav says something is permitted, isn’t the same as saying it is required.
I’m a lawyer, often I hear a judge make a ruling from the bench that I know is wrong. That’s what appeals courts are for.
Gamanit hit the nail on the head.
If I send a gift, hand it to a person at a simcha in charge of receiving the gifts, etc. I am not sure the intended recipient received it unless I receive a thank you card or other acknowledgement. I’m talking about a physical gift; not a check which clears the bank and appears on my statement.
If I have not rec’d a thank you card (or phone call, email, etc.)90 days after the simcha I contact the intended recipient and ask if the item was received or lost.
My children have been raised that a gift may not be used until a thank you note has been written, envelope addressed, stamped and placed in the outgoing mail.
33?
You’re just a pisher. I have neckties older than you.
Talk to me when you marry off your eldest child or become a zaidy for the first time
anywhere between 7 and 18 times per week on non-religion restricted days.
We have a private swimming pool and hot tub and I shower before swimming or using the hot tub and afterwards to remove the chlorine or other chemicals.
the use of the pool and hot tub are for therapeutic reasons, not bitul zman
I have my shvigger as my legal secretary and office manager. She keeps everybody in line.
I was doing my own laundry before I married, why should I change? Our youngest is 18, so everyone in the family does their own laundry.
I do the bed linens and wife does the table linens. We all have our own bathrooms, so we all do our own towels.
Guest linen is usually done by the person who invited the guest(s) usually one of our daughters.
I cook, and youngest daughter does the dishes (I do the heavy pots) Mrs. shouldn’t have to damage her nails doing dishes (and at her age she can have long natural nails).
The cleaning lady cleans and the gardener takes care of the yard. I vacuum and take care of pool chemicals, as well as maintain the hot tub.
Any frum teen who lives in a family with 6 or more kids, or had spent Yuntif bunking in with 24+ assorted relatives and guest, or gone to a school Shabbaton has already gained the ‘sociable’ skills that 4-7 weeks in a camp bunk bring.
The comment is a false front. What is really means is the teen’s parents can’t (or won’t) afford to send the teen to sleep-a-way camp.
BTW>>>My parents met at Sleep-a-way camp back in 1932. My wife and I met at Sleep-a-way camp in 1970. My niece and her husband met at sleep-a-way camp in 1990. All of us were staff, not campers at the time.
@catch yourself
Follow the link in my firs reply for all states information.
Connecticut exempts all camp employees.
NY specifically exempts counselors, BUT the exemption paragraph includes both clergy and ‘various employees of religious and charitable institutions’
Based on that verbiage a non-profit or religious institution operated camp could probably pay less than minimum wage to almost all seasonal employees. Whereas a day camp operated by a for profit hotel or bungalow colony would have to pay minimum wage to non counselors.
Disclaimer: I am not giving legal advice. I am merely citing the law as listed in the earlier link compiled by the American Camping Association. I attended and graduated law school in the State of Massachusetts and passed the Connecticut Bar. I do not practice in NY State.
@Joseph………..
Unfortunately you do not know the law and make untrue comparisons.
Waiters are subject to minimum wage laws, however in many states (including NY and CT) tipped servers are allowed to be paid a percentage of the state minimum wage by their employer. The servers are required to report their tips to the employer each shift. In any week where the wage paid by the employer and tips received don’t add up to the full minimum wage the employer MUST pay the difference.
For example, there is heavy rain for 4 of the 5 days the server works and business is so slow that the reduced percentage wage paid by the employer and tips received/reported only equal $6.50/hr. The employer must pay the difference to bring the paycheck to full minimum wage.
Counselors are exempt from minimum wage law by statute, they do not get a reduced minimum wage.
Camp Counselors in NY and Connecticut are generally not covered by the minimum wage laws. Laws do vary by state. In Connecticut, counselors at camps that operate less than 6 months per year are not considered employees and are not covered by the law.
NY Law specifically exempts camp counselors.
For laws from assorted states see: http://www.acacamps.org/sites/default/files/images/publicpolicy/regulations/print.pdf
I have both, my wife has both and our children have names that work well in both languages (example David and Tamara).
We live out of town. My wife and I used our Hebrew names in the home, in Day school, Yeshiva and Seminary, BUT we used English names in University, Law School and our professional practice.
The goyim out of town may want Jewish lawyers, but they don’t want them with names sounding as if they just came from the shtetl.
Things have changed since I attended an Ivy League University 45 years ago, but there are times my children are glad we have a non-ethnic last name.
BTW>>>Yiddish names or Jewish names pronounced the Yiddish way were never a consideration. This 5th generation American is of German Jewish stock. Mrs. CT Lawyer is first generation American born of German and Austrian born parents who made it to Palestine in the early 30s. Many a Yeshiva menahel had to be instructed that our David’s name was pronounced DaVeed, not Duvid. The language preferences in our home is Hebrew, followed by German (to speak to in-laws) and then English. Because of fluency in Hebrew and German, we all understand most Yiddish, but do not speak it.
None of the perpetrators of the atrocities you mention are still alive and can benefit from your buying English, Spanish or Italian products.
But there are still Germans alive who participated in the Nazi regime and army who’ll not be getting our money. They stole every pfennig my MIL had…should she go buy a Leica camera and give them more? I don’t think so.
I seldom wear a black hat. My great grandfather made hats, my father and grandfather were in the men’s clothing business. IO am an attorney who practices in the general public.
That said, I wear hats, but they match the suit I’m wearing, generally charcoal gray or midnight blue. Years ago, a wise old attorney (not Jewish) here in Connecticut told me. “The judge wears a black robe, you are not the judge and should wear a different color out of respect.”
So I wear Black for Shabbos and Yuntif when my life is revolved around Yidden.
Yes,
My MIL was born in Leipsig. She lost her family and belongings in the Shoah. After WWII the East Germans wouldn’t pay reparations as the West did.
When the Berlin Wall fell and Germany reunified, she pressed her claims for land, buildings, money, etc. The new Unified Germany said :we need to spend our money bring former East Germans up to the standard of living we enjoy in the Former West Germany. Tough Luck.
We don’t fly German owned airlines. We don’t buy German cameras or electronics or anything else marked made in Germany. If it was so important to use the funds she should have received in reparations to raise the standard of living in Germany, we won’t contribute to it.
popa_bar_abba
This is not the name of my niece, but I would be proud to have such an accomplished woman in the family.
@Popa-bar=abba
Only one member of my family teaches at at Harvard, my neice (by marriage) whose father and grandfather were Appellate Court Judges. It is not unusual that she would have married into a family of lawyers and that her FIL, MY BIL teaches at another Massachusetts Law School.
People often go into the family trade, be it shmattes, diamonds, Rabbinics, medicine or law. They’ve grown up listening t the dining table stories, seeing and hearing the experiences of the parents and helping out in the office from the time they can run a copy machine or file alphabetically.
Furthermore, my post is to show that NY is NOT the exclusive home to religious Jews in America. My family moved on from NY more than 100 years ago. My BIL’s family arrived in New England in the early 1880s after the first pogroms in Russia.
#1–I didn’t go to Cornell, I went to Pennsylvania, and it wasn’t the 80s
My niece is currently a Professor of Law at Harvard. She teaches Criminal Law. Her first year students have midterms.
My BIL teaches Property and Real Estate Law at another Massachusetts Law School. Property Law has weekly quizzes and a midterm. Real Estate Law has a midterm.
Legal Writing and Motions courses often have homework assignments that must be handed in. Courses in Constitutional Law and Torts generally do not.
I wouldn’t pity my students for the workload. I also provide them free tutoring for the Bar Exam. Last year, my students taking the CT and Mass Bar Exams had a 94% pass Rate on the first try, NY was 93%.
Your observation about getting a Government job being easier from a T14 school may be true in states such as NY, BUT in other states that have few Law Schools (Connecticut has only 3, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine each have one) a candidate will have a better chance getting a state or local government job if they graduated from a local Law School.
Many law schools focus on teaching the NBE tested major subjects and local state law. They may teach none of the law that is particular to another state.
Each year I give a CT Bar Review Class for Massachusetts Law School Grads who plan to take the CT Bar Exam. Almost no one takes Administrative Law during law school in Massachusetts, but CT tests it. There is an Admin Law Essay about 3 out of time times the Bar Exam is given. Similarly, Columbia Law will not teach CT Constitutional Law which is also tested.
I point all this out to show that there are no one-size fits all answers. Each state’s Bar Exam requirements are different. For example, many students fret about the MPRE exam that many states require (with varying passing scores). In Connecticut, a law grad need not take the MPRE if he/she passed a law school Ethics course with a minimum of a ‘B’ within 4 years of taking the Bar Exam, If not the MPRE with a minimum grade of 80 is required.
Lastly, For those who wish to initially practice in CT, MA, or VT and do not want to take the LSAT and spend $150K on their Law Education, There is a Non-ABA approved Law School-Massachusetts School of Law, in Andover, MA which does not require the LSAT, costs about half and whose graduates can take the listed Bar Exams. After practicing a certain number of years they are also eligible to take many other state’s exams including NY.
Since Wisey has resurrected this year old post, let me offer some comments (I am a Lawyer, I practice in CT, and I teach at Law School (as an adjunct in Juvenile and Family Law).
Not all Law Schools are the same, and if you are not looking to join a major downtown firm and work 2000 plus hours the first few years, it doesn’t make much difference where you go tgo Law School. Only that you pass the Bar Exam and probably use connections to get interviews and a starter job.
There has been much false information posted above. Some professors teaching certain courses do give homework in Law School. A Law student should figure to spend 3 hours in outside study or work for every class hour. Thus a fifteen credit semester means 15 hours per week in class and 45 hours additional preparation.
It is also false that there are NO tests except for semester finals. I attended an Ivy League Law School and Property, Civil Procedure, Criminal Law and Ethics all had weekly tests as well as finals. Except for senior level courses all my law classes had midterm exams.
The classes I teach have midterm, final and 3 major research projects each semester.
Back to the BTL or Conventional degree question. If you are taking the Bar Exam in NY or Maryland, the BTL is not so unusual.
REMEMBER: When making application to take the Bar Exam the candidate must supply his/her College Transcripts as well as Law School Transcript. Out of town a BTL may not be recognized as a legitimate degree. Last year the Bar Committee contacted me to find out what it was. In the specific applicant’s case it really wasn’t equivalent to a 4 year BS or BA and he was not permitted to take the Bar Exam…and lost his $750 application fee.
Before taking any of these comments seriously, make some calls to the Law Schools you’d like to attend and the Bar Examining Committee in the State in which you’d like to practice. Then make your decision.