<p>What type of person enjoys and is successful in law school? Are these qualities the same qualities that make a good lawyer?</p>
<p>I can answer the first question. Not many people enjoy law school. I think those that do are really passionate about the LAW. If you’ve read legal analysis for fun, you’ll probably enjoy law school. </p>
<p>Other qualities necessary for enjoyment (or at least not mental breakdown): a thick skin and comfort speaking in class. The Socratic method can be very unnerving to some people. For some people, it’s just a matter of learning to be comfortable with the cold-calling and the grilling for a long period of time.</p>
<p>As law school doesn’t have mid-term exams, good students are those who can keep up with the work. The way to be very successful in law school is to do your work well every night, condense the information, pay attention in class, and then go through the material at the end of the day. It’s impossible to learn everything at the end of the semester. Even if you don’t understand it at first (not at all uncommon), a good student will keep plugging through the material until it clicks.</p>
<p>So some semblance of organization is good… mostly, the ability to do your work consistently well every day.</p>
<p>As for analyzing the material - analytical training is good. The other thing is the ability to synthesize large amounts of information. The information you learn is not in discrete chunks; it all works together.</p>
<p>I imagine that the qualities of a good lawyer may be different than the qualities of an A-maker. Will leave that to the lawyers to answer. :)</p>
<p>one quality that is common to both being a successful law student and a successful lawyer is the ability to write well – clearly, persuasively, intelligently. another common quality is simply being smart - it helps in school, it helps in practice.</p>
<p>however, in general, there isn’t always a high correlation between the people who were good law students and the ones who are good lawyers. you can be a good law student without having a good grasp on plain and simple practical people skills. also good students are often ones who enjoy the intellectual challenge of law school – the practice of law is much less about the intellectual nuances between Supreme Court cases, and much more about nitty gritty nuts and bolts and getting your clients’ work done.</p>