Hello everyone,

I am currently a software engineer with ~8 yrs of work experience (currently employed). I have been thinking of a career change to law for some time now due to various reasons, but mainly my lack of interest in building software. I enjoy problem solving, reading, writing, dealing with people and generally everything lawyers seem to do on a daily basis.

How feasible would it be for someone like me to successfully pull this off and excel at it?

I am married but don’t have any children. If admitted to law school, I will have to choose a part-time program as I would need to work full-time.

Please share your insights and recommendations. Don’t hold any punches please.

Cheers

The US Code lets people create their own custom copyright terms, which is kind of like a contract. There are some terms like CC which you can use but I'm looking to make my own custom terms and I'm wondering how do I know if my terms are valid or not, and does it need to be written in legalspeak or can you even write it in English. How clear must it be. Is there any official source or answer lol.

Anytime a person asks a question, it could potentially blur the lines on "legal advice."

Is there a book that us civilians can read to understand more broadly the limits a lawyer must adhere to when speaking with someone?

You could be talking to someone on an airplane, a train or a bus, or a medical waiting room and they strike up a conversation with you and don't know you're an attorney unless you tell them​.

Do you put your headphones on at the point 😆

What do you say to friends or relatives when at a holiday party and they know you're an attorney? 😂

Do you excuse yourself and pick up your phone, go run to the bathroom, grab more food at the buffet?

Seriously, here is my question. If an attorney is handling an employment law matter for a client, have any lawyers had their client say, "Do you know anyone who would hire me, or can I work in your firm as an admin, or do you know if the employer’s EPLI policy which likely covers other major employers will block me (like blacklisting) from getting hired at another company that is covered by the same EPLI company? ​​

Hey yall, first time getting a ticket so not sure how this works.

College student / military reservist

Got a ticket for expired registration from MPs at JBLM gate. Ticket cites RCW 46.16A.030.
Called CVB to pay but they stated this is marked as a moving violation. WA WAC 308-104-160 classifies registration related tickets as non-moving.
The assigned court is 5-6 hours away from me, the website says initial hearing must be in person, is it possible to request this be moved to a closer courthouse?

Is there a general timeline for governments to comply? What is “reasonable” in your opinion?

I live in a community with an established HOA. There is a small pond within the community and the HOA owns the pond. The pond exists behind a small dam, which is within a parcel of land owned by another party (“Mike”), outside of the HOA. Several decades ago, the HOA obtained an easement on the dam to be able to care for the dam, presumably to protect the pond asset.

I’m working on an update to the dam EAP for the state of NC, and that document requires the identification of an owner/operator. Currently, NC DEQ has several owners listed including, Mike, the HOA, and homeowners that own parcels adjacent to the dam parcel.

In an example like this, who legally owns the dam? Who would be responsible if there was a breach?

Location: Kentucky
I work 12-hour nursing shifts and my employer makes significant effort to ensure we get our required breaks. On 2 occasions in the last 6 years I have clocked out no lunch break because taking one simply wasn’t an option that day. My managers always seem like this is a big deal. I understand lunch breaks are required in KY and me not getting one does technically violate the law. But my question is - does this get audited by some labor department? My company has thousands of employees. I feel like it is expected that on rare occasions an employee doesn’t get a lunch break simply due to the nature of the work. Is there a magic number of no lunch break occurrences that would land my company in trouble? Or is my 2 singular days enough to get them in hot water?

I am trying to apply for disability. I have multiple illnesses and autoimmune problems. I have applied and gotten denied already once and I was seeking to hire a lawyer in my area of Oklahoma but I don't know what I need to look for to know that it was somebody that I can trust. What do I need to look for? What kind of questions should I ask?

Hello I need to know what legal action to take asap!
I’m working for a nursing home in state of Pennsylvania and I have been at my building for 2 years!!! I have a doctors note for my disability with my heart condition and anxiety, the memory unti triggers my anxiety to the point I have anxiety attacks and it has put me into the ER , I had the approval from the first RD that when I came alone I could remain on personal care, so I was hired with the doctors note , recently they got a new RD and she’s kept putting me on memory care!! I kept telling her I can not and I had a note , they then said they “lost it” and I would need a new one so I went and got a new one!! It hasn’t even been a week and my name is on the bord to work in memory care!!! I immediately called my RD and told her I can NOT work in MC, then was told that she is going to be getting doctors notes removed and with my disability I can not work here and she will refuse unemployment because I was hired knowing I can’t do the job description yet I was hired with being told it was okay because they only needed people for personal care !!! WHAT DO I DO PLS HELP

A CBS News report raises questions about potentially missing documents and references to classified material in the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

What legal mechanisms are available to compel the Department of Justice to account for missing records, explain redactions, or clarify whether documents were withheld because they contain classified information?

Could courts require the DOJ to provide a more complete accounting of the records and the reasons for any omissions?
Source: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/epstein-files-classified-material-missing-documents-

Location: Oregon

I'm not asking for legal advice, just general information as to finding an appropriate personal injury attorney. My civil case that I am trying to pursue includes premises liability/insurance, sexual assault, employment and other things as well. I have reached out to a handful of attorneys and they all keep referring me to the next who refers me to the next. I have a very hard time believing that it is not a worthy case but I'm just struggling to find an attorney who I guess feels like they are specialized enough or something? I'm not sure, the paralegal or legal secretaries never seem to have insight as to why the firm is not interested.

Bit of background: I am a process server, I was serving a commercial eviction on a car lot. The landlord/real estate broker was supposed to meet me at the front of the lot to unlock the padlock fence so I could serve the notice. He instead told me that he was there earlier in the day and I can just enter through a hole in the fence. I did so and was attacked by a man claiming to be the owner. I now know that he was not the owner but I believe he was given permission by the owner to sort of live in an RV onsite as maybe a groundskeeper or guard or even mechanic (he is a mechanic). Anyway, once in the lot, it was more like a junkyard than an auto lot. It was a death trap. The man attacked me, dragged me to a more secluded spot, pinned me between cars. I stabbed him twice, we fought for the knife. He eventually took control of the knife, tried to unalive me and after begging for my life, he sexually assaulted me. I escaped as he was pulling up his pants.

I am pursuing a civil case against the landlord/broker who told me to go in through the hole in the fence. If I find out that the car lot owner really did authorize my attacker to be on-site, then that might be something to pursue as well.

As you can see, there are a lot of things going on here. I have sued and won a few civil cases in my life for other types of issues and have never ever had so much trouble getting legal representation. Does anyone have any direction to share with me as to which specialty I might pursue in regards to the type of attorney/firm?

How are y’all still litigating family court cases? How is it morally feasible to benefit from the structure as it exists now? It is adversarial in nature and escalates conflict while bankrupting parents and abandoning the best interest of children. I have witnessed litigators blatantly lie, conceal domestic violence, try to coordinate unlawful deals, and even abandon their own clients. The majority of guardians are not interested in doing their jobs and are also coordinating deals with whichever counsel they’re trying to preserve relationship with. How are you still litigating under these circumstances? Have you observed similar failures? How do we mitigate these issues and what needs to change?

I'm at a loss of how to proceed. Made a claim against someone that owes me an amount too large for small claims court and not quite large enough for a whole litigation. Background - I loaned LARGE sums of money to someone (on a handshake deal- I know - in a state that honors handshake) They have nickel and dimed the repayments for over a decade and finally ghosted me on the remainder. Nearing the statute of limitations I filed a claim. They did not respond until past the deadline. while making default judgement they responded. Started negotiating with bad faith(offering an NDA completely irrelevant to the claim) for half the amount owed (that was also egregiously protective of themselves - no protections for me). At this point I'm out thousands in Attorney costs, on top of what was already owed due to all the procedures done up until now. The cost of continuing litigation would most likely be more than the total owed, meaning at this point I would be litigating in hopes to pay myself back the additionally lost attorney fees. My question - what kind of options could I look at to recover anything at this point? would I have options for follow up if I were to win a judgment? what could I do if I stopped this litigation now and tried to take it to small claims. would there be anything I could follow up with after a win in small claims?

This has a been a total nightmare, and I feel like I keep getting robbed.

Edit1: the borrower absolutely has all the funds necessary to pay back if they wanted to. But burden of proof on the verbal contract and the full amounts borrowed may be complex.

Edit2: going through the full litigation will be costly, and best case scenario I win the case and the costs of litigating don't exceed what the borrower has to pay back and I end up at net zero(after costs). But most likely the costs of litigating do exceed and maybe I just loose less than what I've already sank in costs at this point.

Edit 3: I guess I'm just wondering if there's any other approach or other avenues to get restitution that I may not have thought about or explored yet?

For instance, if your fellow lawyer was a graduate from a non-ABA school, what would you think if you worked with them? Do you consider them full lawyers?

Hey everyone! I'm a BYU student working on an entrepreneurship class project where we're trying to better understand the challenges people face working in the legal field.
I'd really appreciate your help with a quick question!
Over the past three months, how often have you personally lost money or paid unexpected expenses because of your work as a lawyer or legal assistant?
☐ Never
☐ Once
☐ 2-3 times
☐ 4-6 times
☐ 7+ times
Feel free to just comment with your answer, but I'd also love to hear what kinds of costs or lost income cause the most frustration for you (unpaid invoices, unbilled time, software, licensing or CLE fees, etc.).

Hi . I am an architecture student and I haven asked to design a villa for lawyer , I wanted to come here and ask all of you what you might prefer what possible I can take from your work profession that can be used , it can be anything from the way lawyers think to what personal need

This is NOT a request for legal advice. I am simply asking what these words / phrases mean as defined by a lawyer. I have utilized Google but it has become unreliable with the AI overviews. And the majority of actual websites with answers are complex and I do not understand. I know this is a reflection of my low intelligence, but I am at my wits end trying to interpret and comprehend what these things are asking about. I'm hoping for an "explain like I'm 5 years old" type of answer.

From a Domestic Relations Financial Affidavit:

- Gross versus Net monthly income.

- Monthly payment to creditors.

- Capital Gains

- Fringe Benefits.

- Assets in all / partial nonmartial.

Hi,

I am a young adult considering law school. There is a lot about the profession that seems very appealing to me, and I think I have the skill set to be a decent lawyer. I have started studying the LSAT and will explore the application process for next year's cycle. As this decision has lived in the back of my mind over the last few months, I keep wondering how lawyers deal with life circumstances that take them off of their game, or other unexpected challenges in life.

For example, I have severe celiac disease. I am very careful with my health, but sometimes things happen by accident or in ways that feel out of may control, and when I get glutened, I experience very intense Brian fog for a few days. When this happened to me recently, I thought "what the hell would I do if this were to happen to me with a trial starting the next day?" There are plenty of other circumstances like that, but you get my point.

Just really curious, what is the culture around that in the law community? Are lawyers wrapping themselves in bubble wrap in the lead up to important dates, or are courts lenient to rescheduling things when the person requesting the accommodation is counsel?

Just really curious about this aspect of the career as I contemplate it. Would love to hear lawyers' thoughts and experiences. Thank you!

i am just 19 years of age and was assaulted by a man in a mixed gender inpatient facility that i stayed at for about a week . i want to sue them because this stay was involuntary-i didn’t consent to go their my family didn’t believe it was necessary either but i was sent there because i had previous history of being inpatient in hospital twice before . although that was two years ago . i left feeling more traumatized and heartbroken by my assault than when i entered .

how can i sue this place and get my dignity and respect back and make sure they’re held accountable ?

for context im in new jersey and this place has extremely low ratings anyways- it wouldn’t be hard to prove they’re negligent towards patients .

Hello
I (39f) had mediation today and completed disagree with mediators recommendation. There was a DVRO in 2024 and she completely bypassed family code 3044 and family code 3011. My question is..is there anyone who has gone to court after mediation (we have court next week) and objected to the recommendation and the judge actually listened and helped? How did you do it? I need some hope. My sons physical and emotional safety are at risk and is suffering severe psychological trauma.
We are in California

Canada. AB

So lets say ive gone through the step by step process of being pulled over. taken out of my truck, detained, put in the back of a police cruiser, and taken to the jail to be booked, processed, and thrown in the cell. EVERYTHING was done legally correct.

At what point did it go from detention to arrest?

How much do real estate lawyers cost on average?