Duke 1L (soon to be 2L) taking questions Forum

[blueberrycrumble]

Any students have feedback/outlines available on Richman for Contracts? He is visiting HLS this fall. Anything would be greatly appreciated, and I hope you are all still basking in the glow from your most recent basketball championship

Just wanted to bump this thread for the above question^.

Anything for Richman on Contracts? Outlines/comments/final exam structure, etc. Thanks so much in advance!

[SplitMyPants]

Thoughts on taking Weistart for Commercial Transaction? Anyone have any insight into that class?

[KiltedKicker]

Hey, any Duke students here willing to answer some questions?

Curious if anyone can speak to how southern Raleigh feels as a city, and how southern the law school feels? How diverse is the school in terms of race, political opinion, geographic background, and undergrads represented?

Also, does anyone have experience with the venture related courses? How hard would it be to go into some form of venture capital law in CA from Duke? How entrepreneurial is the school, and how good are the school's entrepreneurship related offerings?

Thanks for the help!

[FluffMonster]

Hey, any Duke students here willing to answer some questions?

Curious if anyone can speak to how southern Raleigh feels as a city, and how southern the law school feels? How diverse is the school in terms of race, political opinion, geographic background, and undergrads represented?

Also, does anyone have experience with the venture related courses? How hard would it be to go into some form of venture capital law in CA from Duke? How entrepreneurial is the school, and how good are the school's entrepreneurship related offerings?

Thanks for the help!

Can't speak to the culture of Raleigh, as none of us ever go there, but Durham is not really "southern" at all, unless you count all of the awesome barbecue restaurants in the area. The city is heavily influenced by Duke and research triangle park, and there are a lot of young professionals and grad students. I will say, though, when I first got here I went to a random local gas station to fill my tires and the owner came out to pump my tires himself and didn't charge me anything. So, of course, southern culture bleeds in a little from the surrounding area, but I think the area is pretty progressive generally. The law school is very diverse in most ways, especially because we have a lot of international LLMs (although I guess there are more liberal students than conservative ones). But, we don't interact with Duke undergrad or really any other grad schools very much so I can't speak to the university overall.

As for venture capital classes--I know Duke offers a venture capital course and has some other related stuff like the start-up venture clinic (but good luck getting in, even as a 3L). This year, the venture capital class was a bit smaller, so mostly 3Ls were able to get in, since they get the first round pick. But corporate/transactional courses are very easy to get in generally, and, regardless of what you end up practicing, there will be a lot of classes that you will want to take. Venture capital is pretty specific, and, unless you have prior experience, I suggest you broaden your horizons a bit. For example, I thought tax would be incredibly boring, but I ended up loving federal tax and ended up taking more advanced tax courses after. The California market question isn't really a question about Duke, because any top school can put you in a position to do that. It comes down to whether you have the grades and the ties to break into the California market and then it'd be a bit of luck, e.g. did you get an offer from a firm that does work in this area and will you be able to get into this group at your firm.

[legallybrunette93]

Hey, any Duke students here willing to answer some questions?

Curious if anyone can speak to how southern Raleigh feels as a city, and how southern the law school feels? How diverse is the school in terms of race, political opinion, geographic background, and undergrads represented?

Also, does anyone have experience with the venture related courses? How hard would it be to go into some form of venture capital law in CA from Duke? How entrepreneurial is the school, and how good are the school's entrepreneurship related offerings?

Thanks for the help!

In terms of entrepreneurship, one of my friends is doing the Law and Entrepreneurship LLM, which from what I can tell is kind of like majoring in that, she really likes it and the program offers great opportunities for that kind of stuff, and I think the program has some connections with Silicon Valley. I would recommend researching the LLM program to get more info about it, but it's definitely possible/easy to focus on entrepreneurship at Duke

[FluffMonster]

Hey, any Duke students here willing to answer some questions?

Curious if anyone can speak to how southern Raleigh feels as a city, and how southern the law school feels? How diverse is the school in terms of race, political opinion, geographic background, and undergrads represented?

Also, does anyone have experience with the venture related courses? How hard would it be to go into some form of venture capital law in CA from Duke? How entrepreneurial is the school, and how good are the school's entrepreneurship related offerings?

Thanks for the help!

In terms of entrepreneurship, one of my friends is doing the Law and Entrepreneurship LLM, which from what I can tell is kind of like majoring in that, she really likes it and the program offers great opportunities for that kind of stuff, and I think the program has some connections with Silicon Valley. I would recommend researching the LLM program to get more info about it, but it's definitely possible/easy to focus on entrepreneurship at Duke

I would be wary of spending 10's of thousands more for an LLM that will very likely give you the same outcome.

[Eastboundndown]

There is a lot of entrepreneurship in the Research Triangle with all the grad students and young professionals as mentioned above. Coming from a larger city, I was pretty surprised at all the activity. The LLM in Entrepreneurship mentioned above guarantees you a spot in the start-up clinic and it has a 4-week summer program after 1L year. This year, the LLM students are staying in Silicon Valley to take an innovation course along with Duke engineering grad students. They also have networking events with law and tech firms out there lined up. Joining the joint JD/LLM degree is around $10k extra tack-on to the JD cost (last time I did the math when I was considering doing it), which is pretty good for a LLM- the law school has had supplemental scholarships to lessen the LLM degree cost in order to attract students to the program, but can't guarantee that those will continue because not sure what the program size will be like going forward. It's possible to get BigLaw either with or without the LLM as alluded to above, but the program is pretty unique to Duke and will likely be helpful if you envision yourself doing things outside of law in your career.

[FluffMonster]

There is a lot of entrepreneurship in the Research Triangle with all the grad students and young professionals as mentioned above. Coming from a larger city, I was pretty surprised at all the activity. The LLM in Entrepreneurship mentioned above guarantees you a spot in the start-up clinic and it has a 4-week summer program after 1L year. This year, the LLM students are staying in Silicon Valley to take an innovation course along with Duke engineering grad students. They also have networking events with law and tech firms out there lined up. Joining the joint JD/LLM degree is around $10k extra tack-on to the JD cost (last time I did the math when I was considering doing it), which is pretty good for a LLM- the law school has had supplemental scholarships to lessen the LLM degree cost in order to attract students to the program, but can't guarantee that those will continue because not sure what the program size will be like going forward. It's possible to get BigLaw either with or without the LLM as alluded to above, but the program is pretty unique to Duke and will likely be helpful if you envision yourself doing things outside of law in your career.

I thought it was ~10k extra per year, so about 34k at repayment. No doubt it sounds like a great/fun program, but (even if just 10k) I don't think it affords much competitive advantage come OCI.

[SplitMyPants]

Duke is second-to-none on the east coast in terms of their start-up / IP offerings. I came into law school wanting to do IP and decided that out of the T14, it seems that Stanford, the law school formerly known as Boalt, and Duke are your best bets for that type of focus. And generally speaking, Duke will be more generous than Berkeley, although I've heard Berkeley is good at matching.

We just hired another professor to advise the Start-Up Ventures Clinic, so hopefully that will mean more spots. I, too, came in as a wide-eyed 0L thinking about how cool that clinic would be. Now, it'll come down to how closely my computer time matches the enrollment page's server time... That said, though, even having the clinic is a reflection on how much of an influence the entrepreneurial climate of the Triangle is on the offerings at Duke.

Ultimately, if you're wanting to do this type of work, you absolutely cannot go wrong with Duke. If you do not have the ties to California, consider looking at Berkeley, too, to help establish them. If you can already swing those Cali ties, then I'd say save yourself from that Berkeley rent and come check out Durham for a few years.

[Eastboundndown]

I thought it was ~10k extra per year, so about 34k at repayment.[/quote]

Just to clarify, it was around $10k + interest with the mentioned supplemental scholarships, which are not guaranteed going forward. You could always call and ask about the program if interested

[Serett]

Hey, any Duke students here willing to answer some questions?

Curious if anyone can speak to how southern Raleigh feels as a city, and how southern the law school feels? How diverse is the school in terms of race, political opinion, geographic background, and undergrads represented?

Let me answer your question with a link.

[lawschoolapplicant92]

How's the noise level at Heights at Lasalle? Concerned it might start to be overrun by undergrads...

[CaptainLeela]

Welcome to TLS

[KiltedKicker]

Hey, sorry for the delay but I want to thank all of you for the incredibly helpful responses. The difficulty in getting into some of the entrepreneurship related classes and clinics is a bit of a concern, but that's a concern at a number of other schools as well. It seems like Duke is a school that offers fantastic opportunities related to my interests and will make returning to the Bay Area very doable. Lastly, in regards to the LLM, I was offered a Mordecai and it actually looks like the LLM would be covered by that. I'll need to double check, but given my interests it seems like a fantastic opportunity.

Thank you all again for the help, it really is appreciated

[FlowBro]

How's the noise level at Heights at Lasalle? Concerned it might start to be overrun by undergrads...

Totally depends on your neighbors. Building 4 tends to be "rowdier" because it is filled with undergrads, specifically juniors who are there for the spring semester after they return from their study abroad experiences.

The front office staff won't really do anything about noise, so you are rolling the dice. But I would not say that it is any louder or worse than any other comparable complex such as Lofts, Trinity, Pinnacle, Belmont, etc..

Also, MAJOR KEY, make sure you get a 4th floor apartment. People walking above you gets obnoxious since the ceilings are so thin.

[Eastboundndown]

Hey, sorry for the delay but I want to thank all of you for the incredibly helpful responses. The difficulty in getting into some of the entrepreneurship related classes and clinics is a bit of a concern, but that's a concern at a number of other schools as well. It seems like Duke is a school that offers fantastic opportunities related to my interests and will make returning to the Bay Area very doable. Lastly, in regards to the LLM, I was offered a Mordecai and it actually looks like the LLM would be covered by that. I'll need to double check, but given my interests it seems like a fantastic opportunity.

Thank you all again for the help, it really is appreciated

Congrats- the Mordecai program is a great benefit. Good luck with your decision

[SplitMyPants]

Hey, sorry for the delay but I want to thank all of you for the incredibly helpful responses. The difficulty in getting into some of the entrepreneurship related classes and clinics is a bit of a concern, but that's a concern at a number of other schools as well. It seems like Duke is a school that offers fantastic opportunities related to my interests and will make returning to the Bay Area very doable. Lastly, in regards to the LLM, I was offered a Mordecai and it actually looks like the LLM would be covered by that. I'll need to double check, but given my interests it seems like a fantastic opportunity.

Thank you all again for the help, it really is appreciated

It's really just the clinic that is tough to get into. And if you decide to be LLM/LE then you are guaranteed a spot eventually, as it is required. IMO, for doing VC—and given you already have ties to the Bay Area—you would be insane to turn down a free JD/LLMLE from Duke. Even a free Duke JD would be insane to turn down for doing that kind of work on the West coast.

Obviously, being a mordecai means you'll have plenty of great options. But unless you're trying to do academia later, there's no real choice (in my admittedly slightly biased opinion). Plus, three years in the Triangle ain't bad (and pretty cheap!).

[clurrburr]

Hey, quick question if anyone is around to answer! I'm doing an individual visit to campus and will be around over the weekend, so I'm wondering where law students typically go out on the weekends? Any fun bar recommendations?

[grades??]

Hey, quick question if anyone is around to answer! I'm doing an individual visit to campus and will be around over the weekend, so I'm wondering where law students typically go out on the weekends? Any fun bar recommendations?

Shooters for sure

[SplitMyPants]

Hey, quick question if anyone is around to answer! I'm doing an individual visit to campus and will be around over the weekend, so I'm wondering where law students typically go out on the weekends? Any fun bar recommendations?

Criterion, Motorco, Full Steam, Bull McCabe's, Satisfaction, The Federal, James Joyce, Alivia's.

Unless you're K-JD. In which case, maybe add Shooters to the list.

[clurrburr]

Hey, quick question if anyone is around to answer! I'm doing an individual visit to campus and will be around over the weekend, so I'm wondering where law students typically go out on the weekends? Any fun bar recommendations?

Criterion, Motorco, Full Steam, Bull McCabe's, Satisfaction, The Federal, James Joyce, Alivia's.

Unless you're K-JD. In which case, maybe add Shooters to the list.

Perfect thank you! Not K-JD hahah.

[grades??]

Hey, quick question if anyone is around to answer! I'm doing an individual visit to campus and will be around over the weekend, so I'm wondering where law students typically go out on the weekends? Any fun bar recommendations?

Criterion, Motorco, Full Steam, Bull McCabe's, Satisfaction, The Federal, James Joyce, Alivia's.

Unless you're K-JD. In which case, maybe add Shooters to the list.

Perfect thank you! Not K-JD hahah.

If you don't go to shooters on your visit, well then you just haven't experienced Durham

[clurrburr]

Hey, quick question if anyone is around to answer! I'm doing an individual visit to campus and will be around over the weekend, so I'm wondering where law students typically go out on the weekends? Any fun bar recommendations?

Criterion, Motorco, Full Steam, Bull McCabe's, Satisfaction, The Federal, James Joyce, Alivia's.

Unless you're K-JD. In which case, maybe add Shooters to the list.

Perfect thank you! Not K-JD hahah.

If you don't go to shooters on your visit, well then you just haven't experienced Durham

In that case I'll have to stop by.

[jean100]

Know this was brought up earlier in this thread but wanted to ask current students: how feasible is life at Duke w/o a car? Are buses/shuttles reliable? Do people carpool?

Considering settling in w/o a car and then using rentals as needed/leasing one after a few months.

[grades??]

Know this was brought up earlier in this thread but wanted to ask current students: how feasible is life at Duke w/o a car? Are buses/shuttles reliable? Do people carpool?

Considering settling in w/o a car and then using rentals as needed/leasing one after a few months.

You absolutely need a car if you don't have an apartment immediately off campus like at trinity commons. One 1L tried to make it to winter break without one and couldn't.