The Law School Experience: An Interview with FSU History Alumnus Robert Gonzalez
Robert Gonzalez graduated with a major in History and a minor in Political Science in Spring 2021. He was also one of the first FSU History social media interns in spring and summer 2020. After graduation, Gonzalez moved to Los Angeles and attended Southwestern Law School. He has just completed 3 L, graduated, and is preparing to take the bar exam.
Why did you apply to Southwestern Law School?
I knew I wanted to do entertainment law, so I applied to law schools in New York, Nashville, and Los Angeles, places in which the entertainment industry is mainly located. I did apply to a Florida school as back up too, but I wanted to go out-of-state for law school. Once I had an offer from Southwestern Law, I withdrew my other applications. It was my top choice because of its big entertainment law program, broad range of externships, and connections for that area of law.
Additionally, Southwestern is only a law school, there is no university attached. I liked the vibe of a purely professional institution focused on preparing its students for the practice of law. As I was moving to a place very far away from home, I appreciated that Southwestern was providing housing for its students. The scholarship that they offered me clinched the decision.
Why are you interested in entertainment law?
I have always been interested in music. In middle school, band and music were my salvation. It helped me meet like-minded people and gave my time in school a purpose. I played percussion instruments and the saxophone. Out of this grew my interest in the music industry and the business side of things. My focus on entertainment law is a combination of my longstanding desire to become a lawyer with my passion for music.
I have known since elementary school that I wanted to be a lawyer. Over time, I realized that there are different types of law one can study. And then I discovered that there are also different kinds of lawyers around. The field really opened up in front of me. In high school, I googled which majors in undergrad were best to prepare for taking the LSAT and for law school. I was torn between Math and History, but then decided that I needed to hone my reading and writing skills, so I chose History. When I take the bar exam at the end of July, that’s when I am crossing the finish line of the plan, I had mapped out for me in elementary school.
In how far was law school different from undergrad?
The biggest difference for me was that professors will call on you in class. You are responsible for the homework reading. Each professor has a different method of determining whom to call on – but for the students it can feel very random. And because you might be called on at any moment, it makes the class feel small, even if it has around 100 students in it. You can’t slink into the back and just listen and take notes and get through class without ever talking to the professor.
The other thing that is different is getting used to reading legal material. I had never read a case before; I wasn’t used to a judge’s writing style and how the brief was structured. You learn how to read these things, but I remember the first case I looked at took me around two hours to read through it, brief it, and understand it. Now I can do it in around half an hour.
What was it like moving across the whole country to study?
Looking back, I should have been more scared than I was, because I was moving away from all my family and friends. I am from Ocala and the furthest I had moved before was to Tallahassee. I knew no one in LA and had only been there once when I was six.
My dad and I packed everything that would fit into my car – and then we drove across the country because I needed my car in LA. We stopped at the Grand Canyon and in Las Vegas as we were a bit ahead of schedule. It took us around four days from Florida to California.
Not being near my family and friends was the hardest adjustment. I am glad that I could FaceTime with them, and talk on the phone, so I kept up some connection. The first semester, maybe the whole first year, was hard. But I have built up a new life in California, I have friends here now too.
Before I came to LA, Tallahassee had been the biggest city I had lived in. LA is the second biggest city in the country – so that has been an adjustment too. The traffic is intense, but I am not given to road rage, so it isn’t a big negative.
What really surprised me was the dry heat. I had never experienced that before in Florida. I remember during orientation on the first day after moving in, I was dressed in professional clothing, and walking around campus, I got a bit hot. So, I moved into the shade under a tree, and I actually started cooling off, I stopped sweating. That was such a novelty, that alone was a big difference to me.
I love living in LA. Besides the city, we have the beach, the desert, mountains. LA feels like a happening city. If something’s going to happen in the country, it is probably one of the few locations where it will happen. I like that feeling, the vibe fits me.
What does a typical day look like for you?
During my last semester I had less work to do for school. But I was working as a legal clerk at a law firm and that took up time. Gradually, my classmates and I have shifted from working mostly on course work to working on our extern- and internships or jobs.
A typical day for me means going to the law firm I am working for either for the whole day or half a day, depending on when my classes are. I usually grab a quick snack on the way to class, and I do my homework either between work and school or straight after class.
In my third year, a lot of my classes were at night. They are electives, and the people teaching those topics are practicing lawyers. Many of the students hold down jobs too, and so most of my current school time is after 6pm. That was different in the first year, when we had no course choices, and everybody’s schedule was mapped out centrally across the day. Once you start having electives, your schedule becomes tailored to your interests and the specialists brought in to teach are usually available in the evenings.
I was in a trademark class in my last semester, and I finished a class on influencer law in fall. Those electives are more fun than the mandatory first-year stuff!
Was it difficult to get an internship or a job?
I did not do any internships. We have to do experiential learning, but I also needed money. So, I applied for clerk positions instead. To get the first job was hard because I did not have any legal work experience. That’s when the career services center helped to connect with an employer. But once I got that, it became easier as I could point to more experience.
I graduated in May and will take the bar in August, but I won’t get the results until November. My current employer has offered me a flexible schedule while I study for the bar. I won’t be able to practice as a lawyer until I have found out if I passed. I am hoping for a bar-contingent offer from my current firm, but we will need to see. Without jinxing it, I am planning on passing the bar – I really don’t want to take the exam again.
What advice would you give to other students who want to go to law school?
I would give the same advice that I got at orientation, which was “know your why.” Know why you want to go to law school and remember it, because the first year or two are really difficult, and if you don’t know why you are studying law, you will most likely drop out. For the first year, you will have to stop everything else and just study, and you might think that you could have a different career instead or just have a life and go to parties. You need to know why you are doing law school, what your goal is, to keep yourself moving forward. Otherwise, you might not make it to 2L.
When I asked for advice, the lawyers I spoke to always told me: “don’t go to law school.” But I would not say that. My advice is, know why you are doing it. For me, money is not a motivator enough on its own. I want to be a lawyer because I want to represent clients, I want to write contracts, negotiate, and review them, I want to defend people in laws suits. I feel that’s my purpose. That’s what I want to do.