Ray's J.D. (Juris Doctor)

Introduction.

Welcome to My Juris Doctor Project:

This is a website within a website. The Ray's JD section of the ETE website has this additional menu which is visible above the main menu selections of the ETE site while you are viewing these pages.

From this menu, you can navigate this section without having to backup or move forward using browser tools, or even return to the Ray's JD page to restart navigating the pages.

My hope is that you will find the information - not only helpful - but vital in your endeavors to research, or participate in the legal education process.

About Ray's Journey:

When I was a kid, I wanted to be an attorney. The first thought that pops into my head when I type that is "My grandmother wants to fly jets be an attorney!"

Life kind of got in the way. When I was an adult, and having worked the majority of my career in video production (litigation support), I kept recalling that some folks work two or three full careers in their lifetimes. I recalled that I always wanted to be an attorney.

An incident took place that shook me up beyond comprehension. It is vital to how I got on this path, but irrelevant to what this path is all about now that I am on it.

What it did was to find me signing up to take the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT). I don't like one time exams where you need to spend a lot of money to prepare for, so I took the LSAT cold. I scored 148 on it. This is a low score, but it still got me accepted into five traditional ABA accredited schools.

In the whole of the process, it became increasingly apparent that traditional law schools are incredibly expensive. They are so expensive, in fact, that I started using the phrase of "Terminal Law School Debt."

I wasn't going to be borrowing money to go, I'd be paying cash as I went, but the return on the investment wasn't really there for me. Other students, traditional ones who would be borrowing the money to go would be graduating with a debt load that they will probably never pay off, or will be paying off for so long, that it will harm them financially for their whole lives.

Conducting personal research on options and seriously considering my goals and objectives, my reasons for studying law in the first place evolved, and are still evolving.

I created the ETE website with new goals in mind, personal and professional development for the betterment of society. In the delay between applying to law schools and waiting for answers, I decided to undertake some graduate education that ended up having me complete a Master's Degree in Professional Development with Graduate Certifications in Executive Leadership, Conflict Management and Resolution, and Change Management.

Prior to my graduation in February of 2011, I actually began my law studies with Northwestern California University School of Law. I will discuss this in more detail on another page, but this is pretty much the path to how I got here.

My original goals and objectives continue to evolve, the journey continues.