
How Law School Prepares You for Practicing Law & Where It Doesn't, with Rob Baker
From Status Check with Spivey by Spivey Consulting Group
April 9, 2026 · 26 min
About this episode
Mike discusses with Rob Baker how law school prepares students for practicing law and where it falls short.
In this episode of Status Check with Spivey , Mike has a conversation with Rob Baker , a long-time practicing entertainment lawyer who has served on hiring committees for multiple law firms, ranging from biglaw to mid-law to a small firm, and who leads Spivey Consutling’s new employment coaching and law school mentorship program. Rob discusses his law school application process (3:49), what it was like starting 1L year (5:18), how law school prepared Rob for practicing (12:16) and how it didn’t (16:18), how legal employers view rankings (10:00), whether law school is “fun” (19:07), what makes a good lawyer (21:32), one key talent of the highest-earning lawyers (15:15), the one trait that can make all the difference in excelling in biglaw, becoming an entertainment lawyer, or getting admitted off the law school waitlist (17:28), and more. Mike mentions our podcast episode with Jeff Chapman in this episode, “Interview with a Biglaw Partner (Jeff Chapman, Gibson Dunn Co-Chair of Global M&A),” which you can listen to here . If you’re interested in learning more about Rob’s coaching and mentorship services, please reach out to info@spiveyconsulting.com. You can listen and…
People in this episode
Guest: Rob Baker
Topics covered
- law school
- practicing law
- employment coaching
- mentorship
- legal rankings
- biglaw
- entertainment law
Keywords
- law school application
- 1L year
- legal employers
- lawyer traits
- high-earning lawyers
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: Status Check with Spivey, Interview with a Biglaw Partner
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