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Kind of like asking what a doctor does on a daily basis, or a businessman. Too vague. There are dozens of specialties which are all very different. So I can't help you with that one.
Free time? Again it depends, but I'm in corporate at a big firm, so it looks like this: every few weeks a big deal comes along and you get 4 hours of sleep per night and work your ass off for 80+ hours a week, then it closes and things calm down until the next one comes along. That's an oversimplification but the general rule is if you want to make bank, go to BigLaw (if you can get a job there, see below), if you want to make average money but have free time, work for government or a smaller shop. I think the government here starts associates at about 50k per year plus benefits, you're pretty much paid like a cop I think (haven't looked too closely because that's not my path).
Law school involves reading. A lot of reading. In 3L I was about 800 pages a week, of legal stuff or cases (cases go quicker than texts). You then organize all of this reading into notes so that you can quickly consult it come exam time. So you go to class, read, and study for exams. That is basically the school process. Toss in a few papers / memorandum assignments here and there, which are either based on fact patterns (ie Jimmy did this, this and this, what are the legal issues, remedies, relevant case law, discuss etc) or just general questions about the law, ie essays.
Fuck that poli sci noise, go into science or engineering even if you DO want to go into law school... it opens up a whole range of options that aren't otherwise available. Intellectual Property boutique firms that do nothing but patents, copyright and trademark will not even look at your resume if you don't have a science or engineering background, because they make most of their money off of patent claims.
Job outlook is terrible. Law schools in the US are, in my estimation, a sham. In Canada there are like 7-8 law schools in the country and it's hard to find decent work here, you guys have HUNDREDS and everyone seems to think it's a gold-paved road to success. Consequently new "lawyers" are churned out everywhere, and there are no jobs for them. My advice? Don't go to law school unless you get into a top 20. You're taking your $150,000 and 3 years of your life and putting them all on black and spinning the roulette wheel. Of course, if your bar is set lower and you want to work in local government or have a small-time practice, it might be worth it to go to a second or third tier school for that, but it all depends on your goals.
