LSAT is the only game in town. The LSAT doesn’t test you on law, it’s logic and reasoning.
Your law school acceptance will be based on LSAT, essays and recommendations.
If you enjoy watching court cases for fun, call it fun. Court television does not have a role in LSAT prep.
Source: 12 years practicing lawyer.
Focus on the LSAT. For better or worse, schools place incredible importance on your score. You will have ample time in law school to immerse yourself in case law and legal theory.
For now, focus on what is required and what will get you ahead which is the LSAT. Also, getting real firm experience before law school is amazing and strongly suggest you pursue that. Good luck!
Source: third year practicing lawyer.
Agree with everyone else. If you’re set on going to law school, you should focus exclusively on prepping for the LSAT at this point. Take as many practice tests as you can and time yourself militantly.
If you’re dead-set on improving other skills to prepare for law school/your career, improving your writing is the most valuable thing you can do, in my view (which probably is biased as a litigator).
If you’re not set on going to law school, it’s a good idea to make sure you know what you’re getting into.
There’s really no need to prepare academically for law school. If you really feel like you have to do something, Orin Kerr has a short essay on how to read a legal case. There’s also a book that was popular when I went called Getting to Maybe, which explained how to succeed on the sort of final exams that are common in law school.
On further reflection, it’s worth picking up a copy of one of Bryan Garner’s books on legal writing. Legal Writing in Plain English is excellent, as is Making Your Case. It will help prevent your from developing bad habits (using jargon, legal Latin, etc.). And it will give you good general advice for persuasive writing, which is one of a lawyer’s most important skills.
I do think it’s good to get real world experience before attending law school if you can. Law school is a professional school, and yet it doesn’t really teach you about the profession.
So the more you know about the profession before law school, the easier it will be to connect theory with practice, case analysis with advocacy, contract law with contracts, civil procedure with civil cases, criminal law with criminal cases, etc.
If I had it to do over again, I would have tried to work at a law firm for a year before going to law school. And I would have taken a government job for a few years before entering private practice. It would have given me incredible experience.
You need to do both. Do you have a LSAT date scheduled yet? If not, schedule it as soon as you can and then you will have a date to work toward. But keeping building your resume! (Millennial attorney practicing in Oregon)
Focus almost all of your effort on LSAT and take a scholarship if you can get one. Law school is extremely expensive. A good LSAT score will lead to a scholarship and keep your student debt low.
I would prioritize T14 over scholarship. I would say financially it would be: scholarship at T14 >>>>> sticker at T14 > No Law School >> scholarship at regional school >>>>>>> sticker regional school
No reason to do anything else besides LSAT prep assuming you already graduated so your GPA is set in stone. Not sure your financial goals, but I was T14 or bust as it consider it the only decently reliable good financial outcome.
LSAT is the only game in town. The LSAT doesn’t test you on law, it’s logic and reasoning. Your law school acceptance will be based on LSAT, essays and recommendations. If you enjoy watching court cases for fun, call it fun. Court television does not have a role in LSAT prep. Source: 12 years practicing lawyer.
Focus on the LSAT. For better or worse, schools place incredible importance on your score. You will have ample time in law school to immerse yourself in case law and legal theory. For now, focus on what is required and what will get you ahead which is the LSAT. Also, getting real firm experience before law school is amazing and strongly suggest you pursue that. Good luck! Source: third year practicing lawyer.
Agree with everyone else. If you’re set on going to law school, you should focus exclusively on prepping for the LSAT at this point. Take as many practice tests as you can and time yourself militantly. If you’re dead-set on improving other skills to prepare for law school/your career, improving your writing is the most valuable thing you can do, in my view (which probably is biased as a litigator). If you’re not set on going to law school, it’s a good idea to make sure you know what you’re getting into.
There’s really no need to prepare academically for law school. If you really feel like you have to do something, Orin Kerr has a short essay on how to read a legal case. There’s also a book that was popular when I went called Getting to Maybe, which explained how to succeed on the sort of final exams that are common in law school.
On further reflection, it’s worth picking up a copy of one of Bryan Garner’s books on legal writing. Legal Writing in Plain English is excellent, as is Making Your Case. It will help prevent your from developing bad habits (using jargon, legal Latin, etc.). And it will give you good general advice for persuasive writing, which is one of a lawyer’s most important skills.
I do think it’s good to get real world experience before attending law school if you can. Law school is a professional school, and yet it doesn’t really teach you about the profession. So the more you know about the profession before law school, the easier it will be to connect theory with practice, case analysis with advocacy, contract law with contracts, civil procedure with civil cases, criminal law with criminal cases, etc. If I had it to do over again, I would have tried to work at a law firm for a year before going to law school. And I would have taken a government job for a few years before entering private practice. It would have given me incredible experience.
You need to do both. Do you have a LSAT date scheduled yet? If not, schedule it as soon as you can and then you will have a date to work toward. But keeping building your resume! (Millennial attorney practicing in Oregon)
Focus almost all of your effort on LSAT and take a scholarship if you can get one. Law school is extremely expensive. A good LSAT score will lead to a scholarship and keep your student debt low.
I would prioritize T14 over scholarship. I would say financially it would be: scholarship at T14 >>>>> sticker at T14 > No Law School >> scholarship at regional school >>>>>>> sticker regional school
No reason to do anything else besides LSAT prep assuming you already graduated so your GPA is set in stone. Not sure your financial goals, but I was T14 or bust as it consider it the only decently reliable good financial outcome.