Law Student

Leora Maccabee is one of many law school graduates preparing for the bar exam. She offers some good advice on finding balance in the chaos and stress leading up to the bar exam: Bar exam studies under way? Tips from someone in your shoes.

For blogs written by students preparing for the bar exam (or who previously took the bar), go here: Law Student Bar Exam Blogs.

The law school professor in this video presents the most common problems in law school exams. He provides a nice overview of exam mistakes and how to improve law school exam performance.

This is a good refresher right before law school exams.

Congratulations to law students who have a summer job at a law firm. Summer associate positions are offered by law firms to try out law students and determine if the law student would make a good lawyer in the firm.

Summer associates often wonder if they should do something to “stand out” from the other summer associates to get noticed by partners. The best way to “stand out” is to work hard and do good work, which normally means good research and writing. A pleasant personality is the goal, not leaning too far into the introvert or extrovert direction.

Bitter Lawyer posted a list of “Nine Summer Associate Don’ts” for law students to be aware of as they tread into the economically sensitive and ultra-competitive law firm arena. The “Nine Summer Associate Don’ts” clarifies a number of ways you do not want to “stand out.” A number of the tips are pretty obvious, but what is obvious to some may not be so obvious to others.

According to a survey by Kaplan, 40 percent of pre-law students say the current economic crisis is motivating their decision to apply to law school.

Registration for free Kaplan LSAT practice exams spiked more than 20 percent as students and professionals explored law school as a safe haven option.

The survey also noted that among aspiring lawyers, political aspirations still run much higher for men.

Read more from the Kaplan press release: Read the rest of this Law Student article »

The art of writing a personal statement for law schools that will both get their attention and get you accepted has been polished over many years.  Here are some pointers that may help.

When it comes time to write your personal statement don’t go crazy and try to be the next F. Scott Fitzgerald.  Likely you will get no points for length or originality; it is content that matters.  Trying to do something out of the box may only lead to admission representatives misinterpreting your meaning, and that’s the last thing you would want to happen.

Do your homework.

Cliché I know, but if you are fortunate enough to get into law school this will become your own personal mantra.  So why not get started early and Read the rest of this Law Student article »

Here are 10 tips from first year law students.

The tips are based on the mistakes they made during their first year of law school and things they did that worked especially well. The tips are helpful, and some are a bit humorous. The video is less than 8 minutes long.

In this video, law professors discuss the challenges of grading. One law professor presents a disturbing viewpoint: law school grading is somewhat arbitrary because grading is so subjective. What do you think?

I agree that law school grading is not precise—and some law school professors are worse than others.

For most law professors, it is hard to differentiate between Read the rest of this Law Student article »

If you’re in law school, you probably know what a “gunner” is. In short, it’s a person who frequently raises their hand to talk in class.

Gunners seem like they just want to hear themselves talk. They seem to want to impress their classmates and the professor with their knowledge.

Most law students are annoyed by gunners. But not every student who talks a lot has the same motives as a gunner. Sometimes students who are very interested in the subject matter can get the reputation of being a gunner.

There is an impression for new law students that someone who talks a lot in class must be more knowledgeable or smarter. However, as law school progresses, you quickly learn that the smartest kids in the class are often the quietest kids in the class.

This video interviews law students about their impressions of gunners in law school.