Four Skills They Should’ve Taught In Law School

What Law School Applicants Should Be Doing Now

Only three months to go! By the holidays, your applications, essays, and references must be out. If you’re in school, your law school application is competing for time with your coursework and activities. If you’re working, you’re probably juggling a barrage of assignments and deadlines that are always changing. If you’re not careful, your application will come down to the wire.
So how can you balance your hectic life with your ambition of enrolling in law school? This week, US News and World Report and Abovethelaw.com shared their advice for making the most of the time you have left. Here are some strategies and resources you can use to save time and increase your chances for acceptance:
1) Treat Applications Like a Class: Shawn O’Connor, a Harvard Law grad and CEO of admissions consulting firm Stratus Prep, counsels client to block out time each week to work on your application. By setting benchmarks and deadlines, you can stay on track and avoid the last minute rush.
2) Utilize School Resources: If you’re an undergraduate, your school offers support you probably haven’t considered. For example, O’Connor recommends that you share your essays with friendly professors who can provide feedback. Similarly, your career services department can review your resume. You can even bounce ideas and questions off your school’s prelaw advisers.
3) Ask For Free Waivers: According to Ann Levine, President of Law School Expert, law schools need to “keep their number of overall applicants high, and their number of admitted students as low as possible. A major strategy for accomplishing this is to offer free applications to some, or even all, applicants.” Check with your admissions representative to see if you meet the criteria.
4) Waive Your Right To Review Letters of Recommendation: Your letters of recommendation carry great weight in the selection process. In fact, Levine has observed that “law schools are more apt to believe that these individuals are being candid, and that their compliments about you are credible, if the law schools have assurance that your recommenders felt their remarks would not be shared with you.” To increase your credibility, waive your rights to see those letters.
5) Stay In Touch With Your Choice(s): So you ended up on a waiting list? So did many students who ultimately ended up being accepted. Here’s one way they got off the list: They kept in contact with the school, reinforcing how sincere their interest was. From Levine’s experience, your best shot is to keep administrators “updated about your activities and accomplishments, and make efforts to show them that you would be a sure thing to show up if admitted.”
Sources: US News and World Report, Above The Law

33 Lawyers On The Forbes 400

Q: What do you call 33 lawyers on the Forbes 400?
A: A good start.
Joking aside, you’d actually call it a decrease. Recently, Forbes released its list of the wealthiest 400 Americans. This year, 33 lawyers made the list. Surprisingly, no new lawyers were added to the list – and two attorneys dropped from the list. Sadly, both attorneys – Todd Wagner and Paul Singer – missed the $1.3 billion dollar net worth cutoff by coming in at $1.25 billion each. Those poor guys!
According to Forbes, there is a five-way tie among law schools for the highest number of graduates on the Forbes 400. Those universities, which placed three alumni each, include Harvard, Stanford, Virginia, Northwestern, and SMU.
To access the 2012 list of lawyers on the Forbes 400, click here: Forbes 400
Source: Above The Law