Your Law School Application: What To Watch For

As applicants put together their law school applications, there are a number of things to look over and piece together.

Law school applications can often can hectic and tedious. That’s why having a checklist can be useful.

Gabriel Kuris, founder of Top Law Coach and contributor for US News, recently put together a fall checklist for applicants to avoid gaps or delays in their application.

RECOMMENDATION LETTERS

When it comes to recommendation letters, most law schools tend to require at least two letters.

Kuris stresses the importance in starting early on the recommendation letter front of the application.

“Because recommendation letters are out of an applicant’s hands, they cannot be rushed,” she writes. “Applicants should request recommendation letters early to give writers notice of at least a few weeks, ideally a month.”

Experts also recommend applicants to start a dialogue with their letter writer. The earlier you start that conversation, the stronger your letter will be.

“An important, but basic, question that should be asked in some form is: ‘Would you be able to write a supportive letter for my application to law school?’ From there, it can be helpful to provide guidance on why you asked them in particular to write on your behalf, and what experiences, projects, or accomplishments you believe they can speak to,” according to the HLS admissions team.

ESSAYS AND RESUME

The written materials—your personal statement, resume, and options essays—make up a good chunk of your application.

When it comes to the resume, Kuris recommends applicants to keep it up to date with their accomplishments.

“Law school resumes can stretch to two pages, but write concisely to keep the spotlight on the most critical information,” she writes. “Tailor your bullet points to be active, specific and demonstrative of high performance.”

Personal statements will differ from school-to-school. And Kuris says it’s important to double check the fine details in what each school requires.

“For example, personal statements should always be double-spaced, but not every law school imposes a two-page limit,” Kuris writes. “Some schools are more strict than others about font and margin size. Some even tailor the wording of the personal statement instructions to emphasize different angles.”

Read more tips from Kuris here.

Sources: US News, Harvard Law