The Pre-Law Advising Blog has moved
Posted by Diane on November 28th, 2011
The blog is now available at prelaw.umass.edu/blog.
Please correct your bookmarks, RSS feeds and so on.
Posted in UMass Prelaw | Comments Off
Must read: Online Forum on Legal Education
Posted by Diane on November 13th, 2011
The National Law Journal recently convened an online forum of educators and others interested in the future of law school and the legal profession. The forum is a must-read for anyone considering law school — both the main entries and the comments sections are filled with rich and provocative commentary. The forum starts here, in a post at the bottom of the page dated 10/27/11. To follow the debate properly, you should work your way backwards up the page and to page 2 and page 1 (it’s all in reverse chronological order, with no easy way to re-order it). You can also read a “highlights” version here, at least for now (law.com has an unfortunate habit of hiding their articles behind pay walls after a little time has elapsed).
There is broad consensus among the commentators that the practice of law and legal education are (or should be) undergoing major structural changes; the debate centers on how those changes will play out, and how law schools should adapt to best serve the profession. Make no mistake: these changes will affect the practice and study of law during your career. As you make decisions regarding whether and how to pursue a legal career, it’s critical that you take into account the likely changes, and the debates surrounding the future of the legal profession.
Posted in Financing law school, Law schools, Legal jobs, Money | Comments Off
Lawpalooza! Next week’s many law-related events
Posted by Diane on November 8th, 2011
What a crazy conglomeration of events we’ve got scheduled next week, all catering to the legal eagles out there. I’m out of breath just listing them all. Here’s the rundown:
*Just added*
Vermont Law School Admissions Visit
Tuesday, 11/15, at noon
E23 Machmer
Vermont Law School boasts the most respected environmental law program in the country. Come meet with a VLS Admissions counselor to learn more about the school.
Color of Justice panel
sponsored by the National Association of Women Judges
Wednesday, 11/16, 3:00 – 5:30 pm
Western New England University School of Law (Springfield, Mass.)
A truly unparalleled opportunity to meet and hear from over a dozen female judges and attorneys about their career paths and experiences. Click through the title for the list of jurists at all levels of our state judiciary — from the Supreme Judicial Court on down to several local trial courts. (I’m so excited about this one, I’ll be heading down to Western New England myself!)
* Just added *
CMASS Law Night
Thursday, 11/17, 6:00 – 8:00 pm
Wilder Hall 201
Hear the success stories of ALANA students from UConn Law and Western New England Law, and get your questions answered by the admissions directors from both schools (as well as your faithful pre-law advisor). Brought to you in part by the Center for Multicultural Advancement and Student Success (CMASS).
Lawyer-Alum career talk: Carrie Pollak, Esq.
Friday, 11/18 at noon
W13 Machmer
You’ll definitely want to hear UMass alum Carrie Pollak (Legal Studies and English ’04, Cornell Law ’08) talk about her experiences in both a very large law firm in Boston, and her current mid-size firm in Ithaca, New York. Attorney Pollak, a former Army National Guard soldier, practices in the areas of environmental law and land use regulation.
UMass Mock Trial: Second Annual Thanksgiving Classic Invitational Tournament
Friday 11/18 – Sunday 11/20
Isenberg School of Management
Come see a dazzling display of legal skills from over two dozen teams, as they battle it out in a criminal trial. Come for one round, or come for all four. Rounds start Friday at 6:30 pm, Saturday at 9 am and 2 pm, and Sunday at 9 am. This is for anybody who has ever thought about trying out for Mock Trial, or who just wants to watch some excellent trial skills in action.
Posted in Alumni, Application process, Diversity, Law schools, Legal career talks, Legal jobs, Mock Trial, Networking, Student groups, Undergrad opportunities | Comments Off
Careers in criminal justice: November 9th, 6:00 pm
Posted by Diane on November 1st, 2011
This just in from the Career Services office:
Join Special Agents Patrick Carnahan (UMass Alum), Adrian Softic, & Kevin
Hool on Wednesday, November 9th at 6:00pm in Herter 231 as they speak about
the Intelligence Analyst and Special Agent positions offered through the
Federal Bureau of Investigation. They will discuss the basic qualifications
of these positions, how to best position yourself when applying for
positions at the FBI, the hiring process, and what to expect. There will
also be plenty of time for Q&A, so bring any questions you might have as
well!
Posted in Law-related activities, Legal jobs, Networking | Comments Off
That’s NOT the score I was hoping for! Now what?!? (Oct 2011)
Posted by Diane on October 24th, 2011
The scores from the October LSAT are out, and no doubt some of you are unhappy with the results. What’s next for you — a retake in December, applying with the October score, or putting off law school for another year?
To seriously answer the question of whether you should retake the exam, it’s important to first honestly assess what happened with this test administration:
- Did you prepare as well as could have been expected, given all the other constraints on your time — learning the exam inside out, repeatedly practicing individual sections, and taking several full-length practice tests? Or did you kind of blow off your prep, especially toward the end, after school started again? Can you realistically expect to prepare substantially differently in the six weeks remaining before the December 3rd test? (And remember that’s right before the last week of classes, heading into finals.)
- Did anything happen around the time of the test that would adversely affect your performance — a breakup, a family medical crisis, a series of unfortunately timed school assignments, extraordinary lack of sleep, a monumental hangover?
- Did you face serious unexpected test anxiety, unlike anything you had experienced in prior standardized tests? Shaking hands, inability to focus, paralyzing nervousness?
In the absence of obviously inadequate preparation, an unforeseeable disaster, or unexpected serious test anxiety, you are unlikely to increase your score by more than the 2-3 points that is the LSAC average for retakers. More sobering is that, historically, as many as 25-30% of retakers who scored 140-159 on their first test received either the same or a lower score the second time around. (More detail on the retake statistics available here.)
Beyond the questions above, you need to consider how law schools regard multiple LSAT scores. Some schools average the score (as LSAC used to recommend, until about 5 years ago), while others give you the benefit of the higher score. So a 4 point jump, at many schools, becomes only a 2 point jump. All schools see all scores.
Next you should weigh the potential benefit of a higher score against the potential cost of getting your applications in later in the admissions season. Most law schools make decisions on a rolling basis, and earlier applications are, in general, more successful than later applications. If you take the December test, your score will be available after the holidays, so your application will not be reviewed until January (assuming you complete the rest of your application by then). If you apply now with your October score, you should be able to complete your applications by Thanksgiving. If you do retake the December test, you MUST notify each school that you are retaking, in order to prevent them from reviewing your application based on your October score.
Finally, take a minute to step back from the consideration of this one facet of your application process to think again about why you are applying to law school in the first place, and what you hope to get out of the experience. Your LSAT score has an impact on where you to go law school, certainly. But it is significantly less likely to have the power to determine whether you go to law school at all (your options only start to dry up completely if you score in the mid-140s or below). It says nothing about what kind of lawyer you will be. Yes, some schools are more selective than others, at least as far as that can be measured with median GPAs and LSATs. But the 200 ABA-approved law schools are far more similar than they are different, and all will prepare you well for legal practice. A less selective school is not a lower quality school, not by any meaningful measure: a school’s median LSAT has nothing to do with the quality of instruction, the rigor of its clinical programs, or even its reputation among hiring attorneys.
In short, your lower than expected LSAT score might send you to a different law school from the ones you’d been contemplating, but it has no relationship whatsoever to how successful you’ll be as a law student or lawyer.
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Wednesday: Financing Law School panel
Posted by Diane on October 24th, 2011
Alissa Leonard, Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid,
Boston University School of Law
Wednesday, October 26th, 3:30 pm
W13 Machmer
This is an invaluable opportunity to get information about financial aid, loans, debt repayment options and scholarships from an expert.
Posted in Financing law school, Law schools, Money, Scholarships | Comments Off
Wednesday: Graduate and Professional School Fair
Posted by Diane on October 24th, 2011
Wednesday, October 26th, 11:00 am – 3:00 pm
Student Union Ballroom
Meet representatives from 20 law schools right here on campus. Attendees include: Albany, BC, BU, Brooklyn, CUNY, Hofstra, Mass. School of Law, New England Law, Northeastern, Pace, Penn State, Seton Hall, St. John’s, Suffolk, Touro, UConn, UMass Law, UNH, University of Oregon, and Western New England.
Posted in Law schools | Comments Off
Law nerd alert: Happy First Monday in October!
Posted by Diane on October 3rd, 2011
The first Monday in October marks the traditional start of the US Supreme Court term. Two great resources can help you follow and make sense of the cases before the Court.
The Legal Information Institute’s (LII) Supreme Court Bulletin is published by 2nd and 3rd year students at Cornell Law School. LII has become a primary free repository for cases, statutes and regulations in the United States.
ScotusBlog (sponsored by the law firm of Goldstein & Russell, P.C., and hosted by Bloomberg Law) provides comprehensive reporting on all the activities at the Supreme Court. Articles are written by a number of different Supreme Court litigators and law professors, as well as longtime Supreme Court reporter Lyle Denniston.
Both of these great resources have free subscription options and updates via their Facebook pages. It’s a great way to keep up to date on Supreme Court litigation and decisions.
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Criminal Justice Internships
Posted by Diane on September 27th, 2011
From the Department of Sociology:
Interested in a Criminal Justice Internship for Spring 2012 or beyond?
Start planning NOW- Sheriff Garvey, director of CJ internships is meeting with interested students on Tuesdays from 3-5pm in Thompson Hall room 732.
Recent placements have been in:
- The Hampshire County Jail and House of Correction: security and treatment placements
- Probation: District, Superior, and Juvenile Courts
- Local District Attorney’s office
- Police Departments
- Department of Youth ServicesAnd many more! Many internships are locally placed but Sheriff Garvey has also placed students around the country- especially in Boston and Washington D.C.
Don’t wait! See Sheriff Garvey on Tuesdays.
(if you can’t make a Tuesday meeting, send an e-mail to advising@soc.umass.edu and we will help you get in touch.)
Posted in Internships, Law-related activities, Undergrad opportunities | Comments Off
Last minute LSAT tips — October 2011 edition
Posted by Diane on September 25th, 2011
Many of you are taking the LSAT this coming Saturday, and I wanted to offer both my best wishes, as well as a few last minute tips.
- First off, it’s time to taper off from studying — there’s not much more that studying and/or practice can do for you now except make you more stressed out and tired. Rather, it’s time to get your mind and body in shape. In particular, be cautious about taking any more practice tests this week — stress and anxiety make a lot of “one more practice tests” during this last week come out worse than prior testing, which of course creates more stress and anxiety. Don’t do that to yourself.
- No more alcohol for the week! (yes, that includes thirsty Thursday!)
- Get plenty of sleep.
- Eat well (but nothing you haven’t tried before that might upset your stomach). Have breakfast Saturday morning, and bring a snack for the break. Don’t forget to hydrate — this is a physical endurance event almost as much as a mental one, and your body needs fluids.
- If you’re not a regular coffee drinker, Saturday is not the time to start! Shaky hands aren’t good during the exam. (This goes for other artificial stimulants as well.)
- Make sure you know in advance exactly where you need to be on Saturday and how you’re getting there (and where you’ll park, if applicable). These are not things you want to worry about on the day of the test.
- Don’t forget to breathe. I mean this literally. During the exam, tension can make your breathing patterns irregular, and interrupt the normal oxygen flow to your brain. Every 15 minutes or so, take a quick break to breathe deeply a few times and get your body back on track.
- Stretch. See above – this will get the oxygen and blood flowing again.
- Relax. I know you’re rolling your eyes at this one. But the truth is, this test does not determine the outcome of the rest of your life. At most, it helps determine which law schools you have a likelihood of getting admitted to. All 200 of the ABA-accredited law schools are good schools that will give you the education necessary to go on to be successful attorneys.
- No, I really mean it, relax. The other thing you need to relax about right now is the rest of the application process. By taking the October LSAT, you are right on track, and you’ll have time to focus on the rest of your application in October.
Good luck to all of you!
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