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Category: Law School 101



Your GPS to summer bar success

January 01, 2020

Intensive bar preparation is a “long, strange trip” (apologies to the Grateful Dead). You need your Bar Success GPS—something you don’t want to be frantically pulling together in June and July. Start early. Start now.

Recruiting

Ask the Hiring Attorney: How do I hire a legal recruiter?

December 20, 2019

Q: How do I find a legal recruiter I can hire to help me find a job after I graduate and pass the bar? A: Congratulations on nearing the finish line for law school! And congratulations on thinking ahead about your job search. As you’re already seeing, earning

Finals don’t finalize who we are: Let’s re-define 'success' in law school

December 04, 2019

As law school exam season approaches, the tension in academic hallways thickens like soup. Over the past few weeks, as I’ve met with students in office hours, I’ve seen worries etch into their furrowed brows right before my eyes. Everyone seems to be ahead of me in their outlining. I still don’t

Student Loan

PSLF and LRAPs: The facts on loan forgiveness

November 01, 2019

It’s never too early or too late to start thinking about paying off law school loans. In some cases, if you go to the right school, make the right amount of money, and follow confusing steps that may go horribly awry at any point, you

Asking

Ask the Hiring Attorney: How do I ask for letters of recommendation?

October 22, 2019

Asking for—and getting—letters of recommendation is not as hard as you think. The law professors and practicing attorneys you’re nervous about won’t be surprised by your request. They know jurisdictions can require bar candidates to submit these letters as part of their bar application. They were in your shoes once too—they all applied for bar admissions, and likely they had to collect similar letters from people they didn’t feel they really knew well.

Success

Defining success in terms of satisfaction starts in law school

October 11, 2019

As a first-generation lawyer, I really didn’t know what to expect from the practice of law.  I wasn’t prepared for the pressure and the stress, and I didn’t know how to overcome the need for perfection and validation that I’d inadvertently nurtured through a lifetime focused on academic performance. 

Intervention

Intervention: The benefits of stepping in with compassion

October 10, 2019

August 2018, on a late Thursday afternoon, I received a call asking me if I was available to come up and meet with a chief assistant state attorney.  I was an assistant state attorney in Miami-Dade County, Florida, handling mental health cases, so these requests were common.  I

Failure

The future is failure (so start getting good at it)

October 08, 2019

“Dear Ms. Leader, Thank you for your application. Unfortunately, at this time, we are not able to offer…" Sound familiar?  Some version of this email has started to grace my inbox as frequently as the latest J. Crew discount code or law school lunch talk

Wellness

Why a week of wellness isn’t well enough

October 07, 2019

If you have ever picked up a free banana smoothie or granola bar from your law school’s wellness week booths, you are not alone. Free food is great, and law schools do seem to care more about wellness than they used to, but I still find myself asking: how

Mental Health Day shirt

Common threads: Enter the Mental Health T-Shirt Contest

October 07, 2019

October is Mental Health Awareness Month, and World Mental Health Day is October 10. We observe this month and day to raise awareness of mental health issues around the world and to increase support for wellness. This day is meant to provide an opportunity for all those affected to talk about

Summer Reading

Summer syllabus: Books to read before starting law school

June 12, 2019

Soon-to-be law students, this is your summer reading list. Okay, you don’t need to read all these books—with 30+ books, they’re probably too many for one summer anyway! But they are helpful, inspiring, and empowering picks all law students might consider.

Bar Exam

Empire Prep: Tips for choosing between handwriting and typing the bar exam

June 06, 2019

Should you handwrite or type the Multistate Performance Tests (MPTs) and Multistate Essay Exams (MEEs) portions of the bar exam? Do the bar examiners grade the handwritten essays differently from typed essays? Maybe I can’t answer that second question for you, since grading can be

Mirror

Fragility or courage? The state of law students today

June 04, 2019

I had a conversation earlier this month with a former director of a state bar Lawyers Assistance Program. This person shared that during regular meetings with the LAP, administrators at law schools in the state often complained, “Students today are just so fragile.” But

Journal Notes

Journal write-on made simple—7 tips to keep in mind

May 23, 2019

For law students aspiring to be on a journal, the satisfaction of finishing 1L year is short-lived. Write-on is just around the corner. As soon as you’re about to regain your life and your sanity, the 3L board members hand you a packet and a deadline.

Bar Study Loans

Avoiding an expensive bar study loan

May 13, 2019

Editor's note: This post has been updated to clarify a passage in the original version (5/16/19, 10:44 a.m. CDT). As the spring semester comes to a close, many 3Ls are investigating their bar study loan options. Borrowing one last loan to pay

Webinar Replay: So You Want to be an In House Counsel

April 15, 2019

Whether you’re a law student, young lawyer, or transitioning attorney, find out what it’s like to work as an In-House Counsel.

Night School

Why part-time law school still makes sense

April 11, 2019

My dad loves to remind me how he paid for his education.  He scrubbed toilets during college and worked as a punch card programmer to pay for law school.  He is making a point about hard work, but all I can hear is how great things used

First-Job

How to stand out when applying for your first job out of law school

January 22, 2019

After completing law school, it can be challenging to find a job. It can be difficult to know where to begin looking, not to mention how tedious it is to send dozens of applications to potential employers. However, it is essential to understand that there are ways you