Monday, December 04, 2006
Admissions Advice
From time to time, people who are considering legal careers ask me for advice on how to improve their prospects for admission. I suggest they ask a wide range of individuals for advice, including not only law school administrators and faculty but also their undergraduate pre-law advisors and attorneys whom they may know.
Most importantly, I would suggest preparing for the LSAT. Although every law school considers more than the LSAT, every law school does consider the LSAT; it plays a significant role in evaluating the likelihood of success in the first year of the curriculum, especially in combination with undergraduate grades. And when I suggest preparing for the LSAT, I mean more than looking at a few questions from prior exams. If possible, applicants should take a test preparation course. If that isn’t feasible, they should at least obtain a book (the actual old LSATs are available from the LSAC and most libraries have reputable books) and take as many full exams as possible under actual test conditions -- timed, alone, without substantial breaks, and without looking up the answers. Most of the individuals with whom I discuss preparing for the LSAT admit, once pressed, that they looked at a few questions from prior exams, guessed at the answers, then flipped to the back of the book to consult the key, giving themselves credit because, “oh, well, I thought that choice was right.” Nobody, however smart by whatever measure, is likely to do as well as s/he could do on the LSAT, with genuine practice. A good test of seriousness of purpose is whether you are willing to take at least a half dozen weekends to prepare for the LSAT.
Next, do as well as possible in college. Although every law school considers more than GPA as well, every law school also does consider GPA; it is weighted heavily along with the LSAT. A rigorous course of study, whatever the major, and the best academic record are crucial. Within that course of study, as many courses that emphasize writing -- essay exams, significant research papers, even a journal -- as possible will be helpful in developing a skill set that all legal employers are seeking and by which prospective employees will be judged (I would add, rightly so). Individuals sometimes ask if they should take a specific major because it will improve their chances of admission. I would say “no.” Take a major for which you have a passion. You’ll do better, because you will be motivated. Furthermore, if you chose another career than law, you will not have sacrificed the opportunity to genuine learning to a futile effort to game the system. The same, by the way, holds true for extracurricular activities and anything else. Do it because it is intrinsically worthwhile, not because you are guessing it will impress someone reading an admissions file.
Finally, apply as soon as possible. Our Law School begins accepting applications on October 1. We have a rolling process. That means it may be somewhat easier to gain admission earlier in the season than later in the season, simply because the entering class has more room. If you have other concerns, please contact Assistant Dean of Admissions Linda Fowler Sims. (linda.sims@wayne.edu)
Writing
Other than doing the assigned reading and attending the class, the best means for improving performance not only in law school but also actual practice is to write. While oral advocacy is important and skill in that regard more readily apparent, it will be primarily written advocacy that forms the basis for formal evaluation.
Beyond Strunk & White, The Elements of Style, which I assume you already have read, I would recommend Francis-Noel Thomas & Mark Turner, Clear and Simple as the Truth: Writing Classic Prose (1994) and the latest edition of Joseph M. Williams, Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace. There is a passage from the former that I offer as a more philosophical introduction to the importance of “style:”
Writing proceeds from thinking. To achieve good prose styles, writers must work through intellectual issues, not merely acquire mechanical techniques. . . When style is considered the opposite of substance, it seems optional and incidental, even when it is admired. In this way of framing things, substantive thought and meaning can be prior to style and completely separable from it. . . Whether style is viewed as spiritual, fraudulent, or something-in-between, any concept of style that treats it as optional is inadequate not only to writing but to any human action. Nothing we do can be done “simply” and in no style, because style is something inherent to action, not something added to it. In this respect, style is like the typeface in which a text is printed. We may overlook it, and frequently do, but it is always there.
