Happy Friday! Here’s another weekly roundup of law school news:

The Upside of Law School (Inside Higher Ed)

A new report tells a very different side of the recent tales of law school. It suggests that earning a law degree will, in fact, pay off.

Law School Enrollment Plummets, But Not at Harvard (Bloomberg Businessweek)

The crisis in the law school economy, long predicted, is devastating third-tier and some second-tier institutions, not the super-elite.

Debating, Yet Again, the Worth of Law School (DealBook)

DealBook presents some interesting stats and addresses the recent debate about whether law schools is worth what it cost students.

ABA May Ditch Law School Student-to-Faculty Ratio Rule (The National Law Journal)

The American Bar Associations’ rules governing the size of law school faculties may soon be a thing of the past.

Ten Competencies Law Schools Should Teach—But Don’t (Associates Mind)

Associates Mind reviews ten competencies that are essential for new lawyers to possess, yet are undervalued or just not taught in law school.

Did we miss your favorite article from the week? Let us know what you have been reading in the comments or tweet @ManhattanLSAT.

Happy Friday! Here’s this week’s roundup of great tips and news about law school and the legal profession:

LSAT Sanity: I Didn’t Get the Score…(Part 1) (jdMission)

Still bummed about your June LSAT score? Manhattan Prep instructor, Stacey Koprince, answers what you should do if you did not get the score you wanted.

14 Reasons Law Schools Must Teach Tech (Information Week)

As technology reshapes both the way law firms run and the law itself, Information Week shares why law schools must also morph.

Law School Grads See Increases in Salaries and Jobs (Birmingham Business Journal)

The law school Class of 2012 found more jobs and had higher starting salaries, but the large class size hurt the overall employment rate for those new graduates

Perfectionism and the Myth of the Law Student Superhero (Survive Law)

Are you a perfectionist? Here is some great insight from a law school grad who debunks the myth of the law school superhero.

How I’m Going to Law School for Free (The Billfold)

One current law student talks about how he is earning his JD on a 100% scholarship.

Did we miss your favorite article from the week? Let us know what you have been reading in the comments or tweet @ManhattanLSAT.

Enjoy the holiday weekend!

Happy Fourth of July weekend everyone! We hope everyone who took the June 2013 LSAT received their scores and are excited to take the next step in the law school application process. Here are some law school tips and news that could help you out!

Smart Ways to Leverage Law School Forums (U.S. News Education)

Prospective students should review a school’s website before the forum to better tailor questions for representatives.

The Panic and the Madness…It’s OCE Time! (Ms. JD)

Ms. JD shares some helpful tips and strategies for acing the On Campus Interview.

The LSAT Retake Dilemma (Law School Podcaster)

June 2013 LSAT scores are finally here and maybe you’re not satisfied with your score. This podcast that features Manhattan LSAT’s Noah Teitelbaum addresses your questions about retaking the exam.

A Summer Associate Interview (Above the Law)

Want to learn more about summer associateships? Above the Law talks to a current associate about what it’s like to work in Biglaw.

VIDEO: Bar President: 3Ls Should Get Paid for Internships (Bloomberg Law)

John Thies, president for the Illinois State Bar Association, talks about his organization’s report on the impact of law school debt on the delivery of legal services.

Did we miss your favorite article from the week? Let us know what you have been reading in the comments or tweet @ManhattanLSAT.

Note: The following is a guest post by Alison Monahan of The Girl’s Guide To Law School.

Congratulations! You’ve mastered the LSAT and managed to get yourself admitted to law school. The world is your oyster, right? Not so fast! It’s easy to get caught up in the getting-into-law-school process and forget about what comes next….successfully getting through law school and becoming a lawyer.

Not to worry, here are a few tips to help you make the most of your 1L year, and beyond:

• Know why you’re there. Presumably you had to come up with some reason you wanted to go to law school for your applications. Well, now’s the time to really get clear on why you’re going. There are no right answers to this question, but – let’s face it – law school is a three-year slog with an uncertain outcome. There will be times where you feel like chucking the whole thing and going home. (And, in some cases, that might not be a bad idea.) Keeping your eye on the end goal, whatever it is, can really help when times get tough and you’re not sure you’re motivated to continue.



• Go to class and keep up with the reading. I’ll argue with some of the goody-two-shoes advice that’s out there about law school (no, I don’t think you have to brief every case to do well), but there are two things I consider non-negotiable: class and the reading. Going to class is a no-brainer. You’re paying a lot of money to be there, and you need to figure out what your professor thinks is important. Doing the reading, particularly first semester, is similarly critical, because you’re going to learn how to “think like a lawyer” (to the extent that’s even a thing, see below) by osmosis. If you skip the cases and just read supplements or canned briefs, you might get the gist of the argument, but you’re missing out on a whole universe of understanding about how legal arguments are structured, how certain terms of art are used, and so on. Even if it’s a time-consuming drag, do the reading initially. You’ll thank me later.

 

• Think about what’s worked for you in the past. By the time you get to law school, you’ve gone through – what? – at least sixteen years of school. At some point, you probably figured out a bit about how your own brain works, and how you learn most effectively. You don’t have to forget all of this just because you’re starting law school. As the Dean of my school said at Orientation, “Thinking like a lawyer is really just thinking. Don’t make it more complicated than it actually is.” You already know how to think…so feel free to fall back on that when things get confusing.

 

• Experiment early on and track your results. On the other hand (you knew this was coming – I’m a lawyer!) it’s useful to experiment with different learning techniques early in your law school career. Everyone will tell you to brief cases and make outlines. Will that work for you? Who knows. (Neither one worked for me, because I’m a very visual learner.) When you come across a suggestion that seems reasonable, try it and see if you like it. Even better, try different approaches and track your results. Do you feel really prepared for certain classes when you brief cases? Fine, maybe that’s a worthy investment of time. But if your professor focuses on policy questions and barely touches on the facts of a case, it’s probably a waste to write out detailed briefs. (And in any case, never lose sight of the real task – preparing for exams.) Notice, too, I said to experiment early. By mid-semester, you shouldn’t be casting about for new ideas…just pick what seems most effective and go with it. You don’t have time to be switching horses at that point.

 

• Good confusion vs. bad confusion. I totally stole this from one of my favorite professors, because it’s important. In law school, there’s “good confusion” and “bad confusion” and it’s critical to understand the difference (because you’re going to spend much of your time feeling confused, one way or another). Bad confusion is when you have no clue what something means. Good confusion is when you understand all the arguments, but you can’t come to any firm conclusions. Good confusion is okay, helpful even. Bad confusion needs to be ruthlessly eradicated as soon as possible. Using a timely example, let’s take the Prop 8 case that was just decided by the Supreme Court. They threw it out on “standing” grounds. Bad confusion = having no idea what standing means. Good confusion = not being able to say with any certainty whether the appellants had standing in the Ninth Circuit. If you’re unclear about that, join the club. Maybe you should be a Supreme Court justice! There’s rarely a clear-cut answer in law school, so don’t panic about being confused. Just make sure it’s the right type of confusion.

There you have it! If you follow these suggestions, I think you’ll find law school isn’t impossibly hard, and might even be kind of fun. Best of luck.

Alison Monahan is the founder of The Girl’s Guide to Law School and the co-founder of Law School Toolbox and Bar Exam Toolbox. If you’d like help getting ready for law school, check out her Start Law School Right Course, which begins in early July. 

Hoping LSAT scores are released soon!

Still looking for something to do while you wait for LSAC to release  the June 2013 LSAT scores? Check out this week’s roundup of great tips and news about law school and the legal profession:

10 Things Every Summer Associate Needs to Know (The Careerist)

Here are 10 essential tips from Sheryl Sandberg’s book, Lean In—Women, Work and the Will to Lead, that apply to lawyers (both men and women) and summer associates.

Vault Law 100 (Vault)

The 2014 Vault Law 100 is here. Nearly 17,000 law associates rated law firms based on a scale of 1 to 10 based on prestige.

Law Firms Hiring! (JD Journal)

Law School graduates can expect better returns, better job opportunities, and overall more hiring by larger firms, says JD Journal.

10 Surprising Things I Learned in Law School (Parade)

Attorney Vibeke Norgaard Martin and Matthew Frederick (creator, editor, and illustrator of the 101 Things I Learned series) offer insights into the world of law that can benefit everyone.

Can Law School Grading Be More Fair? (Above the Law)

Above the Law considers the proposals of one law professor who has thought through some modest ways to make grading exams “something less of a random crapshoot.”

Did we miss your favorite article from the week? Let us know what you have been reading in the comments or tweet @ManhattanLSAT.

The official position of Law School Admission Counsel (LSAC) is that the LSAT is designed to measure skills that are essential for a legal career.  As students approach the test, however, many of them view this test as a hurdle that must be overcome, then the skills gained can be abandoned.

This mentality does two things.  First, it makes it harder to take LSAT studying seriously.  If the work is only for a single test, even if that test represents the potential for getting into the best law schools, it seems to become less important and studying is harder.  Second, it takes skills that you have carefully honed in preparation to the test and throws them out before they’ve filled their potential. These skills will be useful both in law school and in the legal profession.

Reading Comprehension

Though this is the section that many people feel they cannot improve upon, it is actually one of the most representative sections the LSAT offers.  In law school you will read numerous briefs and opinions, each one based either on an argument or the rationale behind a ruling.  Though you’ll have to know the content, what is far more important is the logic behind each piece of writing.  You’ll discuss which side of the argument was strongest and why, what holes appear in the case, and what potentially important aspects have been overlooked.

Those strategies are exactly what reading comprehension tests.  In fact, what most people mistakenly do is try to read each passage and absorb the content.  Instead, reading it as if you’re a judge determining the relevance of each fact.  How does this point relate to the main point?  What is the main point to be made?  Is this area supporting that point or proposing a counter to it?  All these questions will be asked and hopefully answered both in reading comprehension and in the practice of law.
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Happy first day of summer!

Happy Friday and happy first day of summer! We’ve rounded up your first batch of summer reading– full of great tips and news about law school and the legal profession:

Do You Have to Be an Annoying Suck-Up to Succeed as a Summer Associate? (The Girl’s Guide To Law School)

Take some personal advice from The Girl’s Guide To Law School for how to proceed at your associateship this summer.

Consider Law Schools With In-House Firms, Incubators (U.S. News Education)

At school-based firms, attorneys may spend between one and three years honing their skills.

The Absolute Worst States for Job Hunting Law-School Grads (The Atlantic)

New research shows which corners of the country have the biggest oversupply of young lawyers.

Law Schools: Get Back to Basics (The National Law Journal)

The National Law Journal makes the case for why students should be provided with more opportunities to engage in practical legal writing.

Law Schools Are Changing, But How and Why? (part two) (Lawyerist)

How, exactly, are law schools changing? How will they change in the next 5 years or so? Lawyerist has some interesting insight.

Did we miss your favorite article from the week? Let us know what you have been reading in the comments or tweet @ManhattanLSAT

June LSAT scores will come. Patience is key!

If you took the June 2013 LSAT this week, it’s now time to play the waiting game. Here are some of this week’s top articles for you to read while you pass the time.

Law Schools Shift Focus for Grads (U-T San Diego)

In the face of a grim job market, some law schools are steering students toward legal areas where careers are more promising.

Evaluate Professors to Find a Good Law School Fit (U.S. News Education)

Prospective students can get a feel for a teacher’s style by observing a class.

The Top Five Law Schools for Jobs, Cost, Clerkships, and More (Above the Law)

Here are the top five law schools based on each individual data point that composes Above the Law’s rankings formula.

The Time is Now: Start Preparing Clerkship Applications this Summer (Lawyerist)

If you just finished your 2L year, this summer is the time to start getting your clerkship applications together

LSAT Sanity: Stress Management (Part 1) (jdMission)

Did we miss your favorite article from the week? Let us know what you have been reading in the comments or tweet @ManhattanLSAT

Good luck to all taking the June 2013 LSAT this coming Monday! Relax and mentally prepare your self this weekend and when you need a break, read up on some the latest law school news:

Law Schools with the Highest Median LSAT (U.S. News Education)

Check out U.S. News’ latest list of law schools with the highest median LSAT for full-time students

About Two-Thirds of Parents Want Their Kids to Be Lawyers (Above the Law)

According to a recent survey from Lawyers.com that polled 1,001 people, 64 percent of parents still “hope their children will grow up to pursue legal careers.”

5 Things to Do the Summer Before 1L Year! (Ms. JD)

If you’re set to begin your first year of law school in the fall, you’re probably wondering the best way to pass time while waiting to start.

JD News: Which States Have Too Many Lawyers (JD Mission)

According to new research, location may be everything for recent or soon-to-be law school graduates.

Did we miss your favorite article from the week? Let us know what you have been reading in the comments or tweet @ManhattanLSAT

Manhattan Prep is offering special full tuition scholarships for up to 4 individuals per year (1 per quarter) who will be selected as part of Manhattan Prep’s LSAT Social Venture Scholars program. This program provides the selected scholars with free admission into one of Manhattan Prep’s LSAT live online Complete Courses (an $890 value).

These competitive scholarships are offered to individuals who (1) currently work full-time in an organization that promotes positive social change, (2) plan to use their law degree to work in a public, not-for-profit, or other venture with a social-change oriented mission, and (3) demonstrate clear financial need. The Social Venture Scholars can enroll in any live online preparation course taught by one of Manhattan Prep’s expert instructors within one year of winning the scholarship.

The deadline our next application period is 6/14.

Details about the SVS program and how you can apply can be found here.