Yeah, jury duty!

It happens to the best of us, and even to me:  I was called for jury duty last week and I had already used my get-out-of-jury-duty-for-free passes. So, off I went to the New York County Courthouse to wait out my two days of not being called to a case (I’ve done this before). But it turns out I was actually selected! While almost everyone there complained, it was actually a fascinating experience, and, among other things, it reinforced for me why the LSAT is so predictive of one’s performance in law school: it actually tests many of the skills that lawyers use (though, it became clear, not all of them).

It all began with Voir Dire – and if you’re a true LSAT geek, you are thinking of that one RC passage about Voir Dire and exposure to the media. Voir Dire is a fancy way of saying jury selection. The lawyers asked us questions and flicked us off the jury depending on our answers, biases, etc. We were quickly informed that this would be a personal injury case. That immediately made me think of those commercials – like Saul in Breaking Bad. Or this commercial. We were asked whether we worked for the subway — ah, someone got hit by a subway?! – and whether we knew some guy. And have we been in a personal injury case before? Oh, your mother was? What part of her body was injured? Oh, her nose…

It started to become apparent – some guy broke his nose on the subway. Ouch. Read more

It’s the Monday after an LSAT, so this is the question that’s filling the LSAT-universe. It’s not a pleasant discussion, but let’s get into it. Assuming that you just had a bad test day experience, here are a few considerations you should, well, consider:

1. Was this LSAT considerably different than your usual practice test experience? For example, did you only complete 3 games or RC passages when you usually complete 4? Or did you become violently ill?

2. Were you scoring comfortably within an acceptable score range on your last 2 – 3 practice tests?

3. What is the policy of the schools that interest you in terms of considering all scores, only your best, etc.

First things first:  if YOU KNOW you bombed the LSAT, then you should cancel (unless all your goal schools are firmly committed to only considering your best score).

Now that we have that out of the way, you should start with #3. Let’s say that you have 8 schools in mind. If 6 of them will look at all your scores, then that should steer you towards canceling and re-taking. Read more

While I spend 90% of my day in front of a computer, I have not yet dived into the world of e-books. But, probably you have! Even if you’re like me and you love the feel of the pages, and the gentle wear of a book’s spine, you should check out Anna Ivey’s e-book – The Ivey Guide to Law School Admissions. Not only is there some juicy advice in there, but Anna just told me that this book is a free download for the next two days! It’s first come, first served – there is a limit to the kindness of publishers!  Use the code LAUNCH and hop to it!

On October 11th, Atlas LSAT will officially become Manhattan LSAT!

Why the change?

Several years ago, Manhattan GMAT created a sister company to tackle the LSAT. To ensure that this new company developed its own reputation and developed its own LSAT-specific program, it was decided to run this new company separately and give it a distinct name. Atlas is all grown up now and is ready to take its place alongside Manhattan GMAT. We’ve also launched Manhattan GRE , and with three related companies it makes sense for us to have a shared name so people know who we are.

What’s going to change:

•    Our name
•    Our logo
•    Our e-mails (studentservices@manhattanprep.com/lsat/, for example)
•    Our website address (though we’ll automatically re-direct you to our new site, so no worries if your fingers memorized “www.atlaslsat.com”)

What’s not going to change:

•    Our focus on great teaching.
•    Our LSAT-specific curriculum.
•    Our LSAT-specific audition and training program.
•    Your account login, your access to all of our awesome online resources.
•    Our telephone number: 646-254-6480

Thanks to everyone who has been a fan of our company and referred us to their friends – and we appreciate you switching over with us to the new name. It’ll be sad to lose the cool almost-anagram of Atlas LSAT, but we’re excited to officially join the Manhattan prep family.

– Noah Teitelbaum

Managing Director

Manhattan LSAT!

The LSAT is many things, but cutting edge it is not. It knows the LSAT is pretty darn predictive, so there’s no apparent interest in switching from paper and pencil to a computerized format. And you still need to use a #2 pencil – and mechanical pencils are even a no-no! But, this past month we see that LSAT has finally upgraded their website. Congratulations, LSAC!

The features are more or less similar – a file moved here, a sample test gone there – but one thing that will interest folks who like to stay up late wondering what are the chances of getting into Columbia with a 3.5 and a 172….It was always on the LSAC website, but it was deeply buried and wasn’t so pretty. It used to feel like something dirty and forbidden! LSAC realized what we all want to do all day between practice tests!

Happy school hunting!

It’s summer, and you can’t spend all of your time studying for the LSAT, right?

Wrong! You should spend every waking second getting ready for the test! Even when you are not studying, you should be studying!

Okay, we’re not (totally) serious, but here are two ways to study while you don’t study:

1. Play video games

Have you checked out the Atlas Arcade?

2. Read

When you sit for the exam, you know you are going to get one passage in each of the following four areas: the law, natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities. Do any of these topics put a little fear into you? If so, consider the following summer reading options: Read more

And so it shall be...

It’s always strange to see the LSAC embroiled in a legal issue since it’s the group that assesses everyone’s ability to be a lawyer, but unlike with the Testmasters lawsuit, in this one LSAC found itself a defendant.  The case was US vs. LSAC. And they’ve settled (with LSAC paying a $20K fine…)

From what I’ve heard from students, it’s been rather difficult to receive accommodation on the LSAT. Mostly folks have complained about accommodation for learning disabilities – but this case is actually about physical disabilities. In the settlement, LSAC has agreed to a streamlined process for evaluating whether candidates should receive accommodations. Obviously good news for those who need these accommodations!

I’ve heard LSAC talk – it’s a very ethically-minded organization. So why would LSAC find itself in this boat? Probably it’s because LSAC works hard to maintain the LSAT’s usefulness as a predictive tool. There’s a line of thinking: if folks receive accommodations during testing that they would not receive in law school, should we do it? The thing is, law schools will accommodate those with physical difficulties — and if they don’t, I’m sure the ADA will be after them! If you’d like to hear more about how this case fits into a broader struggle for greater accessibility, take a look at the New Hours broadcast that discusses the LSAT case.

To be clear, this agreement only covers physical disabilities – for those who are seeking an accommodation because of ADHD or something similar, here’s a run-down by Steve Schwartz of what you should do to apply for extended time. It’s pretty interesting how the LSAT is different than other tests out there. Sort of the same way that the LSAT is still paper and pencil. No doubt the LSAC is saying that if it ain’t broke…

Some students treat their LSAT prep like a side gig – dipping their toe once or twice a week. Others dive in, with their clothes on. I now speak of Derek – who’s set up a blog post to record his travels through LSAT land. And yesterday, he posted this about his latest conquest with the LSAT Arcade:

That’s the first game-breaker we’ve seen (other than from our geeky curriculum developers who spent hours playing each game).

Break-away, Derek! Break-away!

(but which game was this?)

We recently took a poll on our Facebook fan page about what field of law our fans wanted to be. Responses ranged from Entertainment to Public Interest to Intellectual Property.

Going to law school is a big decision in and of itself, but figuring out what you want to do AFTER law school can also be a challenge. One decision to think about is whether you looking to work in a big firm or a smaller one. A recent article on Lawyerist.com laid out some important questions for lawyers to ask themselves when considering whether they would like to work for a big firm. It notes:

“For the most part, the bigger the firm, the farther away you are from being in a courtroom (or at least speaking in a courtroom). At the same time, when you do get the chance to talk, you will be extremely well prepared. If you are working in a small firm, or working with one other attorney, you are much more likely to get thrown into the fire quickly.”

So getting into a big firm is certainly a trade-off. Often it means a lot of money, but sometimes it means a year or two in the basement, looking for misplaced commas and other errors in endless pages of contracts. Yes, you’ll lose all color in your skin, but you’ll be able to pay for a great vacation to go tan it back!

If you’re unsure of where you want to land once you finish law school, you may want to consider environmental law. According to this article in the National Jurist, thanks to new EPA regulations and certain oil spills, there looks to be a big demand for environmental lawyers on both sides of the argument. Amber Maclver, an associate at Baker Botts, said “Environmental law attorneys are involved in every stage of a business’s life cycle. As a new attorney, there is a lot of potential to become an expert in a niche area of this practice. This is a great field to pursue with amazing opportunities.”

Whether it’s a big or a small firm, or whether you’re looking to help actors or oil-coated seagulls, there are definitely a lot of options for you and for many of us it’s worth thinking outside the box (or basement).

Finally, Mario Brothers meets LSAC. It’s here, it’s funny-looking, it’s full of really tough questions, it’s the Atlas LSAT Arcade! Take a look and have fun.

Can You Unlock the Dragon? (or the Mixer?)

Congrats to all the teachers, developers and web-savy folks who put lots of sweat into this game – it’s a beauty! We’ll talk more about how to use it as part of your prep – it’s not just for kicks…