Taking the LSAT, Choosing a Law School and Learning the Law

Choosing a career path can be tough. Take me, for instance. I spent four years in an English program at a liberal arts college, another year in a rhetoric and composition program at a university, a year in a master of business program, and four years in law school studying to be an attorney and getting my law degree. If you can't keep up with the math, that is a total of 10 years of college and university study to ultimately wind up as an lawyer. Not that I begrudge a second of it. All of that studying has gotten me where I am today, working as a lawyer at a successful small firm. Nevertheless, I thought it might be useful for those who are considering a law degree to find out what it is like to be a lawyer before spending 10 years in college.

If you are considering a law degree, the first hurdle you will need to overcome is the Law School Admission Test (LSAT). The LSAT is a half-day test consisting of five 35-minute parts, and it is required for admission to all American Bar Association (ABA) approved law schools. The test evaluates your reading and comprehension, your ability to draw reasonable inferences from information, and your critical thinking skills. Your resulting score will be between 120 and 180 points. The score is an attempt to predict your law school performance. The higher the LSAT score, the better suited your thinking is supposed to be to a law degree.

Next, you will need to choose a law school and submit an application. To apply to an ABA-approved law school, you will most likely need to register with the Law School Data Assembly Service (LSDAS). This service collects information from you, such as your undergraduate transcripts, letters of recommendation, and LSAT scores and writing sample copies. Whether or not you are courted by law schools will depend in large part on your performance on the LSAT rest of your completed LSDAS file.

Once you have taken the LSAT and completed your LSDAS file, you will need to begin applying to law schools. Most law schools require a completed application and a fee. To select the school that is right for you, assess yourself realistically in light of your LSDAS file and the admission criteria of the law schools you are considering. Law schools usually publish information regarding the prior year's applicants and what their LSAT scores and undergraduate GPAs were. Thing about whether you meet the criteria that the law school requires before spending the money and time applying. In addition, visit the law schools you are considering, take a tour of the campus, and talk to the schools' admission counselors firsthand. Think about whether a law degree from each school will further your career path.

As you visit each school, also consider how well the school will prepare you to become a lawyer and pass the necessary bar admission test. Most states require prospective lawyers to pass a bar examination that is made up of a multiple choice portion consisting of questions relevant to all states and an essay portion related more specifically to that state's laws. Ask about the bar passage rate for each school you are interested in.

Going through the process of taking the LSAT, completing your LSDAS file, and visiting law schools will give you a good idea if going to law school is something you really want to invest the time and energy in. In addition, you will need to learn about the role of an attorney before you decide whether to pursue a law degree.

One myth that needs to be dispelled for anyone considering a getting law degree is that lawyers are like Matlock or like the prosecutors on Law and Order, doing investigations on high profile cases and convincing witnesses on the stand to break down in tears and confess everything. Not every day is spent at the courthouse arguing a big case. In fact, some transactional lawyers who handle house closings or practice specialized types of law never see the inside of a courthouse. Some lawyers work as general counsel for large corporations, labor unions, or universities. Other lawyers work in solo practices by themselves, setting their own hours and picking their own clients. Some lawyers work in large firms or small firms, and still others work for the government.

Some attorneys, like prosecutors and public defenders, do spend more time in front of a judge, but much of that time is spent on procedural tasks like arraignments or pretrial matters rather than arguments or cross examinations. These attorneys must first conduct a thorough investigation of the facts of each case and then decide whether or not to pursue the case all the way to trial. If a compromise can be reached, the parties reach a plea agreement. Only if no compromise can be reached will a case go to trial.

Sometimes cases are resolved short of trial through alternative dispute resolution, which is becoming more and more popular. Alternative dispute resolution includes things like arbitration, mediation, and conciliation. Arbitration involves each side presenting its case to an arbitrator for for a binding resolution. Mediation is a non-binding mechanism where both parties present their sides to a mediator and the mediator tries to help them come to a satisfactory resolution. Conciliation is like mediation except the conciliator will seek concessions from both sides, and usually the parties will not sit at the same table with each other during the conciliation process.

The fact is that depending on their area of practice, attorneys spend much of their time reading cases written by judges and briefs written by other lawyers. We then synthesize the cases and complete paperwork or write briefs, which means that reading comprehension and attention to detail is vital. For some attorneys who specialize in appeal work, reading and writing briefs and analyzing opinions comprises nearly their entire practice. If these are skills that you possess and tasks that are appealing to you, then pursing a law degree might be for you.

Recording hourly billing, marketing to get new clients, and attending continuing legal education courses also take up time in an attorney's schedule. Most lawyers have hourly billing requirements that require working long hours on a regular basis. For instance, some law firms require 2000 hours of billing each year. In addition to keeping up with these stringent billing requirements, lawyers also have to complete a required number of legal education courses annually or biennially - even after completing their law degrees. These hours must include ethics, professionalism, and substance abuse courses.

Perhaps two of the most important things that you will need to have if you want to be a lawyer are compassion for the people that you represent and a passion to represent your clients zealously within the bounds of the law. Meeting with your clients can be difficult, especially if your clients are going through personal low points like a death in the family, recent job loss, or an injury accident. Dealing with these situations tactfully on a personal level may mean sharing part of yourself with your client and taking the extra time to listen to your client work through a painful memory or experience.

Finally, getting a law degree may be wise if you know you have a special interest in a particular part of the law. Some attorneys focus their practices on areas like probate law, estate planning, personal injury, labor or employment law, real estate law, juvenile law, divorce law, or family law. If you had a bad employment situation, perhaps you are interested in employment law. If you recently suffered a divorce or know someone who has, you may want to help people by becoming a divorce attorney. Some lawyers arrange adoptions or draft surrogacy agreements between a surrogate and couples who want to have babies. Personal injury lawyers try to help accident victims recover enough money to help them get the necessary medical care. There are also attorneys who represent athletes, musicians, writers, and actors.

Whatever your special interest might be, one of the best ways to decide if getting a law degree is a good investment for you is to talk to people in the profession about their experiences. You may also want to see what working in a law office is really like by interning in a law office over the summer or getting a job in a law office as a paralegal or legal assistant. If you are anything like me, the only way to know if you are cut out to be a lawyer or not is to work side-by-side with attorneys and to decide whether you can do the same job -- only better.

Sources:

Law School Admission Council, "About the LSAT."

Law School Admission Council, "About the LSDAS."