Be Prepared for On-Campus Interviews - Free Webcast

If you’re participating in On-Campus Interviews this fall or just want to learn more about how to prepare for a legal job interview, you won’t want to miss our next webcast.

On Thursday July 18^th, LexisNexis will host a webcast entitled Preparing for On-Campus Interviews to help you succeed in your upcoming interviews. You’ll hear from two distinguished speakers who have been through the OCI process:

·       Ian E. Scott, Esq., Harvard Law graduate and former Wall Street Lawyer at Cleary Gottlieb. Mr. Scott recently opened his own firm, Scott Legal Services, P.C., and is the author of the blog Law School and Bar Exam Success Tips and also author of a new Law School Success Guide, Law School Lowdown.

·       Shauna C. Bryce, Esq., Harvard Law graduate and former Am Law 100 lawyer. Ms. Bryce formed Bryce Legal Career Counsel, and authored How to Get a Legal Job: A Guide for New Attorneys and Law School Students.

You’ll also have the opportunity to ask questions about interviewing for a legal job. As always, there is no cost for the webcast; you only need a computer and an internet connection to attend.

Register for the July 18^th webcast and learn how to prepare for your interviews this fall. You’ll also receive 200 LexisNexis Reward points for attending and completing the short survey at the conclusion of the webcast.

Law School Lowdown is now available for Pre-Order on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Barron's Publishing

Law School Lowdown is now available for Pre-Order on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Barron's Publishing.  Click Here to Order.

If you're a law school student, or if you're planning to apply to law school, you'll find the practical guidance you'll need for success--plus tips on pitfalls to avoid--when you open this important new book. Written by a recent Harvard Law School graduate who is currently associated with major Wall Street law firm, this brand-new blueprint for legal accomplishment gets down to specifics with--

• The law school application process and tips on taking the important Law School Admission Test (LSAT)
• Selecting a law school, applying for scholarships, and deciding between top-ranked and lower-ranked schools
• Making the grade during that vital first year at law school
• The best courses to take in second and third years
• The advantages of publishing papers while in law school
• Seeking out summer positions at law firms
• Taking and passing state bar exams
• Finding employment at a law firm after graduation
• Other post-law school options, including judicial clerkships

Valuable appendices give you still more advice, and include a completed model law school application form, effective résumés, a model brief of a case for class, and much more. Written by a successful attorney and based on his own law school experiences, Law School Lowdown zeroes-in on both the rigors and satisfactions that comprise the law school experience, offering the advice and counsel that will pave your way to a successful career in law.

Scholarship Offers From Other Lower Ranked Schools When You Have an Offer from A Higher Ranked School - Which One Should You Select?

           I have a friend at Harvard who wonders if she made the right decision because she now has $200,000 of law school debt and when she was accepted to Harvard, she had scholarship offers for full rides at other law schools.  Did she make the right decision?  I think she did but the correct answer really depends on what an individual is looking for. 

A few things you should keep in mind when deciding.  In my opinion, you will get a similar legal education in most schools and this opinion is based on attending both a second and first tier law school.  At the end of the day the curriculums are similar and there are good and bad professors in every school.  I did not note a significant difference in the instruction or the quality of education in the first and second tier schools that I attended and the students were bright at both schools.  

While the quality of education is similar in a first and second tier school, there will be a significant difference in the opportunities you will be afforded and this could impact your income potential and choices.  For some though, income potential may not be important and some may just want to become lawyers.   For example, when I started law school at Brooklyn Law School, I did not intend to practice law full-time as I had a lucrative banking job.  As such, I was not as interested in a top school.  In fact, when I first applied to law school, I could have attended a school ranked much higher than Brooklyn but I selected Brooklyn as I liked Brooklyn’s public interest program. 

If you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the thing that is important to you is the learning process and the idea of becoming a lawyer, you may not want to shell out over $200,000 when you could get scholarships and pay nothing.  Also, if you are a top student in a second tier school, you will be afforded opportunities.  The problem really occurs when you are not in the top 10 or 15 percent.

I cannot help but think though that if this profession is going to be your future, it is better to have as many opportunities available to you as you can even if this means incurring a bit of debt.  You can always make more money to pay off the debt and graduating from a top school will put you in a position to be able to make lots of money.  In terms of deciding where to go to law school, I personally would not be guided by incurring debt but it is a personal choice that is really up to you.

This summary is one of many law school admission helpful tips in the new bookLaw School Lowdown: Secrets of Success from the Application Process to Landing the First Job – (Barron's Publishing) - Author Ian E. Scott.  You can order Law School Lowdown on Amazon by clicking here.