The LSAT

(from the LSAT website)

The Law School Admission Test (LSAT) is a half-day standardized test required for admission to all ABA–approved law schools, most Canadian law schools, and many non–ABA–approved law schools. It provides a standard measure of acquired reading and verbal reasoning skills that law schools can use as one of several factors in assessing applicants. The test is administered four times a year at hundreds of locations around the world.

Many law schools require that the LSAT be taken by December for admission the following fall. However, taking the test earlier—in June or October—is often advised.

Some schools place greater weight than others on the LSAT; most law schools do evaluate your full range of credentials.

The test consists of five 35-minute sections of multiple-choice questions, in three different item types. Four of the five sections contribute to the test taker’s score. The unscored section, commonly referred to as the variable section, typically is used to pretest new test questions or to preequate new test forms. The placement of this section will vary. A 35-minute writing sample is administered at the end of the test. LSAC does not score the writing sample, but copies of the writing sample are sent to all law schools to which you apply.

The LSAT is designed to measure skills that are considered essential for success in law school: the reading and comprehension of complex texts with accuracy and insight; the organization and management of information and the ability to draw reasonable inferences from it; the ability to think critically; and the analysis and evaluation of the reasoning and arguments of others.

The three multiple-choice question types in the LSAT are:

1.      Reading Comprehension Questions

These questions measure your ability to read, with understanding and insight, examples of lengthy and complex materials similar to those commonly encountered in law school work. The reading comprehension section contains four sets of reading questions, each consisting of a selection of reading material, followed by five to eight questions that test reading and reasoning abilities.

2.      Analytical Reasoning Questions

These questions are designed to measure your ability to understand a structure of relationships and to draw logical conclusions about that structure. You are asked to make deductions from a set of statements, rules, or conditions that describe relationships among entities such as persons, places, things, or events. They simulate the kinds of detailed analyses of relationships that a law student must perform in solving legal problems.

3.      Logical Reasoning Questions

These questions are designed to evaluate your ability to understand, analyze, criticize, and complete a variety of arguments. Each logical reasoning question requires you to read and comprehend a short passage, then answer one question about it. The questions test a variety of abilities involved in reasoning logically and thinking critically.

http://www.lsat.org/

Letters of recommendation tips

1.    Choose University professors rather than employment or internship supervisors, unless the Law School also requires non academic letters.

2.    Choose full time (tenured or tenure-track professors) rather than part timers, T.A., or adjuncts. If you don't know the status of your professors, check them in the school's website. If in doubt, ask.

3.    Choose professors that know you very well, preferably those whom you took several courses with. Here is an article about how to choose an academic recommender.

4.    Make sure that your recommender will write a very strong letter. Ask them if they will. If you are not sure that the letter will be very strong, choose another professor. A weak letter may ruin your admission.

5.    Try to work collaboratively with your recommender. Find someone that is willing to work with you and understand why you are applying to Law School. Your recommenders need to know what message you are trying to communicate in your application. Provide them with enough information about your background. For example, here is a list of what I require. You can use it to provide your recommenders with similar information.

6.    Make sure your professors know how to write a very strong letter for Law School. If they do not know, educate them.

7.    In general, your letters should talk about your academic performance, your intellectual skills, quality of class participation, maturity, work ethics, communication –both written and oral- skills, and potential for Law School study. They should be very specific, with concrete examples about your work. They should provide the context of your assessment, e.g., you are among the top 5% of 500 graduating B.A. students in the last five years. They should explain how they know you, and also who they are. The letters should also explain any weak aspects that your application may have. For example, your recommender could explain that your grades were very low during the first semester of your first year because you are an international student and your English was not very good at that time.

8.    Your letters should support your case. They should reinforce the main message you want to convey in application. For example, if you are showing yourself as a social activist and leader in your community, the letters should mention this, and should not focus solely on your sports achievements.

Statement of purpose essay

1.       Read the instructions very carefully, and follow those instructions. If they are specific questions or suggestions for your answers, address them.

2.       Your essay must put forward your main reason why you should be admitted. This should be consistent with the rest of your application. For example, you have a record of working with victims in criminal justice and you want to change the way victims are treated.

3.       You have to show that given your background and experiences, the next logical step for you is Law School.

4.       Describe your skills that make you suited for a legal career.

5.       Back up your claims with examples and anecdotes from your academic and work experience.

6.       Make sure that you show that you have the academic skills to succeed in Law School. Many candidates emphasize their volunteer experiences and show nothing about their academic skills. Law School is, after all, a rigorous academic program.

7.       Show that you have an interest in law, such as classes, volunteer or work experiences, etc. But don't simply mention that you took x number of law related courses. Mention something unique that you took out of these classes. Support this with concrete examples.

8.       Please note that Law School professors are skeptical about University law studies. They don't think that this has anything to do with law as taught in law school. So, you have to show that you learned something unique and relevant from your University Law courses.

9.       The same applies to legal work you did. The Admissions Committee will not like to read that you have experience in drafting sophisticated international contracts, even if you really do.

10.  Do a lot of research about the Law School you are applying to. Find out something unique about it and tie it to your reason why you want to apply to that Law School. In a perfect world, this should not be necessary. There are only 16 common law Law Schools in Canada, and they all have a very competitive admissions policy. It should be enough to say this. But Law School is not a perfect world, and Law Professors are very self-centered. They want to be told that they are special and that their Law School is unique. So, find something unique that will make them feel special. Read their websites very carefully, contact current students, and alumni. Read some of the articles the professors wrote. You will impress them if you say something original that does not repeat what is on the Law School website.

Research about the Law School and your interviewer.

Research about the Law School and if you know who will interview you, do research about your interviewer’s background, too.

It will be very helpful to read, at least, one article written by your interviewer. You can search articles from Quicklaw database available at most libraries. The best way to impress the interviewer is to casually mention an idea or too from his or her article.

Interview questions

The interviewer will ask you general questions, which somehow arise from your file. So, if you read again your application from a third person's perspective, you can probably figure out what questions the interviewer will ask you.

Anyway, you should be prepared for questions about: your college education, extracurricular activities, motivation to go to Law School, career goals, etc. Also be prepared for general questions about current events and items of interest in popular culture. Other questions that I know some interviewers ask are:

1.    How do you see yourself in 5 years from now?

2.    Do you read regularly outside of school? What did you last read?

3.    What guest speaker would you like to have come in and talk? What questions would you ask?

The interviewer will be evaluating how well prepared you are to succeed in Law School, more specifically, the interviewer will want to see your maturity, analytical skills, motivation, and communication skills.

A mistake I have often seen is that students expand too much on extracurricular activities and do not stress their academic achievements. Law School is above all a rigorous academic program. So, even if you are asked about your summer internship or a travel to another country, try to focus on how that prepared you for Law School. But be brief, and try to turn the conversation to an academic issue. The most impressive answers are when you can tell that you got something unique from your university studies, which reflects that you have strong and well-rounded intellectual skills. For example, you could say that you took several courses in the area of Criminology and Criminal Justice, and International Justice and that you feel frustrated because the Canadian Criminal Justice system neglects victims and that when you compare the situation between Europe and North America, victims have a larger role in Europe than here. And what is even more frustrating is that the US is exporting its Criminal Justice solutions regarding victims to European democracies in transition as if their solutions were better than those in central Europe.

A response like this is more impressive than when a candidate says that after an internship in a victims' centre, he or she came to realize that the Canadian Criminal Justice system neglects victims. Again, Law School is an academic program.

The interviewer will also want to know how motivated you are about getting into Law School, so he or she will be looking at your energy level and communication skills. Try to be passionate about what you are talking about. The interviewer will conclude that you will be bringing that same passion to Law School.

Don't talk about insecurities or any weaknesses in your background or application.

You may be asked a question that may be upsetting. If so, this is to test how you will react to pressure and how you will handle conflict. Don't get defensive. Remember the motivation behind this question, and try to answer it in an analytical way.

Listen very carefully to the interviewer. Too many candidates ask questions at the end of their interviews on topics that we've already covered.

Prepare to ask questions

This is probably the most important aspect of the interview. You will be given time at the end of the interview to ask questions. But you may ask some questions before the interview begins or if you feel it appropriate, during the interview.

From the questions you ask, the interviewer will assess your interest in the Law School and your intellectual abilities. The best questions are those that show that you know about the Law School beyond what is obvious from looking at its catalogue or the website. For example, Dalhousie Law School offers a 1^st year course on Criminal Law and Criminal Justice, which is unusual in North America. If you took Criminal Justice, you could say something like “I am enthusiastic about your Criminal Law and Criminal Justice course. All other Law Schools offer only Criminal Law. I took Criminal Justice so I know that learning about parole, Restorative Justice, and corrections is very important. How do you approach the teaching of Criminal Justice, do you delve into Restorative Justice? Do you focus on the laws related to Criminal Justice or do you focus on the big picture and teach your students theoretical models of Criminal Justice as well, such as Due Process and Crime Control?