With applications at an all-time high and space at an all-time low every component of your law school application is important including your personal statement. Much of your application will be set in stone such as GPA, LSAT Scores, and recommendations. What you still have control over is your essay so that is where you should focus your efforts.

Your law school personal statement is where you get the opportunity to show what qualities you bring to the table that may not be gleaned from the other components of your application. The top law schools such as Harvard, Yale, and Stanford often look for “the intangible qualities” that cannot be determined by just numbers. The top tier law schools have plenty of candidates that have good academics so they use the personal statement to look for that special something in an applicant. Law school admissions officers refer to this process as “looking beyond the numbers.”

Admissions officers at the top schools evaluate each applicant as an individual so there is no need to try and write your personal statement according to what they want to hear. They want to know each applicant as a person so your essay should reflect a genuine tone that provides a window into your soul. Law school admissions officers recognize hyperbole when they see it. Here are some other tips to follow that will help you write a winning statement:

Show Don’t Tell
You need to show the law school admissions committee you possess all of the qualities of an outstanding law school student. So what’s the difference between showing and telling? Telling: “I’m believe in giving back to my community” Showing: “One weekend each month I volunteer my time at a local homeless shelter and also mentor young people as a member of The Boys and Girls Club.” Showing provides concrete examples and there is no need to tell them you believe in giving back to your community because they are already thinking that.

Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen
No one can write a successful law school personal statement on their own but too many cooks in the kitchen is just as bad. It’s like having too many ingredients in a meatloaf – it goes from great too grow pretty quickly. You’ll want to use 2-3 editors. They should be looking for tone, grammar, logical flow, and originality. Your editors should be know you well enough to know if the statement sounds genuine and they should also be comfortable to give you an honest critique. It is a must that they are good writers as well. Not all family and friends will meet these criteria so be prepared to say no.

Community Involvement
Although there is no “prototypical law student” you will need to show a track record of community involvement. That is important to law school admissions committees. You’ll want to show how you’ve been involved in your community and how you plan on contributing to the law school if admitted.

Leadership
For the most part it does not matter what your academic major was or what your interests are. What does matter is that you showed leadership qualities in you endeavors. You will want to show the committee you have a track record of leadership with concrete examples throughout your essay.

American law schools are seen as the gold standard but an increasing number of students have been looking abroad to attend law school. Attending a foreign/international law school varies greatly by country. Some schools are modeled after the three year JD programs in the U.S. while many schools offer law at the undergraduate level. Here are some of the best international law schools as recommended by Harvard University Law School.

University of Oxford Law School
 school is known for its rigor and excellent faculty. The law school offers a three year and a four year program. The four year program includes one year abroad in a country within the European Union.

University of Hong Kong
 they offer undergraduate and graduate law degrees. The University of Hong Kong is known as the premier legal education center in all of Asia. The program has over 60 full-time faculty and 130 part-time professors all with a wide range of legal expertise. The program has been modeled after Harvard Law School and features very small classes and close faculty interaction.

Australian National University College of Law
 ANU offers LLM degrees in environmental law, government and commercial law, international law, law and governance development, migration law, and military law. Many Harvard Law students attend Australian National University College of Law when studying abroad.

Trinity College Ireland
the school of law at Trinity College in Dublin is the oldest law school in Ireland and teaches law to undergraduates and graduate students. The college is also home to the renowned Irish Centre for European Law. The faculty members at the college are consistently some of the most well-known legal experts and academics in the country.

Seoul National University College of Law
 SNU’s goal is to create leaders who contribute to the legal, administrative, political, and social economic factors of society. The school often teams up with some of the finest law schools in the world including Harvard and Yale Law.

Benefits of Studying Overseas
There are many benefits to studying law overseas. When a United States citizen chooses to study at an international institution and come back to the US they are immediately experts in international law and can provide great insight to dealing with foreign legal systems, handing international differences, and understanding the legal and overall culture of the country.

It used to be very difficult for law school graduates to practice law in the United States but the Bar Association has changed its stance dramatically over the past few years. They are now very open to graduates who successfully completed law school abroad and now welcome them to take the American Bar Exam.

States vary in their stance on the issue but more and more states are allowing foreign applicants to sit for the exam.

A United States student with such international experience can leverage themselves and set themselves apart from their competition because of their international expertise which can lead to excellent job opportunities in foreign law careers.

The first year of law school is typically the toughest. It’s a new learning environment with tough professors and smart students. There’s nothing you can do to escape the stress of the first year of law school but there are some things you can do to help you make it through while keeping your sanity.

Don’t be too CompetitiveOf course you want to do your best and finish at the top of your class just like everyone else, but in order to do that you are going to need other people’s help. By being too competitive you risk isolating yourself which will make the first year even worse. Remember, it’s the wolf that leaves the pack that gets eaten first. View your classmates as your support system not your enemies.

Write your own OutlinesOutlining helps you understand each case and the principles behind it. By doing your own outlines you are forcing yourself to clearly understand the information you are writing down. It is tempting to use other people’s outlines but will hurt you in the long run. It’s okay to look at other outlines for examples but do your best to create your own.

Get in a Good Study GroupYour study group will probably be your life line during the first year. Study groups are good for more than just studying. They will become your confidants and allies throughout your journey. Try and get into a study group with the best students. It may be uncomfortable at first but they will stretch you and help you become a better student and future attorney.

Go to ClassThis goes without saying but many students are scared to go to class because of the dreaded “Socratic Method.” Some things that will show up on tests will not be in the notes but you’ll miss out if you are not there. If you keep up on the reading and brief each case there’s no reason to be afraid of the Socratic Method because you will be prepared to give a solid response.





Take Time to Relax

You’ve graduated from law school with that degree in hand…now what? Life after law school can be a wild ride especially in today’s economy. Long gone are the days when a law degree was your quick ticket to a great first job. In fact, many law schools have come under intense scrutiny because of the “delusions of grandeur” put into the minds of law students about their chances of post law school success.

A recent study of 192 ABA accredited schools showed that 88.3% of students had jobs. That figure is the lowest since the 1990’s. But it actually gets worse. Of those 88.3% of students only 70% of them held jobs that even required a JD degree. The study also found that a quarter of those jobs were temporary and that 42% of the jobs were on-campus college related jobs.

Those dismal numbers do not mean people should stop pursuing a JD it just means that law schools need to be held accountable for their fuzzy employment statistics they show on their websites and students need to have realistic expectations.

The newly minted law school graduate should have an open mind when it comes to applying for jobs. A JD is still an impressive achievement and brings with it a lot of skills and knowledge that are highly desired by many types of employers. Many law school graduates go to work consulting, start their own business, go into journalism, or continue with their schooling. For those looking to practice law there are several different opportunities including:

• Government
• Private Practice
• Non-Profit
• Teaching
• Clerkship
• Corporation
• Large Law Firm

A Day in the Life…A typical day for a new attorney is largely determined by what kind of legal work you are doing. Even if you are a trial lawyer or litigator you probably will not present a case in front of a judge or jury for a few years. Most of the work of a new attorney is classified as “grunt work.” It is somewhat a rite of passage that all new hires have to go through.

If you are hired on at a large law firm there is an alarming trend going on that some say is the equivalent of outsourcing. Today the biggest law firms no longer have the partner career path as the only option. In the old days attorneys would distinguish themselves at promising revenue generators and would get on the partner track. The others who could make it would opt out of the career or go to a different firm.

Today the model now consists of two paths: partner track and career track. What these firms are doing is creating a lower class of career track attorneys that may never make over $60,000 a year. This new model has its benefits and drawbacks. For those who want a steady income without working until all hours of the night the career track is a good fit. The downside is that it can breed resentment and unhealthy competition. Another danger is that new hires can be placed in the wrong career track and be labeled a “career associate” therefore hindering their opportunities to make partner. 

There are approximately 200 law schools approved by the American Bar Association (ABA), but which ones are the best and why? Read on to find out.

Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the graduate schools of Harvard University located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was established in 1817 and is the oldest continually running law school in the country. Many academic rankings list it as the number one law institution in the country and it certainly has the substance to back it up. The school has shaped some of the most influential leaders in the world including President Barack Obama, Chinese President Ma Ying-Jeou, as well as six of the nine current justices of the Federal Supreme Court.

The institution has influenced most other law institutions by being the first to establish what is now the standard first year curriculum for all law students which focuses on contracts, property, torts, civil procedure, and criminal law. The case method was also developed at the school which is now the predominant pedagogy at U.S. Schools. The school also has the largest law library and has been teaching under the Socratic Method since 1872.

Yale Law School
The Ivy League dominates the top spots as it does every year in most academic ranking publications. Yale Law was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the number one law school by U.S. News & World Report since the publication began ranking law schools. The small class size and the impressive visiting scholars have contributed in part to the school’s reputation.

Yale Law School has several impressive alumni such as President William Jefferson Clinton, President Gerald Ford, and three of the nine current Supreme Court Justices. Yale Law currently has the most selective admissions of any law school in the country and selects only 200 students per year.

Yale has shaped legal education on a global scale through its legal realism movement, law and policy involvement, and its influential relationship with the United States Court System.

Stanford Law School
Stanford Law School was established in 1893 and has firmly entrenched itself as one of the elite law schools in the country. The school currently has the smallest class of any of the top 25 law schools in the United States. The school is well respected for all areas of law but especially in the areas of intellectual and constitutional law.

The Stanford law boasts many impressive programs including:

·         Rule of Law Program

·         Stanford International Law

·         Center for E-Commerce

·         Center for Law and Biosciences

·         John Olin Program in Law, Economics and Business

Stanford has a long list of impressive alumni. Graduates of the law school are partners at 95% of the nation’s 100 largest law firms. Notable graduates include retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the late Chief Justice of the United States William Rehnquist, and former Secretary of State Warren Christopher.

Approximately 99% of Stanford Law School graduates find employment within nine months of graduating. Nearly 98% of the most recent class (2010) of graduates passed the bar exam on their initial attempt.