Before I begin my question, I’d like to say that I understand plans will change, and I understand that I may not decide to enter law.
That being said, I have many questions to ask people. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.
I am going to begin college this August (undergrad), and I am wondering when should I start preparing for the LSAT? What are some of the many books that prepare me the best for LSAT.
Also, what should I do in the summer before college and Freshman winter break as well as future breaks? I understand that alot of internship opportunities are hardly handed out to Freshmen.
Sorry to ask this, but when is a recommended time to take the LSAT and is it like the SAT, where it is very hard to get a dramatic leap in LSAT scores through tough practice?
I suggest contacting local attorneys and asking if you can shadow them for a day or two this summer, just to see what the practice of law is truly like. You could also contact local judges, the DA’s office, a volunteer lawyers project, if one is nearby (in my area, this is a group of professional lawyers who donate their expertise to elderly and low-income populations). Be flexible and polite, and you’ll probably turn up a few folks who would be willing to share their time.
If you’re still thinking about law after that, see if your college has a pre-law advisor (not a pre-law major, which is a bad idea) and make an appointment with that person this fall. Your school may also have a pre-law organization - you’ll want to check them out as well.
It is possible to make a dramatic leap in LSAT scores, though I don’t know of many people who do that through self-study alone. I know several who increased their score by 10 points or more via a classroom prep course.
I’m sure you’ll get excellent advice from the lawyers who post here.
Most people take LSAT spring of junior year (May), and then again in Oct if the score is not up to par. Most of my kid’s friends (and herself) took LSAT classes.
FYI - many top tier law schools like students with few years of experience unless you have very good stats.
Don’t worry about the LSAT until you’re a junior or a senior. Deal with college. Good advice from @frazzled1. You might not get summer internships as a freshman/rising sophomore, but you might well find legal service organizations happy to have some free clerical help – and if you prove to be a responsible person, who knows what opportunities might crop up.
@oldfort : You may not be a fan, but it’s a fact of life. I get resumes from a lot of law school grads who are volunteer DAs and PDs and happy to be getting the experience. There is something to be said for getting your foot in the door.
Hmmmm. Maybe that they care about the law as a tool for social justice as opposed to a means of making money? I’m honestly not sure where you were intending to go with your question, but that’s my off-the-cuff answer. If you want to go into this, perhaps we should go off-line/PM and not annoy others who might be interested in the OP’s questions.
I also do not believe in PM because either what we are posting is relevant or it is not. I don’t think we should be advising young adults that it is the norm to get non paying internships. It was not the case for my kids and many of their friends. I’ve told my kids that I wouldn’t subsidize them for non paying internships, and they have always found meaningful paying jobs.
Someone in college who wants to get some legal experience as an undergraduate should not be discouraged from volunteering. You can agree with that or not. I expect that we live in very different areas, and my advice comes from an area where even graduates of T14 schools can have a hard time finding work. OP is only thinking about applying to law school. I will stand by my advice.
Take things one day at a time. For now, focus on getting top grades and developing your research/reading and writing skills, and explore different areas to find what you like best, and try interesting jobs and experiences in summers. If by your junior year, your GPA indicates that you can head towards a top-10 or so school, then plan to take at least a year off between college and law school and work, and take the LSAT when you’ve graduated (or at the earliest, during your junior or senior year). Take a Kaplan test-prep class for the LSAT, perhaps in the summer during break.
As a former DA I’m in full agreement with AboutTheSame on this one. It’s important for a person in OP’s situation to demonstrate his or her interest in law. Also, many public agencies (like my own) don’t have budgets that can accommodate paid interns.
First, getting experience is always a plus, and maybe it depends on what part of the country you live in, but I have spent most of my career as a prosecutor and none of the offices I worked at took HS or college students as interns. There were always plenty of law students available, and since we were always told that we were ethically responsible to supervise any intern/law clerk, to the point of being personally responsible for that intern’s work, it just never happened.On several occasions these law students were unpaid, but in many of those occasions they received course credit; it was a formal process, where the supervising prosecutor had to fill out periodic reports with the law school, with a final report due at the end of the semester/summer. So based on my experience, OP as a HS student would have zero chance to obtain a position at a da or pd office which offered any meaningful work.At this point, it would be better for OP to focus on college applications and then decide after some college experience whether or not law school was still in the future.
Everything you say is quite true @crankyoldman, and I don’t even like law school externs, although I do prefer job applicants who have the experience. (Call me inconsistent, if you like.) But the point I was trying to make was that a college student who wanted to volunteer at a legal aid office or a non-profit is going to learn more about legal concepts and documents even if s/he is just typing and filing than most of her/his peers. I don’t think that’s irrelevant to a young person’s decision whether to go to law school, and I think it’s a positive on the resume (admittedly not nearly as much as grades and law school clinicals) when the person looks for that first job after law school.
I guess we’re on the verge of forming a mutual admiration society, @AboutTheSame. Years ago, I worked as a messenger at a law firm(no electronic filing in those days, thank you) while I was in college-and you’re right, I learned a lot about the nuts and bolts of being a lawyer(what the lawyers were writing, since a lot of being a messenger was standing around in clerks’ offices/what the paralegals/legal secretaries did, as they were the POC for deliveries/how the clerks’ offices were run) all of which has proven helpful over the years. I was paid however, and that’s my concern. While volunteering for LS credit is a great idea, or just volunteering for a non-profit because it’s the right thing to do are things I fully support, there are several law firms in my jurisdiction which have taken in volunteers to do nothing but the most basic menial tasks. It’s become an issue with the local Bar association, as some less than noble practitioners have been advertising for (non-paid) interns as a way to avoid hiring actual paid staff. Many an ad has been posted on the local internet “…list” seeking these unpaid staff members, and it just doesn’t seem right to bring these HS and college kids in just to answer the phone. I guess the Bar will eventually sort it out.
In OP’s case, as he’s not even in college yet, I’d recommend he focus his energy on the college application process first and think about law-related jobs/volunteer opportunities second…
Agree @crankyoldman : I was thinking more about his/her freshman summer. An unpaid stint related to the law might be better than McJob. And your concern about faux internships is a valid one. I think the movie industry in particular has been hit with law suits on the subject, and I will not take volunteers except under the auspices of a law school program that gives them course credit. Cheers!
These days, the Department of Labor and state employment offices are cracking down on unpaid internships. They must be for the benefit of the intern, not the employer, and meet all sorts of other criteria to be kosher, and so I’d think that they’d be increasingly unlikely to be found at least in the for-profit sector with reputable employers. I’d focus on paid jobs and volunteer things on the side.
Thank you for the many responses! So for now you all would recommend me to simply enjoy my last summer before college move-in date in August? I’m just deciding what to do the freshman summer of college as well.