Why Law Job Applicants Should Never Lie about Their Qualifications

You may have heard that it is common in some fields for law job applicants to overstate their qualifications. Law school applications are different than job applications; there are good reasons to avoid lying on them. For one thing, lying can't do you much good. Your GPA and LSAT numbers are your main credentials, and they are not within your control. LSAT scores are sent to law schools directly by Law Services, and your grades are sent by your college, through the Law School Data Assembly Service. You can't get away with data that contradicts or is inconsistent with the transcripts and other records available to the admissions officials.
 

The damage that you can do to your career if you get caught in a direct lie is considerable. Actually, it is terminal: the punishment is dismissal from law school. True, law schools possess few investigative resources and they traditionally do little, if any, checking. But every once in a while there is a scandal, followed by a crackdown. Since then Law Services has been working with law schools to share information and develop procedures that make it easier to detect this cheating.

To be licensed to practice law, you must satisfy the bar examiners of your state that you are of good moral character. This requirement distinguishes law from most other white-collar occupations, and some bar examiners take it very seriously. They have more investigative resources than any law school and in some states they conduct extensive background checks of bar aspirants. They've been known to uncover evidence of lying on law school applications.

Finally, unlike most other professional occupations, law is a public career. You may want a government job some day, or an elective office. You're more likely to need a security clearance than, say, a cardiologist. Or you may simply become involved in some high-profile activity-a well-publicized lawsuit, perhaps- that will bring you under the scrutiny of the press.

For all these reasons you're best advised not to put anything on a law school application that could be revealed as a direct lie.

The Application Form

Law school applications vary. Some are one-page checklists that aren't much more detailed than the cards you fill out when you register at a motel. Others are six- or eight-page mini-psychobiographies that ask you to account for every minute of your life since age six. Depending on the schools you're applying to, you'll be asked for some or all of the following information.

This is pretty simple, right? All you have to do is to put down your name. But trust the legal mind to have noticed that Nick Brown may not be the same person as N. Brown, or N. J. Brown, or N. Jeremiah Brown. Pick one way to write your name and stick to it. If you use a Jr. or a roman numeral after your name, be consistent. If there's any discrepancy between the name on your application and the name on your college transcripts, explain why at the end of the application in the blank space marked "Other Information."

You may come across a second line asking for a. former name or another name by which you are known. Perhaps you were adopted as a teenager, or you've Americanized the ethnic name on your birth certificate, or you've changed your family's Americanized name back to its original spelling, or you're a married woman who has taken her husband's name. If so, list the second name and, if required, explain the reason for the change.

Address

As with the LSAT registration form, you shouldn't use an address if the law school won't be able to reach you there for the full academic year. You may not learn about the final disposition of your application until late in the spring-even later if you're wait-listed. As a rule, it's best to ask all correspondence to be sent to a permanent address.

Law schools may ask you to list former addresses. The information could be used for background checks, but probably won't be. Law schools like to have geographic diversity in their student bodies, and if you've lived in some exotic or unusual location you should stress that information. Former addresses are also important in determining eligibility for in-state tuition discount and some financial aid programs.

Ethnicity

All forms now ask for optional ethnic and racial identification. You should check this box if you're an African American, Native American, Pacific Islander, Hispanic, Aleut, Inuit, or a member of some other protected category. If you're an otherwise well-qualified applicant, you will find yourself much in demand. Ask to be considered for any affirmative action programs that are available. In some cases, membership in a desired category has made the difference between acceptance and rejection.

If you are not a member of a protected category, leave this question blank. Don't claim a status to which you are not entitled. "Falsifying ethnicity" is one of the common forms of cheating that Law Services is concerned about. And it's an easily detectible lie. Membership in a minority group can usually be confirmed by other biographical details: schools attended, voluntary associations joined, foreign languages spoken, and so on. (Candidates who are qualified for law school affirmative action programs were probably involved in college affirmative action programs.) Many law schools now routinely check.

Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools

List all the schools you've attended, supplying the required addresses, dates of attendance, and degrees received. If you've completed most of the work for a degree and expect to finish before you begin your legal studies, type "(B.A. expected, May, 19-)" in parentheses.

As with registering for the LSDAS, it is important that you make the list complete. Omitting a school leaves you open to the suspicion that you're trying to conceal some dishonorable part of your background.

If there are no instructions to the contrary, list non-degree-granting programs (summer schools, Washington, D.C., semester participation, foreign study) along with degree-granting programs. But if the law school asks you to list them separately, do so.

Law schools usually want you to list colleges in the order in which you've attended them. If no specific order is requested, list them with the most recently-attended school first: graduate work on top, then the school where you got your undergraduate degree, then whatever other undergraduate schools you attended. The most impressive accomplishment will then be on the top line of the section, the line that the reader's eye naturally focuses on.

Work Experience

Again, unless otherwise requested, list the most recent job first. It is likely to be your most responsible and impressive position, and that's what you want the reader's eye to be drawn to.

If the law school requests you to list all the jobs you've ever held, you should do so. If you're a traditional student and you're describing part-time jobs, indicate how many hours you worked each week and how many weeks you worked each semester. If you held two or three jobs simultaneously, mention this fact. If you want the law school to interpret your grades in light of the fact that you've always had to work to support yourself, you'll have to list enough jobs to document this consistently heavy burden.

If none of these conditions applies, you're best advised to list only the two or three most recent jobs, any jobs that required some unusual skill or ability, and any jobs you refer to elsewhere in your application.

Be accurate in providing the requested addresses, phone numbers, and dates of employment. Errors can be embarrassing. If you're a nontraditional applicant and you want your employment history to compensate for your low undergraduate grades, you'll have to make this section more extensive and impressive. You do this by describing your job duties, taking care to explain that doing a good job requires skills that are also necessary in law school. If your work experience is extensive you may want to attach your professional resume. If your resume' documents professional growth and success-if, for example, it lists a series of increasingly higher-ranking jobs, or the assumption of more and more responsibility, or extensive professional education-then it is a much better description of your qualifications to study law than anything you can list on the application form.

If you're a nontraditional applicant it's a good idea to account for all of your time since your graduation from college. (Some law school applications explicitly request you to do this.) If there are gaps in your record, you leave yourself open to the suspicion that you are concealing some questionable activity or problematic event in your life.