At present, law schools are moving rapidly into the world of the Internet. Many have established homepages on the World Wide Web, though some of these pages are still "under construction." More law schools are expected to do so in the future. Typically, the homepages list the kinds of information available in the printed catalog; some also have lists of current events on campus. Many homepages have links that allow you to communicate directly with a law school representative, or to order printed catalogs and application forms.
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Your computer can be a good place to start your research on particular schools, but, as is generally true of the Internet, it can be difficult to find the necessary information. Because the electronic world is changing so rapidly, a single article can't give you any firm research guidelines here. At the moment, many law school homepages are accessible through the Yahoo directory (https://www.yahoo.com).
Typically, a law school's homepage is accessible through the homepage of the larger university of which it is a part. You can look for the University of Pennsylvania, for example, not the University of Pennsylvania Law School. If you search in this way, you will be able to collect information on the university as a whole-its programs, resources, and student life- as well as on the law school itself. The World Wide Web Servers directory lists universities regionally, grouped by state. In either case, once you have keyed in to the university's homepage, look for a link to the constituent colleges, or to programs.
To get a full picture of any law school, you will have to consult its catalog or bulletin. Your campus probably maintains collections of old catalogs, and prelaw advisers sometimes keep catalogs in their offices. Here at Bradley the political science club maintains a collection and the library has a set on microfiche. Fraternities and sororities often have collections as well. You can use these reference sources for browsing, but many law schools are changing rapidly. If you're serious about a school, you should obtain a copy of its current catalog. You can call, e-mail, or write to the address for the school's admissions office given in the Official Guide, or to the address printed on the school's advertising poster on your prelaw advisers bulletin board. If the school has a poster, you can often save a few pennies by using the postage-paid postcards stapled to it. And you can sometimes order a catalog directly online, through a link on the law school's homepage.
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Allow two or three weeks if you call, six weeks if you write. If the catalog hasn't arrived and you haven't gotten a postcard saying that you'll get one as soon as new ones are printed, write or call again. Law school admissions offices are more efficient than they used to be, but requests for publications can still sometimes get lost.
The catalog is the absolute authority for the school's admission requirements, deadlines, fees, courses of study and graduation requirements, course offerings, academic policies, and similar rules. Some catalogs are very soberly printed in black and white typeface, to encourage you to think of them as contracts specifying what you'll have to do as a law student. Law schools provide many pages of detailed information on the qualifications and activities of their faculties, their unique special programs, and their physical facilities and resources. Application forms will be bound in them or mailed in the same envelope. Catalogs are also a form of advertising. Many are now printed on slick paper, awash with color photos of gleaming modern buildings, smiling happy students, and the marvels of local scenery. At professional meetings, prelaw advisers sometimes make jokes about catalogs that appear to be designed by the same people who do the brochures for tourist sites, retirement condominiums, and investment real estate.
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That doesn't mean that the information inside is incorrect. It will always be factually accurate, especially on curriculum requirements. But it's what the law school wants you to know, presented in the most attractive way. On student life, catalogs are often, shall we say, rosy. If you see a photo of students frolicking in a pool, you can assume that there will actually be a pool there. But you can't assume that as a law student you'll have much time to swim in it. Similarly, catalogs simply leave out what is unattractive. You can't go to them to determine whether student life is stressful because class instruction emphasizes pressure. Nor will the catalog tell you if the campus has a parking problem, or a crime problem, or if there's poor morale among the faculty.
Formal Classes
Some colleges offer for-credit classes in subjects relating to legal practice. Bradley, for example, has offered a class in law as a career for three semester hours of political science credit.
These career courses are often taught by adjunct professionals-that is, by working lawyers or business professionals who teach part-time. Or they are taught by regular faculty members but enriched with guest speakers who work in law or business. Some of these courses will give you an opportunity to talk to young lawyers who can answer your career-related questions.
Law Students and Lawyers
Just as with buying a new car, word of mouth is important. You should never pass up an opportunity to talk to someone who has been there.
If you have friends or relatives who are lawyers or law students, you are ahead of the game. If you are a member of a social fraternity or sorority, try to keep in touch with alumni members. Phi Alpha Delta social events are excellent places to network. If you're a nontraditional applicant and somewhat older, you have an advantage: you will be able to approach lawyers as generational equals, perhaps at your place of business, at church, or at voluntary groups that you belong to. If you have such contacts, you're in a position to create your own advisory board and return to the same experts whenever questions arise. Like most people, lawyers and law students will be most candid when speaking informally to people they know well.
Prelaw clubs and prelaw advisers often maintain mailing lists of recent alumni and may arrange panel discussions to bring them to campus.
Law students can speak with authority about prelaw education. Students who are alumni of your own undergraduate college can discuss which courses they found especially helpful when they got to law school, or which courses they wish they had taken-or wish they had studied harder in.
Law students can't always tell if they're receiving a good legal education, but they are well placed to know if they're getting a bad education. If classes are overcrowded, if there aren't enough books in the library, or if there is excessive pressure and competition, law students will know it. If a law school claims expertise in some specialty but actually offers very few courses in it, law students will know, and will be angry.
Law students are also the absolute experts on living conditions at their law schools. They know from personal experience whether it's possible to rent a reasonably priced apartment, whether the campus has a parking problem, or whether the fear of street crime keeps women students from going to the library after dark. If you encourage law students to talk about their experiences, this kind of information will emerge. But be careful: a certain amount of grumbling is normal and healthy, and a lot of the things that law students complain about are either unimportant (poor food in the cafeteria) or not really defects (great masses of homework; demanding professors with high standards).
Because so much information on law schools is subjective, you should avoid giving undue weight to any one informant. You ought not to apply to a law school just because you were impressed with one of its alumni; conversely, you shouldn't shun a school simply because a student grumbled about his living conditions. The key here is to try to talk to as many people as you can. If you are in a position to gather information over a long period of time, you will find it possible to talk to many.
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Once you begin collecting information systematically, you will probably find that much of it comes from law school recruiters.
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