Screening Publications for Researching Law Schools and Formal Classes

Since there are over 176 schools to be researched, you'll find it handy to have a single source that provides thumbnail sketches of each of them and is arranged to make comparison easy. The best single browsing source is The Official Guide to U. S. Law Schools, which is put out annually by Law Services itself "in cooperation with the American Bar Association and the Association of American Law Schools." The Official Guide, as I'll refer to it, is the horse's mouth of information about law schools. It contains a two-page article on each accredited law school, covering such topics as facilities, admissions policy, programs of study, joint degrees and other specialized programs, student activities, profiles of students currently enrolled, expenses and financial aid, housing and placement. The Official Guide provides a mailing address and telephone number for the admissions office of each school. In tabular form, it compares schools, state by state, on such variables as the size of the student body and the faculty and the number of books in the library. Finally, and most important, for most of the schools it discusses, the Official Guide provides information about the LSAT scores and GPAs of students recently admitted; this information, usually presented in graphs called grids, can be used to calculate your chances of getting accepted.

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The Official Guide is the handiest browsing source I know. It provides a quick way to skim through the attributes of many law schools. But a word of caution: the information is provided by the law schools themselves. Its "official" information in that it is what the law schools wants you to know. As I'll explain later, the grids may overstate the qualifications of the students. And you won't read about any weak spots in the curriculum.

With this cautionary note, the Official Guide is invaluable. You can browse in the library copy. But a new edition is published each year and when you get down to serious planning you will need an up-to-date copy of your own. You may find it in some college bookstores, or you can order it from Law Services. You can check the box to do so on the registration form for the LSAT, as I described in chapter 4. You can get a Law Services Information Book from your prelaw adviser and send the publications form, with a check, to Law Services, Box 2400, 661 Penn Street, Newtown, Pennsylvania, 18940-0977; or, if you have a major credit card, you can call (215) 968-1314. The 1991-92 edition was $14.

Barron's Guide to Law Schools (Haupagge, New York: Barron's Educational Press, 1990) covers much of the same ground as the Official Guide. Here, too, you will find brief profiles of all the accredited schools and handy comparison tables. Barron's Guide contains some information not in the Official Guide; for example, it has a comparison table listing the proportion of women in each law school's student body. Because the information has been edited by Barron's researchers instead of simply being supplied by the law schools, you may find the entries more clearly written and candid. Barron's Guide also includes information on the LSAT and a sample test, as well as numerous tips on the applications process. Unlike the Official Guide, Barron's Guide is available at most shopping-mall bookstores.

But Barron's Guide is not revised annually and may not be as up to date. For example, the ninth edition, copyright 1990 and still on sale at this writing, does not mention the 1988 name change and the 1989 branch campus opening of Widener University Law School. Moreover, Barron's Guide doesn't contain the invaluable admission grids. It's a useful screening document and supplement, but when you get down to detailed planning you will need the Official Guide also.

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The American Bar Association publishes an annual survey of its own, A Review of Legal Education in the United States (Date): Law Schools and Bar Admission Requirements. Single copies are currently free from the American Bar Association, 750 North Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60611. It contains statistical information about law schools in tabular form: student enrollment numbers, faculty size, tuition, library size, and availability of part-time and joint degree programs. Most, if not all, of this information is available in the two publications I've described above. The Review's unique value is to law students, not prelaws, because it gives details of bar admission requirements.

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.

Of more immediate value are not-for-credit courses in such useful subjects as resume writing, preparing for job interviews, or dressing for success. Although these courses are most useful to students seeking jobs with large corporations, much of what you will have to do to get into law school is similar.

These career courses are often taught by adjunct professionals - that is, by working lawyers or business-people who teach part-time. If the course is taught by a regular faculty member, it may be enriched with guest speakers who are working lawyers or business-people. Some of these courses will give you an opportunity to talk to young lawyers who can answer career-related questions.

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