Law School Application's open ended questions: What are they looking for?

All law schools ask detailed questions about criminal convictions, dishonorable discharges from the military, college or employer disciplinary actions, and even mental illnesses. As you can infer from such common instructional remarks as, "Your application will be considered incomplete without this information," and "Superficial [explanations] lacking detail will substantially prejudice your application," law schools take these questions extremely seriously.




To give you some perspective on what is at stake, I reprint here the instructions on Widener University Law School's application form: If you have been a party to any criminal proceeding; been arrested, summoned, charged with, or convicted of a crime; been confined to a mental, penal, or correctional institution; or if you have undergone mental treatment, your ability to be admitted to the practice of law even after successful completion of your legal studies and graduation from law school-may be severely limited in one or more states or jurisdictions . . .

Carefully review your application to make certain that all pertinent facts and information have been disclosed. Any discrepancies discovered after you matriculate could subject you to dismissal from the Law School. Questions asked on the application are also asked by bar examiners; some examiners check these answers against those on law school applications. Any discrepancies may adversely affect your admission to the bar. Of particular importance are juvenile or minor matters for which the court has sealed the records. Many bar examiners take the position that the records are not sealed for purposes of admission to the bar. [Emphasis in original]

Few law schools ask for all the information listed in these two paragraphs. Most ask only about felony convictions not expunged or pardoned. You need not volunteer what isn't asked for, but you must provide whatever information is requested. Information about criminal convictions, dishonorable discharges, and involuntary commitments to mental institutions can easily be checked against public records.

Don't feel, however, that a single detail your record forever bars you from the practice of law. Many youthful indiscretions can be lived down. Uncharacteristic lapses in adults otherwise of good character are commonly ignored. And society now takes a much more liberal attitude toward many things that previously would have indicated poor moral character. Felony convictions for civil rights disobedience or draft resisting, divorces, non-marital pregnancies, and especially mental illnesses are all viewed much differently in 1992 than they were thirty years earlier.

For this reason, if there is some skeleton in your closet, I recommend that you seek an informational interview with an admissions official at each law school that you apply to. Ask for a candid assessment of how the information is likely to be received, and whether other evidence of good character and rehabilitation can be submitted. The law school may ask you to seek further clarification from the bar examiners.

Some application forms have a box that you can check if you want the law school to arrange such a personal interview. Use it if you have some special problem or there is something unusual in your background: if, for example, you have a partly foreign education or a handicap. If there's no such box, you should seek an interview by telephone.

The application may instruct you to list the names, titles, addresses and even telephone numbers of the two to four people you will ask to write letters of recommendation. If you supply this information, the law school will know what letters are supposed to be in your file. (If you haven't decided whom to use, leave this section blank.)

If you're asked to supply the names and addresses of relatives who have attended the law school you're applying to (or its parent university), the law school is signaling that it will consider your family background in the application process. If you do have relatives who are alumni, then you're fortunate: you are a legacy, and there's a possibility that the law school will give you a marginal break because it doesn't want to offend your alumni relatives who are potential benefactors. If you have such an advantage, use it! Document the family relationship with the university as extensively as you can on the form. If your uncle attended the school, ask him to write a letter to the law school explaining how he hopes you'll help him start (or continue) a multigenerational family tradition of attending that school. But don't expect too much to come of your advantage. Being a legacy won't make up for poor numbers.

Some law schools ask you to document your family background in some detail. Now that all law schools are more concerned to find academic merit in students rather than good upper-class social connections, you may wonder why this information is still requested. You're not alone. No law school representative has been able to explain why this question is still asked. But providing this information can't hurt you. If your family is illustrious, some of the charm may rub off on you. And if your parents are of modest accomplishments, you're demonstrating that you're rising in life by developing and exercising your own talents.