Yale Law School Hosts Rebellious Lawyering Conference

by Clear Admit Posted on January 27, 2012

On February 17-18th, Yale Law School will host the Rebellious Lawyering Conference (RebLaw) for the eighteenth time. The conference is organized by students and joins legal professionals and students to explore the intersections of law and social change.

The event will host panels on issues such as food justice, sexual and reproductive rights, race and voting, education reform, developing the public interest sector as well as the repercussions of mass incarceration.  The keynote speakers featured will be Lisa Daugaard, the deputy director and supervisor of the Racial Disparity Project at the Defender Association in Seattle and Gerald López, a UCLA Law professor and founder of the Center for Community Problem Solving in New York City. In addition, co-founder and co-executive director of Make the Road New York, Andrew Friedman will also be a keynote presenter, along with Andrea Ritchie, a police misconduct attorney and coordinator of Streetwise and Safe.

The conference’s co-director, Megan Wulff ’13, states that “RebLaw is one of the rare opportunities for rebellious students and activists to reach beyond their microcosm and engage in a conversation with the greater social justice community. We leave at the end of the weekend with a sense of connectedness and purpose that gives our work renewed meaning.”

For the full press release, go here.

 

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Guest Post from Anna Ivey: Superstars and Commodities

by Clear Admit Posted on January 26, 2012

Anna Ivey, the founder of Ivey Consulting and former Dean of Admissions at University of Chicago Law School, speaks to the importance of standing out in order to succeed in the legal profession.

Superstars and Commodities
by Anna Ivey

In the past, workers with average skills, doing an average job, could earn an average lifestyle. But, today, average is officially over. Being average just won’t earn you what it used to. It can’t when so many more employers have so much more access to so much more above average cheap foreign labor, cheap robotics, cheap software, cheap automation and cheap genius. Therefore, everyone needs to find their extra — their unique value contribution that makes them stand out in whatever is their field of employment. Average is over.

- Thomas Friedman, “Average Is Over,” New York Times (Jan 24, 2012)

My former classmate Dan Currell and I returned to the University of Chicago Law School this week to talk to current students about how best to prepare for professional success and progress after law school. Some of our messages to them coincided nicely with Friedman’s piece in the New York Times: average is indeed over, and that applies to the legal profession as well.

What does this mean in the law school context? Take a look at this bimodal salary distribution curve for the class of 2010. Average is certainly over in that graph. But things are even trickier than that salary curve suggests. It’s not enough just to get into a top law school, or graduate from a top law school, or start your career at a top law firm or public interest organization. To progress, you’ll need something extra, some kind of plus, because book smarts and a fancy credential aren’t enough to get ahead and stay ahead. What’s your plus? Or, as law professor Larry Ribstein put it before his untimely death recently, do you want to be a legal architect or a legal mechanic? How do you stand out when your profession is being commoditized, and average is no longer an option?

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Practice LSAT Game: Television Line-up

by Clear Admit Posted on January 25, 2012

Today’s practice LSAT logic game comes from our friends at Get Prepped LSAT Prep.  To help you with your LSAT studying, try this Logic Game on your own, and then read on for the explanation of the solution.  For applicants who prefer to work with a hard copy of the game and its explanation, download the Television Line-up Game and Television Line-up Explanations in .pdf format.

Television line-up
A television series must be scheduled once a week for a nine-week period.  Each of the eight episodes—A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and H—must be scheduled at least once, and each episode appears on the same day of the week.  The following conditions govern the scheduling of the episodes:

A is separated from B by no more than two other episodes.
At least one other episode must separate C and D, and
C must precede D.
G must be scheduled for the week after D.
C is scheduled for some week after A is scheduled.
H is scheduled for the second and ninth weeks.

1. Which one of the following is an acceptable schedule of episodes, in order from the first week to the ninth week?
(A)    A, H, B, C, D, G, E, F, H
(B)    B, H, C, A, D, G, F, E, H
(C)    B, H, C, E, D, G, A, F, H
(D)    A, H, C, B, E, D, G, F, H
(E)    B, H, A, C, F, D, E, G, H

2. The greatest number of episodes that can separate episodes G and B is
(A)    three
(B)    four
(C)    five
(D)    six
(E)    seven

3. If episode B is shown in the first week and episode C is shown in the fifth week, how many possible schedules could there be for the nine episodes?
(A)    two
(B)    three
(C)    four
(D)    five
(E)    six
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Trivia Tuesday: Journals and Clubs at University of Michigan Law School

by wplawadmin Posted on January 24, 2012

In this week’s edition of Trivia Tuesday, we here at Clear Admit are taking a look at extracurricular clubs and journals available to students at Michigan Law School.

There are nearly 50 student-led professional, cultural and social clubs on the Michigan Law campus.  The school’s professional student organizations aim to help their members network, conduct job searches and learn about the specific area of law in which they are interested.  Students who plan to pursue careers in environmental law or policy, for instance, are invited to sign up for the Environmental Law Society (ELS).  ELS is primarily intended for law students, but all University of Michigan graduate students with a passion for conservation are welcome to join.  Members of ELS often attend environmental conferences or moot competitions together.

The cultural and identity groups that exist at Michigan Law offer an additional level of support to students who identify with a particular faith, ethnicity or nationality.  The Latino Law Students Association, for one, aims to increase the Latino presence in the legal world by providing its members with professional resources and networking opportunities.  The Black Law Students Alliance (BLSA), too, hopes to enhance the professional opportunities of its members, but also organizes a number of social events that benefit the entire Michigan community.

When students need a break from legal pursuits, they can turn to one of the school’s social club opportunities, such as Running Club, the Michigan Law Culinary Club and Headnotes, the law school’s only a capella group.  Michigan Law also maintains a student newspaper, Res Gestae – Latin for “Things Done,” which is always looking for new contributors who have a way with words and humor.

Michigan Law students also maintain six scholarly journals: The Michigan Law Review, Michigan Journal of International Law, Michigan Journal of Gender & Law, Michigan Journal of Race & Law, Michigan Telecommunications and Technology Law Review and University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform.  Membership in all six journals is open to any Michigan Law 1L who is interested in joining.  The only journal with a selection process is the Law Review, which selects its 45 new members each year using a combination of criteria that are weighed equally: writing ability, strength of legal reasoning, diversity and academic performance.  This sets Michigan Law’s membership criteria apart from many of its peers, many of which put greater weight on grades in selecting at least a portion of new law review members.

For more information about extracurricular clubs and journals at other leading law schools, such as NYU School of Law and Harvard Law School, be sure to read the Clear Admit Law School Guides!

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Duke Law Students Participate in Wintersession

by Clear Admit Posted on January 23, 2012

About two weeks ago, over 200 Duke Law students returned to campus early in order to participate in the school’s Wintersession, a four-day program designed to give students practical skills that they can utilize in summer internships or upon graduation. Students were exposed to the responsibilities of corporate counsel and learned how to draft contracts, take depositions and conduct basic accounting. Wintersession also enables students to participate in two classes that can translate into a full credit. The classes were taught by legal professionals in addition to Duke Law professors.

Duke Law Professor Donald Beskind ’77 stated that Wintersession “is one of the most important things Duke Law School does for students in preparing them for the actual practice of law.” Beskind joined the Duke Law Faculty in 2010 after working in private practice for over 30 years.
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University of Virginia School of Law Hosts Trial Advocacy College

by Clear Admit Posted on January 20, 2012

The  University of Virginia School of Law hosted the Trial Advocacy College this past week, a collection of workshops and lectures geared at giving law students and experienced lawyers a chance to advance their skills in persuasion and advocacy. The college included over 100 lawyers from all over the US as well as 35 UVA Law students.

Director of the College and a George Washington University Law School professor, Stephen A. Saltzburg states:  ”It’s a bit like spring training for lawyers. Trial lawyers get together and they remind themselves what makes them good. And they share that with other lawyers and law students. There’s an incredible amount of learning and energy that takes place.”

The Trial Advocacy College was co-founded by Saltzburg and Herbert J. Stern, a former federal judge, in 1981. They worked together with the Law School and Virginia Continuing Legal Education. The college continues to attract trial lawyers from all over the country and serves as an invaluable resource year after year.

For the full press release, go here.

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