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| Author's Note | |
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| Foreword | |
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| So You Wanna Be a Lawyer ... | |
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| How to Use This Book | |
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| I am a college student thinking about applying to law school, or I'm thinking about changing careers and applying to law school | |
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| I've already been admitted to law school, and I'm nervous ... | |
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| But I'm already in law school ... I wish I'd found this sonner | |
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| I'm the parent, friend, sibling, or significant other of someone going to law school | |
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| The Law School Confidential Mentors | |
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| Thinking About Law School? Think Again ... | |
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| My relative the lawyer made me do it | |
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| I can't ignore this amazing LSAT score, can I? | |
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| I don't have a mind for science, so ... | |
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| It's the economy, stupid | |
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| This ain't Hollywood, son | |
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| A Realistic Evaluation of Your Fitness for Law School | |
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| The reading load | |
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| The discipline | |
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| The atmosphere | |
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| The writing | |
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| The commitment | |
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| Taking time off before you apply | |
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| Plan Your Application Process in Advance | |
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| Recommendations | |
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| Essays | |
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| Your criminal history | |
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| The LSAT | |
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| The big picture | |
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| Your Five Most Critical Hours: How to Beat the LSAT | |
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| So What Is This "LSAT" Anyway? | |
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| The reading comprehension section | |
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| Logical reasoning | |
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| Logic games | |
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| The minutiae and related suggestions | |
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| So what about the test prep courses? | |
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| I bombed it--I know it--Should I cancel my score? | |
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| Applying to Law School: Bait the Hooks Carefully and Cast the Nets Wide | |
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| Interview with Richard Geiger, Cornell Law School | |
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| Additional strategies | |
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| Try to decide where you want to practice before you apply | |
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| Apply Early Action wherever possible | |
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| Proofread everything | |
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| Visit your top schools and keep in touch with the admissions office | |
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| Choose Your School Wisely | |
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| The school's regional and national reputation | |
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| Pay the greatest attention to a school's placement record | |
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| The harsh reality | |
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| Philosophy | |
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| But what about ... | |
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| An Investment in Your Future: Funding Your Legal Education | |
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| Sources of funding | |
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| General suggestions | |
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| Some terms they'll throw around in your aid package | |
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| Federal loan programs | |
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| Stafford Loans (formerly the "Guaranteed Student Loan") | |
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| Perkins Loan (formerly the "National Direct Student Loan") | |
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| Private loans | |
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| Grants and scholarships | |
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| Federal work-study | |
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| Your day of reckoning | |
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| The First Year, They Scare You to Death | |
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| The Ten Things You Must Do Before Classes Begin | |
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| Before You Arrive on Campus | |
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| Read this book from cover to cover | |
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| Arrange for housing | |
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| Use the summer to get in shape | |
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| Read now, sign up later | |
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| Buy a computer and become computer literate | |
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| Check in with the registrar | |
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| After You Arrive on Campus | |
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| Set up "headquarters" | |
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| Learn the "lay of the land" | |
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| Update your resume | |
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| Get your books, study aids, and other supplies | |
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| Recommended commercial outlines | |
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| Bonus: Go to orientation! | |
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| Contacts for commercial outlines | |
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| So What Is a Tort Anyway? A Brief Overview of the First-Year Curriculum | |
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| The Subjects | |
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| Civil Procedure | |
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| Contracts | |
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| Torts | |
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| Property | |
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| Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure | |
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| Constitutional Law | |
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| Administrative Law | |
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| Getting Out of the Gate--Applying the Lessons of Futures Past | |
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| Case briefing--their way | |
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| Case briefing--my way (The five-step plan to success) | |
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| Start each night with a lesson from your commercial outline | |
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| Brief in Technicolor | |
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| Supplement your notes and tab your statutes in class | |
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| Write your own outlines | |
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| Determining your work schedule | |
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| A word about study groups | |
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| The Unspoken Code of Law School Etiquette | |
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| Things You Should Do | |
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| It is your duty to follow the honor code | |
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| Share your class notes, hornbooks, and outlines with anyone who needs them | |
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| Phrase in-class comments as questions--not statements | |
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| The wrong way to make a point | |
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| A better way to make the same point | |
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| When you're speaking, speak up, and when you're not, shut up! | |
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| When referring to cases or statutes, provide page or section numbers | |
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| Reign in your electronics | |
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| Maintain a sense of humor | |
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| Things You Shouldn't Do | |
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| Resist the urge to make unsolicited, tangential, or politically charged comments during lectures | |
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| Don't boast about your study habits | |
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| Safeguard your reputation | |
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| Adhere to your school's recruiting guidelines | |
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| Avoid all postmortem discussions about exams | |
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| Never discuss grades | |
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| The T-Minus One Month Checkpoint: How to Arrive Ahead of the Competition | |
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| I've missed a couple of classes, a couple of reading assignments, and I'm two weeks or less behind in outlining for each class | |
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| I've fallen way behind in my outlining--what do I do? | |
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| Panic button | |
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| Read Legalines to catch up, and find four good student outlines for your courses | |
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| What Else Do I Have to Do Between Now and Exams? | |
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| Acquire old exams | |
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| Clarify exam rules with each of your professors | |
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| Send query letters to potential employers | |
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| Making Your Summer Plans: How to Win the 1L Recruiting Lottery | |
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| The firm | |
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| Interning for a judge | |
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| Working for a public-service organization | |
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| Researching for a professor | |
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| Working it | |
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| Your First Semester Endgame | |
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| It's time to find an off-campus location to study | |
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| Mapping out the law | |
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| How to create a "case map" | |
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| Creating a bullet outline | |
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| Taking sample exams | |
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| Review sessions | |
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| The final hours | |
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| Exam day | |
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| Examsmanship | |
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| But wait ... my exam is closed book! | |
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| The "doomsday scenario" | |
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| The Performance Self-Examination: Part One | |
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| Looking Behind and Looking Ahead: Assessing the Damage and Charting the Course for Your Second Semester | |
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| I got straight As, mostly As and B+'s, or I am ahead of the curve in most classes | |
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| I got a mix of grades, some ahead and some behind the curve | |
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| One grade is widely disparate from the others | |
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| All grades at or below the mean | |
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| The Performance Self-Examination: Part Two | |
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| First-Year Endgame: Succeeding in Exams and the Law Review Competition | |
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| The law review competition | |
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| So should you do it? | |
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| Working for Free or Working for Pay, Your First Summer Paves the Way | |
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| For those clerking for a judge | |
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| For those going to a firm | |
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| For those going into public-service jobs | |
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| Thoughts about your 1L summer | |
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| The Second Year, They Work You to Death | |
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| Charting a Course for Your Upper Years | |
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| The bar exam preparation approach | |
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| The survey approach | |
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| The major or career-focus approach | |
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| Majors | |
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| The clinical approach | |
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| Other considerations | |
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| Your Survival Guide to Recruiting Season | |
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| How to decide where to interview | |
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| How to prepare yourself for the screening interview | |
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| Know your audience | |
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| Be prompt and polite | |
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| Dress conservatively | |
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| So what are they going to ask me, anyway? | |
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| When a "stunner" goes over the line | |
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| What you should ask | |
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| The things you should avoid | |
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| A few horror stories to calm you down | |
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| Everything You Need to Know About Callback Interviews | |
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| So what the heck is a "callback" anyway? | |
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| Scheduling appointments | |
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| Tackling the callback interview | |
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| How to handle the recruiting meal | |
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| When the callback is over | |
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| Some horror stories to calm you down | |
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| Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Law Firm Hiring: An Interview with Douglas H. Meal of Ropes & Gray and David W. McGrath of Sheehan, Phinney, Bass & Green | |
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| The Summer Associateship Itself | |
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| The Future Is Now: Using the "Relevance Calculus" to Choose a Firm | |
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| How to compare starting salaries | |
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| Salary Comparison Chart | |
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| Choosing a firm using the "relevance calculus" | |
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| Description of factors in the relevance calculus | |
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| The Relevance Calculus | |
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| Back on the Chain Gang: Advice About Journal Membership | |
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| Writing your note or comment | |
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| The case note | |
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| The comment | |
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| Choose a topic that fascinates you | |
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| Find a mentor on the faculty | |
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| Stay organized, and stay on deadline | |
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| Restoring Balance: Moot Court, Public Service, and How to Reclaim the Life You've Lost | |
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| Public-service opportunities | |
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| Moot court | |
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| Inns of Court | |
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| Law school committees | |
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| Keys to Ascension: Turning 2L Summer Employment into a Permanent Offer | |
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| When you arrive | |
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| Handling assignments | |
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| Managing your workload | |
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| Billing your time | |
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| Using Westlaw and LEXIS at the firm | |
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| Getting the work you want | |
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| Getting feedback on your work | |
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| Escaping the clutches of a possessive partner | |
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| Confront problems immediately | |
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| Getting along with the other summer associates | |
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| Proper etiquette at firm social events | |
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| Some closing thoughts | |
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| And the Third Year, They Bore You to Death | |
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| Demystifying Judicial Clerkships: Hie Thee to the Chambers | |
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| State Court Clerkships | |
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| State trial and intermediate appellate courts | |
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| State supreme courts (highest court) | |
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| Federal Court Clerkships | |
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| Federal district courts | |
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| Specialty courts | |
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| Federal circuit courts of appeals | |
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| The United States Supreme Court | |
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| Why People Clerk | |
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| How to Apply for a Judicial Clerkship | |
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| Choosing your judges | |
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| What to send | |
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| The cover letter | |
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| Your resume | |
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| Your writing sample | |
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| How to choose your recommenders | |
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| Negotiating the new law clerk hiring plan | |
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| Preparing your applications | |
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| When you return to campus | |
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| Scheduling interviews | |
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| The interview itself | |
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| Accepting an offer | |
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| Opportunity Knocks Again ... A Second Chance at Recruiting | |
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| How to handle phone calls from people at your old firm | |
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| If you didn't get an offer from your 2L firm | |
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| Last Semester Cross-Checks | |
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| Ensure that you have enough credits to graduate | |
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| Ensure that you've taken and passed all required courses | |
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| Cocurricular or extracurricular requirements | |
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| Verify that your tuition has been paid | |
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| Register for the bar exam and get your firm to pay for it | |
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| Register for and take the MPRE | |
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| Arrange a start date with your firm, judge, or placement | |
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| Make advance accommodations in your new place of employment | |
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| Make arrangements for your move well in advance | |
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| The Final Hurdle--Strategies for the Bar Examination | |
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| When exam day nears | |
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| Final thoughts | |
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| Parting Thoughts | |
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| About the Author | |