Useful Resources for Law School Applicants

If you’re thinking about applying to law school, you should also be thinking about your applications. If apps are on your mind, you may also be researching schools and quickly overwhelming yourself with the multitude of websites and publications out there that give out (sometimes not-so-reliable) information. To that end, here’s a list of some of the best, “must-have” resources for applicants. We regularly help students with their applications! Among these suggestions are some of the top links we send our students to when they’re considering their journey. It’s not exhaustive by any means, but it’s a great starting point.

Pre-Law

• The NAPLA Pre-Law Resource List
• Preparing for Law School, an article by the American Bar Association
• Phi Alpha Delta Pre-Law Society
• Law School & LSAT Terminology Dictionary

Admissions

• PowerScore’s Guide to Law School Admissions, a YouTube Playlist
• U.S. News Law School Admissions Q&As
• LSAT and Admissions Q&A with Spivey Consulting
• Law School Admissions Blog Posts

Picking a Law School

• PowerScore’s list of ABA-Accredited Law Schools in North America
• The PowerScore Law School Research Center
• U.S. News & World Report Rankings
• LSAC’s Official Guide to ABA-Approved Law Schools
  This is a fantastic starting point for your research. It gives you tons of numerical information about all ABA-approved schools and then some. Start here when you’re considering a broad list of schools. You’ll find information on GPA and LSAT percentiles, deadlines, application fees, class sizes, etc. Each school also has a PDF with additional information.
• The Leiter Rankings
  Once you’ve taken a look at the USN rankings, go to the Leiter Rankings. This is a slightly more objective compilation of information and provides a few really interesting lists. Professor Leiter’s rankings focus more on “intangibles” such as faculty quality and job placement, which should arguably be more important to applicants than where a school falls on the USN rankings.
• Internet Legal Research Group
  A lot of the same info that the LSAC Official Guide has, but sortable. It also has a ton more information that can help you with your search.

For Law School

• The National Association of Law Placement’s Official Guide to Legal Specialties
• The American Bar Association (ABA)
  You’ll eventually be a part of it, so why not start looking at it now? Of particular interest to prospective applicants will be the Section of Legal Education and Admission to the Bar. It outlines the requirements you must have to be able to practice law in each state. They also have a Loan Repayment Assistance Program page which outlines the programs each school and what ABA has to help those students practicing public interest or pro bono law pay back their loans.
• Fields of Law
• The PowerScore 1L Advantage Course

There are many more resources out there, but these are a few of my favorites. If you’ve got some of your own, share them in the comments!