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The Girl's Guide to Law School®

Get In, Get Through, Stay You

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    • How to Write a Law Review Note Worthy of Publication
  • Surviving 1L: Should You Join a Study Group?

    Surviving 1L: Should You Join a Study Group?
  • Help! My First Semester Law School Grades are Really Bad.

    Help! My First Semester Law School Grades are Really Bad.
  • Think Everything’s Great Because Your Law School Grades are Good? Wrong.

    Think Everything’s Great Because Your Law School Grades are Good? Wrong.
  • My Three Best Tips for Time Management Awesomeness

    My Three Best Tips for Time Management Awesomeness
  • Judicial Clerkships: I Didn’t Get a Clerkship, Now What?

    Judicial Clerkships: I Didn’t Get a Clerkship, Now What?
  • Craft a Law School Application That Gets You In: Letters of Recommendation

    Craft a Law School Application That Gets You In: Letters of Recommendation
  • What It’s Like to Get a Cold Offer

    What It’s Like to Get a Cold Offer
  • The One Question That Will Improve Any Résumé

    The One Question That Will Improve Any Résumé
  • What Are Law Firms Looking For? Get the Inside Scoop From a Legal Recruiter!

    What Are Law Firms Looking For? Get the Inside Scoop From a Legal Recruiter!
  • Law School Myth #2: Student Loan Debt is Good Debt

    Law School Myth #2: Student Loan Debt is Good Debt

What’s New?

Managing Expectations of Loved Ones as a Nontraditional Law Student

This week we welcome back guest writer and law student Stephanie Gregoire to talk about expectations of family and friends as a nontraditional law student. If I’ve learned anything in law school, it’s that everyone, and I mean everyone, has an opinion. With movies like “Legally Blonde” and “The … [Read More...]

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Featured

Target

Craft a Law School Application That Gets You In: Perfect Your Résumé

Although not dissimilar from the résumé you’d prepare for a job search, your law school application résumé should highlight the experiences you’ve had that are most relevant to success in law school and the legal profession. Specifically, focus on leadership, public speaking, and your reading, … [Read More...]

Bulldozer

Craft a Law School Application That Gets You In: Sample Résumé Teardown

It's easy to give general advice about how to make your law school résumé the best it can be. It's harder to actually do it, right? Instead of talking generally, I thought it would be helpful to do a résumé teardown for a sample (fictional) law school applicant, so you can see how a humdrum … [Read More...]

Handprint

Craft a Law School Application That Gets You In: Perfect Your Personal Statement

The Big Picture Your law school application must answer three questions: Why this? Why here? Why now? The personal statement is your best chance to convince the admissions committee that you’re a solid applicant with a clear plan for your legal career. If it fails to do this, you’ve … [Read More...]

Garden Path

Craft a Law School Application That Gets You In: The First Question You Must Answer

The Big Three: Why This? To be convincing, your personal statement must explain why it makes sense for you to go to law school. Duh, right? I mean, of course. But you might find it's not that easy to really articulate why you want to go to law school. Read on for various approaches. Why does … [Read More...]

Hourglass

Craft a Law School Application That Gets You In: The Final Question You Must Answer

The Big Three: Why Now? Last but not least, your application needs to explain why it makes sense for you to go to law school right now. Is there something else you’d be better off doing instead? This question may require less overt discussion than the first two, but it’s still worth thinking … [Read More...]

Snowflake

Craft a Law School Application That Gets You In: The Second Question You Must Answer

The Big Three: Why Here? The second critical question your application needs to answer is why this specific law school makes sense for you. You Do Have a Reason For Applying, Don't You? Let’s be realistic – most people are simply applying to the most highly ranked schools they think they can … [Read More...]

Cheese

The One Thing That Needs to Be on Your Résumé to Ace a Callback Interview (and It’s Probably Not What You Think)

When you sit down across from a law firm interviewer, she immediately starts trying to answer two questions: Is this a person I'd want to have in the room at 3 AM, when the pressure's on? Is this someone I could introduce to a client without fearing for my job? If you don't get a "yes" for … [Read More...]

Group

Surviving 1L: Should You Join a Study Group?

My first week of law school, I heard a rumor (which I'm pretty sure was true), that one of my classmates was forming a study group. Great, right? What's not to like. However, this study group was special -- you could only join if you'd gone to Harvard for undergrad! After I finished cracking up … [Read More...]

The Hustle

Help! My First Semester Law School Grades are Really Bad.

Okay, you're getting your first semester law school grades back and they're -- shall we say -- not exactly what you'd hoped for. What now? … [Read More...]

Rainbow

Think Everything’s Great Because Your Law School Grades are Good? Wrong.

If you did well on your first-semester law school exams, congratulations. That's fantastic, and you can feel justifiably proud. However, I'm here with some bad news -- it may not be smooth sailing from here on out. The problem with having done well is that there's now intense pressure to keep … [Read More...]

Low tide

Survive Law School: Stop Procrastinating

We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked, … [Read More...]

Friends

Survive Law School: Find Your People

To make it through law school, you're going to need some help. You have to find your people. My People? What Are You Talking About? In law school, you need more than friends - you need allies. A friend is someone you enjoy hanging out with, maybe taking in a movie or grabbing a glass of wine. … [Read More...]

Alarm Clock

My Three Best Tips for Time Management Awesomeness

Time management is critical in law school. It's easy to feel completely overwhelmed with the competing demands on your time, which can lead to a total meltdown. We've all had them. In the name of meltdown avoidance, let's talk about a few techniques for time management. … [Read More...]

Circles

Need to Get More Done in Law School? Try The Circles.

If you're like me, you have a lot of days where you feel like you were working all day long, but you don't really get much accomplished. I find this happens for two reasons: I'm not sure what I should be working on I spend time doing things that feel like work, but aren't actually … [Read More...]

About Alison

I’m the creator of The Girl’s Guide to Law School®. Welcome!

Columbia Law (’06), Law Review, federal judicial clerk, BigLaw refugee.

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Latest Posts

  • Managing Expectations of Loved Ones as a Nontraditional Law Student
  • How to Manage a Medical Issue When You Have a Full-Time, Demanding, Legal Job
  • Experiencing Grief in Law School
  • The Pros and Cons of Quitting Your Job After Less Than a Year
  • Law School Perspective – How to Make Your Relationship Last Through Law School

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