The oldest living judge tells all. Before judges Judy and Joe Brown, before Divorce Court and Moral Court and Power of Attorney, there was just . . . Joe Wapner. Twenty years ago last month, the producers of a fledgling legal series tapped the retired Los Angeles County Superior Court judge to preside over their [...]

In the days following the terrorist strikes on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, We asked legal experts to assess the impact on lawyers, law firms, and law students. Lawyers Robert Hirshon, President, American Bar Association Lawyers are going to be asked to help this country achieve the delicate balance between feeling secure on [...]

“Whenever the U.S. News & World Report rankings come out, people tend to piss and moan,” says Brian Leiter, a professor at the University of Texas Law School in Austin. The solution? Leiter and others have been cooking up their own ways to grade law schools. Leiter began compiling his alternative rankings system, the “Educational [...]

Want to become a legal analyst for network television? Follow these rules. And always, always say yes to makeup. Andrew Cohen knows he has a lawyer’s dream job: CBS News legal analyst. When the U.S. Supreme Court decided the presidential election, the Tiffany network sent Cohen to the marble steps. Ditto for the trial of [...]

Q: My brain’s experiencing brownout. Analysis, creativity, memory—everything seems sluggish. How can I sharpen my mental ax? A: Dr. of Law, himself a frequent sufferer of stupid sieges, looks forward to the day neuroprosthetic smart chips become available at RadioShacks everywhere. For now, sadly, we all must soldier on with the miraculous “wetware” nature’s given [...]

1. Order Questions for Answering Although you can only work on one section at a time, you are not required to answer questions in the order that they are given. In fact, it is to your advantage to plan the order in which you will answer the test questions. You can optimize your score by [...]

Some law schools will ask you to include one or more letters of recommendation with your application. Others will accept them, although they are not specifically requested, while some other schools do not allow letters of recommendation at all. When should you submit a letter of recommendation? Unless a school explicitly states that letters of [...]

A winning personal statement can definitely help you distinguish yourself from a crowd of candidates. Most personal statements include a useful description of the applicant’s background. However, to be outstanding, your personal statement must show evidence of special effort and determination. Highlighting your academic performance in university or college is one way to demonstrate your [...]

Many law schools use what is known as an “admission index” or “index formula” to sort through the applications. This “index” usually includes your undergraduate GPA and LSAT score, with some combination of additional factors. The relative weighting of this index is matter of policy left up to the individual schools. Some schools provide applicants [...]

There are many considerations that are generally not factored into law school rankings, but which may be of great importance to you. These include: · the school’s location · financial-aid criteria · part-time study opportunities · reputation for quality instruction · student access to faculty members · specialized curriculum areas and scope of instruction · [...]