Can Senior Citizens Go to Law School?

The short answer is, of course they can. If you have been thinking about going to law school as a mature adult, it is possible for law school doors to open for you. As baby boomers and older adults reinvent themselves in their senior years, some will want to take the journey towards becoming a lawyer. Others will do it to seek the intellectual adventure of learning about the law. There are many opportunities to do so. America currently has 193 American Bar Association-approved law schools, offering a Juris Doctor (J.D.) course of study (the basic law degree). Law school typically takes three years to complete, going full-time, or four years (or more) in a part-time program. Upon completion, law school graduates typically take a commercial prep course designed to assist them in passing the bar exam of their state. The bar exam, a multiple-day affair, requires an extensive application and a background and character investigation. Bar passage rates vary from about 61% (California) to 91% (Minnesota).

Am I too old to go? Law schools do not place a limit on the age of their students. In fact, they welcome the seasoning effect of some mature adults as students, knowing that they offer a perspective based on life and work experience that a 26-year-old student (about the average age of a current full-time law student) simply cannot yet provide. Your life and previous work experience may well be a very useful foundation for the systematic study of the law. Life experience can be like “money in the bank” for the process of earning a law degree.

What types of law schools are there? Think of law schools as essentially in three categories: national, regional and local. Within each category you will see both public and private law schools. National law schools, like Harvard, Berkeley and Georgetown, have the toughest admission standards. Such prestigious law schools attract top students and elite law-related employers from all over the US. Regional law schools, often public, are best known in their own state, and have a more regional emphasis and impact. They can be very highly regarded, and tough to get into. Examples: University of Maryland, University of Arizona, and the University of Kansas. Local law schools, usually lower in the law school hierarchy, have the easiest admission standards but offer the least access to top employers. But they can be a perfectly fine choice for a senior interested in exploring the law and perhaps developing a future local law practice in one’s current community. Examples: University of Baltimore, Golden Gate University, and Florida Coastal School of Law. Don’t be surprised if every law school you explore describes itself as a “national” law school. Take law school marketing materials with a grain of salt.

What is law school really like? In a couple of sentences, law school is the study of disputes. What happens when things go wrong in complex relationships? How is the law structured to resolve problems? Where is new law needed? You should feel free to visit any law school of interest to you. Expect to see many, many students far younger than you, but look for those in your age bracket as well. Stop in to the admissions office. Introduce yourself. Pick up materials. Go on a tour. Talk to students. Get permission to sit in several classes. Say hello to law school professors (who may look remarkably young to you!). Seek to meet older students. Ask about their experience. Visit multiple law schools, so that you can begin to see the differences in law school style and culture.

What skills will I need to start law school? Love of reading, attention to detail, familiarity with the use of a laptop computer, persistence, patience, a desire to debate issues, an eagerness to speak in public, and a willingness to consider both sides of many arguments. You will journey both backwards in time to see historic cases in the law, and you will visit the very edge of contemporary legal issues, as the law grapples with new controversies and novel problems. You will begin to see the vast statutory and judge-made structure of the law. You will likely encounter exceptionally talented law school professors, but also those who will drive you crazy. Teaching talent in law school varies tremendously.

How do I apply? First, understand that you do not need a formal relationship with a law school to begin your learning about the law. You can—and should—engage in a great deal of reading and personal learning before you start the application process. Begin with the free resources of the Law School Admission Council, at www.lsac.org. But understand that LSAC represents first the interests of law schools. It offers no assistance, for example, on the issue of law school ranking. You need to go to US News & World Report at www.usnews.com to see its enormously influential law school ranking information. Explore the bibliography offered by LSAC at www.lsac.org/pdfs/2006-2007/ResourcesforthePrelawCandidateJuly06.pdf. You could spend years profitably reading from it before law school. My favorite suggested prelaw reading list for incoming law students is found at Regent University’s School of Law at www.regent.edu/acad/schlaw/admissions/booklist.cfm.

What about the LSAT? The Law School Admission Test is required by all ABA-approved law schools. It is a tough, demanding test of one’s reading comprehension and analytical abilities. For applicants who are mature adults, far from their college years, law schools will consider very carefully your LSAT result. It is heavily weighted in the admissions process. Law schools may deny it, but the LSAT in effect is the “IQ test” for law school. But the good news is that with thoughtful, effective and perhaps a long period of preparation using practice tests, the LSAT can be mastered. Do not take the real LSAT until you are repeatedly scoring in practice tests at least in the LSAT range associated with the students enrolling at your target law school. Both LSAC and US News offer this information.

What about non-ABA-approved law schools? Some states, like California, Massachusetts, and a number of southern states have law schools outside the system created by LSAC and the American Bar Association. They can offer a much lower barrier to entry, such as no required LSAT score in some cases, but legal employers may place less confidence in their graduates. These schools often enable their graduates to sit for the bar exam in only their own state, so factor that into your planning. But to their credit, they may offer innovations resisted by ABA-approved law schools, such as distance learning, curricular distinctives, and greater affordability. Some explicitly seek out mature students. They are worth exploring.Start with a light course load. Don’t be reluctant to seek out a part-time JD course of study. You’ll see older students in part-time, evening programs. Begin with a small number of courses, so that you can adjust to the expectations of law school professors, without suffering an overload. Don’t let law school unbalance your life. Seek to grow towards a worthy academic or professional goal in a way that allows you to enjoy your senior years. You don’t need to be wrapped up in a “paper chase”—the drive towards credentialing that motivates younger law students. Use the considerable advantages of your life experience. Your journey to a law degree begins with sound, informed planning.

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Brad Dobeck is an attorney and president of PrelawAdvisor.com.

How effective are law schools in attracting legal employers?

You may not be thinking of this now, as a law school applicant, but it is extremely important to think about how effective your desired law school is in attracting the law-related employers you will be interested in working for, after your second year of law school, and on into your future.

Use the excellent website of the National Association for Law Placement, www.nalpdirectory.com, a truly outstanding service to applicants and students, to see which employers are involved in your target law school’s on-campus recruiting program. Are there many employers? Are they from locations of interest to you? Are you seeing depth and breadth to the list of such employers? Are you seeing more than just law firms? Are the most respected law firms in the cities and states of interest to you recruiting at your target schools?

Which schools attract the most employers to on-campus interviewing? Consider this list, from current NALP data. In a sense, it represents a logical way to rank law schools:

Georgetown…..835 employers

Harvard…..775 employers

Virginia…..752 employers

Michigan…..665 employers

Duke…..653 employers

NYU…..652 employers

Columbia…..592 employers

Berkeley…..564 employers

Stanford…..559 employers

Penn…..530 employers

George Washington…..522 employers

Northwestern…..495 employers

Chicago…..491 employers

Yale…..450 employers

Texas…..432 employers

Vanderbilt…..430 employers

UCLA…..372 employers

Cornell…..360 employers

USC…..319 employers

Emory…..290 employers

Boston College…..284 employers

North Carolina…..281 employers

Boston U…..269 employers

Notre Dame…..242 employers

William & Mary…..208 employers

Washington & Lee…..202 employers

Wash. U. (St. Louis)…..178 employers

Illinois…..178 employers

U. of Iowa…..169 employers

Minnesota…..117 employers

U. of Washington…..94 employers

To discuss the impact of these factors on your planning for law school, send an e-mail to me at BradDobeck@aol.com. For more information about my work for law school applicants, please see my website PrelawAdvisor.com.

I've earned an official 170+ LSAT score. How do I best take advantage of it?

Congratulations! You've really got the "right stuff," in the minds of law school admissions decision makers. They are going to be extremely interested in you. But be aware that you need to protect your interests carefully. Given your high LSAT score, law schools will be eager to present you with opportunities that benefit their interests. You need an advocate and advisor who will help you make the most of such a high LSAT score, someone who will put your interests first.

Recognize these points:

1. Understand why the law schools are so strongly attracted to persons with high official LSAT scores. The US News & World Report ranking phenomenon creates enormous incentives for law schools to seek high-LSAT students. If they can attract them, their numbers go up, and in time they can move up in the rankings. The USN&WR ranking system is enormously influential. Love schools love to have bragging rights to enrolling students with high LSAT scores. The law school admission process is a competition for cognitive talent.

2. Don't rely on a high LSAT alone to carry you into an elite, top 10 or top 5 law school. You need to present the whole package, to the maximum extent possible: a great GPA, a strong undergraduate school (or at least a highly respected path through a lesser undergraduate school), a brilliant personal statement, the right timing, and strongly supportive recommendations from properly selected and prepared recommenders. Look to PrelawAdvisor.com to assist you in hitting this "sweet spot."

3. Include in your strategy a plan to win some law school admission offers that include a full-tuition scholarship. You might not end up taking it, but at least work carefully to create such an option. You can save yourself and your family thousands and thousands of dollars this way. But you have to craft your message just right. I can help you do this. I've actually seen a law school make this offer to get a highly attractive candidate: (1) A full-tuition scholarship for all three years; (2) free room and board; (3) free books; (4) a $1,000 month stipend; and (5) a no-cost LL.M degree (the advanced law degree one can choose to earn after earning a JD degree). The price for law school can be quite variable, for highly attractive candidates.

Maximize the potential of your high LSAT by working with PrelawAdvisor.com. To begin, send an e-mail to me at BradDobeck@aol.com.

I have a sub-140 LSAT score in practice. What should I do now?

The bad news: You certainly aren't ready for real LSAT. Do not apply to law school...yet. The law schools regard the LSAT as more or less the IQ test for law school. At a practice score of say, 138, you are at a point where over 90% of official LSAT results are above you. Law schools will have the gravest concerns about your abilities, if you give them this score officially.

The good news: The LSAT can be mastered. If you are below 140, you are currently extremely low on the LSAT learning curve. But you can move forward.

Let me share the most positive story of LSAT mastery I've come across over the years. Note that this path was inexpensive. It did not require high-priced LSAT tutoring or courses. But it did require a considerable amount of time, in a disciplined and effective program of self-development.

"It took me about half a year to prepare for the test since I was still in school and had other exams to cope with. What I did was really simple! I took a test under simulated conditions on Monday. On Tuesday, I went over the test again, problem by problem, and analyzed the answers and marked the questions I didn't really understand well, without any time restraint. On Wednesday, I took a break. Thursdays through Saturdays I repeated my Monday through Wednesday schedule. On Sunday, I restudied the difficult questions in the two sets I took in that week. The entire process took me 17 weeks. I took two weeks off to deal with school exams. In total it took me 19 weeks. At first glance, you may think I spent a great deal of time preparing for the LSAT. I took 34 practice tests! But counting the hours, it's not that much. I believe I spent an average of six hours on each test, including two review sessions. That adds up to around 200 hours in total. My score improved from 151 on the first test (a 49^th-percentile score that would definitely not be attractive to top law schools) to low/mid 170s on the last five tests. My actual test score was 177.” (This is a stunning 99.8^th-percentile score that will cause law school admissions officials to fall out of their chairs).

“My improvement from the low 150s to the low 160s was quick, about seven to eight tests. But it took me 15-20 tests to go from 160 to 170. Once I broke 170, I stayed in the low to mid 170s for the remaining seven to nine tests. It seems to me that about three weeks and six to eight tests are needed to consolidate a level. That's why I think it's important to take as many real tests as possible (at least 25, 30+ is preferred).”

“I graduated from a college in northeast and am going to law school in the same region next semester."

He was admitted to Harvard Law School with his 177.

If you are struggling with a low LSAT score in practice, you will benefit by having a comprehensive plan developed for you by me at PrelawAdvisor.com. Don’t act solely on your own assumptions about how the law school admissions process will work. Don’t trust the law schools to lift you to your goal. Law schools are better understood as simply creating an obstacle course for you to conquer and solve effectively. Send an e-mail to BradDobeck@aol.com, and we can go to work together, building a solid, multi-year plan for your career progress.

How do I transfer to a better, higher-tier law school?

The law school transfer application process works most effectively in the following scenario.

An applicant applies to a top law school, with a strong file, a strong GPA, but with a relatively low LSAT. Because of the top school's LSAT sensitivity, the applicant is rejected, but reluctantly.

The applicant is admitted to a lower-tier school. The applicant, now a 1L law student at the lower-tier school, works very effectively, earning top grades. At the end of year one, when the grades come out, this student is easily within the top 5% of her 1L class. Maybe she's even number one or number two in her 1L class. She has cultivated an excellent relationship with three professors--over the whole year--never once mentioning a transfer desire. Now, with top grades undeniably earned, she asks for their help as recommenders on a transfer application to the higher-tier law school. They reluctantly agree, not wanting to lose a top student, but certainly understanding her desire, and recognizing that their law school does benefit to some degree if a few of their top students can win a transfer to a higher-tier law school. These professors regard her as one of the best students they've ever had. They say so, in writing. She writes a brilliant personal statement, which has zero whining. She employs the principles advocated by PrelawAdvisor.com. She launches this carefully crafted application, early in the target school's transfer cycle (late spring, early summer).

Because the LSAT scores and college GPAs of transfer students are not publicly measured (like enrolling 1Ls are in the US News & World Report), these don't play any great role. A check back at her original application reveals that she previously had a deal-making application--except for her LSAT score. But her brilliant performance at the lower-tier school in her 1L year convinces them that she really has tier-one talent. She is admitted.

So, what you have to do is build a brilliant first year, and then "market" it to thoughtfully and realistically chosen target schools. At PrelawAdvisor.com, I'm ready to help you.

I have of course helped people with less than this dream scenario. Let me know about your situation, and I'll help you move forward, to the best of my ability.