Resources
Job Market & Placement Information
From the Executive Director of NALP:
Truth or Dare: The New Employment Market by James G. Leipold (October 2012)
ABA Statistics ABA Legal Education Statistics from ABA-Approved Law Schools including Law School Graduate Employment Data
NALP –The Association for Legal Career Professionals – Research and Statistics
Pre-Law Advisor Listserv
Prof. Nim Batchelor, Elon University moderates the listserv. He states that the list is "a forum for the exchange of views, experiences, techniques, and professional information pertaining to the law schools admissions process, advising of pre-law students and the running of a pre-law program."
To subscribe send an e-mail message to ReddFishListserver@elon.edu and in the body of the text type: "subscribe prelaw-l" followed by your e-mail address. Please note: prelaw-l (this is the letter "l" not the number 1). You will then receive an email message asking you to approve your subscription.
Position Papers
Letter of Recommendation and Evaluation Service
PLANC Best Practices for Advising Applicants on Personal Statements
PLANC Comments to the ABA, November 2010
Report of PLANC Committee on Relationships with Commercial Vendors
Internet Resources
The NAPLA-SAPLA Book of Law School Lists
This is an extensive directory of law school academic programs, areas of emphasis without graduate degrees, joint degree programs, schools that award non-need-based scholarships, schools with evening divisions, study abroad programs, and much other useful information.
LexisNexis
Free resource that provides legal news, commentary, blogs, video, podcasts and an extensive collection of treatises to attorneys, law and pre-law students, law professors and litigants.
NALP Prelaw Portal
Information from their web site: NALP, the Association of Legal Career Professionals, is an organization made up of legal employers and law school career professionals. NALP — its staff, leaders, and members — collectively know a whole lot about the world of lawyer jobs. This portal was designed by NALP volunteers to help prelaw advisors and students in the US learn more about the legal employment market.
Read on:
What Do Lawyers Do?
How Can NALP Resources Help Me Make Good Choices?
What Questions Should I Ask?
What is the Timetable for Legal Recruitment?
The Boston College Law School Locator
The Boston College Law School Locator lists the 25th to 75th percentile LSAT scores and GPA ranges of first year classes at accredited law schools. This means that half of a law school's entering class scored in the range indicated. The Locator can help you identify schools where your scores and grades are most competitive for admission and help you gauge your chance of admission at a particular school. The chart is useful in evaluating law school choices but cannot determine where you should or should not apply. The law schools are placed in cells on the chart according to their 25th percentile scores.
The Boston College Law School Range Finder (pdf)
The Range Finder offers a spread sheet of the 25th to 75th percentile range of the LSAT scores and the GPAs for acceped applicants to ABA accredited law schools.
The Part Time Law Program Locator
This Locator can help you find part time programs in your state matching your LSAT Scores and GPA.
NAPLA Law School Locator (pdf)
A matrix of the median GPA and LSAT Scores for accepted applicants to ABA accredited law schools.
Discover Law
Information from their website: The Law School Admission Council (LSAC) is dedicated to the idea that the legal profession must reflect the expanding diversity of our society. That's why LSAC developed the DiscoverLaw.org campaign—to encourage racially and ethnically diverse students to discover career opportunities in law and choose a path in undergraduate school to help them succeed.
With access to experts, inspiring stories about law school graduates, a list of the most frequently asked questions, and more, DiscoverLaw.org provides students with resources, tips, and tools on how to become a competitive law school applicant.
DiscoverLaw.org is being promoted to undergraduate students from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds nationwide through online and print advertising. Campuses across the country are encouraged to take advantage of the campaign's many resources and materials.
FinAid sponsored by the National Association of Student Financial Administrators
This site will help you find loans, scholarships, military aid, financial aid and applications. It also provides you with a free scholarship search.
Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity, International
P.A.D.'s Pre-Law Program resulted from extensive P.A.D. Sponsored research and surveys which demonstrated that no national organization was effectively addressing the needs of pre-law students. When the results of P.A.D.'s research was presented to law students, attorneys, and judges on the floor of the 1980 P.A.D. International Convention in Hot Springs, Arkansas, it was decided that Phi Alpha Delta would accept the challenge to better equip pre-law students for the rigors of law school and the legal profession. The fundamental objective of P.A.D.'s Pre-Law Program is to assist undergraduate students to make an "informed choice" in selecting law as a career, deciding which law school to attend, and in preparing for the rigors of law school. Phi Alpha Delta remains the only Law Fraternity and the only national legal organization of any kind with a national Pre-Law Program committed to meeting the needs of undergraduate students interested in the law.
Prelaw student services
This is a categorized index of more than 4000 select web sites in 238 nations, islands, and territories, as well as more than 850 locally stored web pages and downloadable files, this site was established to serve as a comprehensive resource of the information available on the Internet concerning law and the legal profession, with an emphasis on the United States of America. Designed for everyone, lay persons and legal scholars alike, it is quality controlled to include only the most substantive legal resources online. The selection criteria are predicated on two principles: the extent to which the resource is unique, as well as the relative value of the information it provides.
General pre-law information
This source provides you with information regarding what to do before beginning to study in law school. The Legal Learning Study Skills Workshop, is devoted to helping you achieve your goals in law school from Carolyn Nygren, author of the Starting off Right in Law School series of books.
PreLaw magazine
PreLaw Magazine is a National Jurist publication. Information from their website: "The National Jurist and PreLaw magazine are the leading news sources in their markets. National Jurist reaches an estimated 100,000 law students. PreLaw is read by more than 45,000 prospective law students."
The National Law Journal
Law.com is a single, comprehensive destination for legal information and e-law services on the Web.
Law School Deans' letter about why the law school rankings are not valid
Directory of Law School Public Interest & Pro Bono Programs
Equal Justice Works
The goal of Equal Justice Works is to provide law school applicants with an easy-to-use tool, free of charge, that will broaden their knowledge of schools' commitment to public service and help them make more informed choices about which law schools are the best fit for them. Given the level of interest in public service within the advisee population, you may find this Guide to be a valuable research tool to include among those you recommend to all those considering law.
LSAC Bibliography (pdf)
The Law School Admissions Council (LSAC) offers a bibliography of publications, updated yearly, for the pre-law candidate.
Law School Debt and Its Impact on Lawyer Career Pathways (pdf) NALP, 2008.
Higher Education and the Handicapped (HEATH),
HEATH is a national resource center for persons with disabilities.
National Association of Law Students with Disabilities