May 2008

Interview with Michael Santana of LawBoost.com

Michael took some time to answer our questions about whether newly-accepted law school students should take a prep course over the summer, and who may benefit from it.

Why take a law school prep course?

There are three important reasons for taking a quality law school prep course.

1.)  Law school is intense and demanding; it is very different from most students' previous college or university experiences. For many entering law students, the law school transition will be more difficult than they expect.

2.)  Many law school classes are graded only on a final; which means students are often in an all or nothing situation regarding grades. Students either do well on the final and receive a good grade, or they do not and nothing can be done to improve the grade for that class.

3.)  Although law school may last three years, the direction of many law students' careers is established in the first year, especially those who go on to work for a recognized law firm or a prestigious public agency.

For these three reasons, it is important to hit the ground running in law school.

What are entering law students like?

Most entering law students are excellent students; the cream of the crop of their undergraduate classes. This means the academic competition in law school is much better than your competition at your undergraduate institution.

In my opinion, only about 20% of undergraduate students are very motivated, while 80% are working at less than their full potential. In law school these numbers are the exact opposite; 80% are very motivated. This fact, along with the fact that all those wanting to go to law school from more than three thousand colleges and universities in the U.S. are funneled into just 200 law schools creates a very competitive environment.

How do professors grade in law school?

Law school grades are based on two factors:

1.)  Whether the content and quality of a student's answer is clear, concise, and precise.

2.)  How well a student's answer is written as compared to the student's classmates.

This second point is important because this means that if a student's answer is correct, but ten classmates' answers are written better, there is a good chance the student will not receive an "A" grade. So what may be "A" work in a student's undergraduate studies may not be "A" work in law school because the level of student is better, and law school professors are accustomed to and expect to see a higher level of work.

If a law student's 1L grades are not great, isn't there time for the student to improve them before graduation?

Yes, but that may not help if the student's goal is to get a prestigious internship at a well known public agency or private firm. These are the types of internships that hire only the best law students. For instance, these are internships for a supreme court or appellate court, a politician's office, a recognized law firm, or an important public agency such as the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Lets discuss grades from a different point of view. That view is that all law school grades are not created equal. This is something many entering law students may not know.

Law school consists of basically three years or 6 semesters. A fact that you will encounter in law school is that some law students after their second summer, and before entering their third and final year of law school, will have secured a full time job that awaits them upon their graduation.

This means that the third-year grades of these students are not considered by their future employers. So these students can get all "C"s in their third-year courses and as long as they graduate and pass the bar they will still have a job. Thus, fifth and sixth semester (third-year) law school grades for some students, often the top students, are not as important as the other four semesters' grades.

Concerning the other four semesters' grades, they are also not of equal importance to each other.

Of the grades from the first four semesters of law school, the first semester's grades can be the most important. The reason first semester grades can be so important is because often these are the only grades that first summer employers have to assess how a student is doing in law school.

The reason the first semester grades are often the only grades first summer employers use to make internship decisions is because the interviews and final decisions for internships are made in the spring before the second semester finals begin. First-summer internships can be important because students are more likely to get prestigious internships after their second-year in law school if they have been selected for prestigious internships for their first summer. Furthermore, the better your law school internships are, the greater likelihood you will land a prestigious job entering your third year of law school or upon graduation.

Important Fact: Many law students are competent enough to perform the responsibilities of a prestigious job such as a judicial clerkship, public agency internship, or a summer associate's position at a recognized firm, but competency will not get them interviews. Good grades are often the only thing that will allow a student to compete for a prestigious internship.

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