October 2009

Interview with Author Ursula Furi-Perry (cont'd)

Q: What factors are important to consider when choosing a law school?

A: In my book, I pinpoint the following factors as the most important to consider when choosing a law school:

The school's reputation with legal employers and the general legal community. A law degree will do you no good if you can't find a job after graduation; so before you pick a school, consider the school's reputation among lawyers, law firms, and other legal employers.

Alumni employment rates, bar pass rates, and career satisfaction. How well the school's graduates do and how happy they report to be in their careers can be good indicators for what may await you if you graduate from the school. You can find some employment data through the National Association for Legal Professionals, to which many law schools report their statistics.

Rankings. Several sources rate U.S. law schools annually: the U.S. News & World Report's Top 100 Law Schools and Ultimate Guide to Law Schools, the ABA-LSAC Official Guide to ABA-Approved Law Schools, and Peterson's Best 170 Law Schools, just to name a few. Focusing solely on the rankings may mean that you fail to consider other factors and end up at the school that may be the right ranking, but the wrong fit. Still, to some extent, a law school's ranking, reputation, and job placement rates are all connected.

Location. Even if you think you couldn't care less about where you spend the next three years as a law student, you should give your law school's location some serious thought.

Faculty accessibility. Many law schools have a great reputation and are ranked high on the lists, yet their faculty may not be as accessible to students as faculty at other schools—simply because the faculty may be pulled in many different directions.

Cost. Most people can't afford to pay the (often six-figure) price tag for law school in cash. So, at some point, you have to consider what law school will cost you, how you plan to finance your legal education, and how and when you can expect to see a return on your investment.

Admission requirements. You may have your sights set on a particular school, but if you can't get in, you won't go there.

Q: Is there anything I can do academically to prepare for law school?

A: I recommend that you learn how to properly read and brief a case (I devote a large part of an entire chapter to this skill in my book) as well as put together a law school course outline (likewise.) Along with three other law professor and law dean colleagues, I just finished a comprehensive yet concise book called 1L BootCamp, which provides a unique set of study materials for first-year law students. You can also consult our blogs at http://1lbootcamp.blogspot.com and http://barexambootcamp.blogspot.com for tips and advice on academic success in law school and on the bar exam.

Q: What was the best part of your law school experience?

A: Law school for me was an extremely rewarding experience. Though law school often gets a bad reputation as a stressful, competitive experience where you'll barely survive, you can thrive and succeed as a law student. Be sure you approach law school for the right reason: because you've done your research and determined that the law degree is the right path for you, not because you're lured by money or someone else is pushing you to go to law school. Also be sure to make the most of your law school experience: participate in activities, explore clinical and practical programs, consider internships and externships, look into academic concentrations, and check out opportunities for international legal study. Law schools today offer an incredible variety of exciting programs. Make your legal education your own!

Author's bio:

Ursula Furi-Perry, Esq. is the author of more than 300 published articles and six books on legal topics, including Law School Revealed (Jist Publishing, 2009) and Your First Year as a Lawyer Revealed (Jist Publishing, forthcoming in 2010.) She is the Director of Academic Support and an adjunct legal writing professor at the Massachusetts School of Law at Andover. She can be reached at www.furiperry.com.

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