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Three reasons why I would recommend this book to anyone interested in law school:

1.      Comprehensiveness - I’ve read lots of law school and law school application books so I wasn’t expecting to learn anything new when I picked this book up.  Yet I was pleasantly surprised that I did learn something (what text book supplements are and which ones to get, etc). Most books focus on one aspect of law school. This gave a broad yet detailed overview of the whole picture.

2.      Experience of the author – Many applicants attend law school directly from college, so naturally I assumed that this book would heavily sell me on going to law school. I also assumed it would offer tips for those who had been working for a few years. The author worked for over 10 years in the banking industry prior to attending law school and holds an MBA. He started out in the part-time program of Brooklyn Law while working full-time in investment banking, transferred to Harvard Law School after his 1L year as a full-time student.  Such transfers are not typical since many law schools require a certain amount of credits to be completed prior to transferring. Therefore he gave strong insight into the transfer process and the part-time law program.

Although the cause for the author’s career switch from investment banking was his interest in public interest law (as shown in copies of his recommendation letters, personal statement and summer internship at the UN), much of the author’s focus was on Big Law. Chapters 4 through 6 deal with summer associate positions in Big Law, working in those forms and choosing a law firm. Despite this focus, he also gives a rundown of non-big law firm jobs in Chapter 7 such as clerkships, government and public interest law jobs. He does list the advantages and disadvantages of all the types of jobs listed.

3.      Resource – The book is a great resource for those already in law school, since there are tips on writing for law journal competitions, studying for the Bar Exam, how to find a good study group, etc. The book also includes copies of his application, his winning journal entry, a paper he published in law school, and much more.

Law School Lowdown was written by Ian E. Scott, Esq. You can find LSAT, application, and law school advice on his website.

Jane Rosales is Ms. JD’s social media manager. She’s a full-time disability paralegal in a NYC legal services organization. 

Originally posted August 2013.