Law Admissions Article - This Article Appeared in the Western Gazette

- David Van Staalduinen - September 28 2ooo6
This article is reprinted with the permission of the author who retains the copyright.

"If you’re considering applying to law school there are a number of considerations you may want to think about. Law school may not be right for everyone. According to Gerry Goodine, the career counselor for the Faculty of Social Science at Western, “many students come into their undergraduate with hopes of applying to law school. However, some may decide in their third or fourth year that law school is not for them”. If you should decide to follow this path most law schools require you to write the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) before being considered for admission.

The test is designed to measure acquired reading and verbal reasoning skills. Usually taking about 5-7 hours to complete, this test is not your average multiple-choice exam. You will need a lot of time to prepare. When Gerry Goodine was asked about the application process he said, “application to law school is more than LSAT scores and grades”, potential applicants will benefit from community involvement and extracurricular activities.

There are a number of resources available to help you get ready. For example, John Richardson is the author of Law School Bound, a comprehensive guide to getting into Canadian and American law schools, and has devoted significant amount of time to helping people with the application process. As a speaker at the pre-law forum 2006, which took place in the Western law building last Thursday, September 21th, John has organized many similar programs including prep courses for the LSAT. His advice to potential applicants is to “apply to lots of schools, the more the better. If you don’t apply, they can’t accept you”. When it comes to choosing a law school, each and every school in Canada is an excellent academic institution. However, when applying to American schools, always look to see if the school is approved by the American Bar Association (ABA). Some schools in Canada are now offering a joint degree in partnership with American law schools. Currently, the University of Ottawa, York University, and the University of Windsor offer such degrees. In fact, each Canadian school offers some uniquely focused programs. “Whatever your undergraduate interest is, you can continue [studying that interest] in law school.” Said Richardson. For instance, Western has joint law degrees with political science, history, engineering, and the coveted Richard Ivey School of Business MBA program. The University of British Columbia has an exciting environmentally focused law program. If you are interested in practicing law internationally, McGill has a joint common and civil law degree program. You can now take your interests and apply them to your career in law. Make sure to consider a broad range of programs that are specific to your interests when applying to any program.

For more information on applying to law school check out www.prelaw.ca."