3 Tips To Making The Most Of Your Final Year In Law School

President Obama recently suggested that law schools get rid of the third year most now require, suggesting that the final year is mainly useless and a waste of time and money. Since most students fulfill all of their mandatory courses within the first 2 years, what exactly is the point of the third year anyway?

Well, while an interesting conversation to have, for those you now about to embark on this final year, this question is largely academic.

As you enter the your final year of law school, here are the things you will want to focus on:

Prepare to get a good job, if you don’t already have one: If you have not secured a job through OCI by this time, you may be panicking a bit, as the job market is undeniably tough right now and it may be difficult to find a full time job between now and your graduation. That said, there are things you can do to improve your chances. If you can find part time legal work through internships and clinics, this is a good place to start. If you make a good impression at your clinic during the year, you may be able to turn this opportunity into a job after law school. And even if you intern at a place where this is not possible, you can use the internship to network with attorneys on a weekly basis. This is another great way to make connections that will ultimately get you full time employment.

Don’t ignore your GPA: While the conventional wisdom is that your 3rd year grades don’t matter and your class rank is already wherever it will end up, this is misleading. A serious drop in your GPA will impact your overall law school grades, affecting future employment opportunities. Even if you already have secured a good job through OCI, don’t forget some law firms now will actually withdraw their offers to students whose grades or class rank decline significantly.

Make informed decisions about your bar exam preparation: Unlike a normal law school final, the bar exam is a comprehensive exam which tests skills in addition to your general legal knowledge. Studies have shown that those students that are in the middle and bottom sections of their law school class in GPA order fail at a much higher rate than their counterparts at the top of the class. And the same goes for LLM students. So if you fall into one of these categories, you need to take the time to make sure you are getting the right bar preparation for your needs. A smart move is to try out the free materials, like MPRE courses, that many bar courses provide, to see which company’s approach is best for you. Another smart idea is to consider adding a good Supplemental MBE program to you regular bar review course. The MBE is generally considered the trickiest part of the bar exam and worth up to 50% of your overall score.

Bonus tip: If you haven’t passed the MPRE yet, now is the time to do so. Get this exam out of the way, so you don’t have to take it next August after your bar exam – when most students are looking to go on vacation.

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Hope you have a great start your final year of law school!

 

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