Law School Confidential (Revised Edition): A Complete Guide to the Law School Experience: By Students, for Students
by Robert H. Miller
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Book Summary Information
Author: Robert H. MillerEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2004-01-01
ISBN: 0312318812
Number of pages: 352
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Book Reviews of Law School Confidential (Revised Edition): A Complete Guide to the Law School Experience: By Students, for Students
Book Review: Useful but flawed
Summary: 4 Stars
I'm a senior in undergrad who has nearly completed the prelaw process. I read this book to get a further understanding of the law school environment and to pick up pointers about the process.
First let me say that this book is not despite its claims a comprehensive guide to the law school experience what it is; is an overview. It is very straightforward easy to read, and somewhat brief. It is broken up in to four parts 1. Prelaw: the LSAT, picking the right school, financial aid, evaluating whether the law school is the right path for you. 2. 1l concerns: Studying tips, summer 1l employment, and law review placement. 3. 2l concerns: primarily firm internships but also a brief overview of 'academic focuses' and law review duties 4. 3l concerns clerkships, the bar review, and going back into the job market as a 3l.
Section 1
This was the section I was most familiar with and while I found it to be the most complete source I've come across. I also have read more in depth about every topic it covered else where.
The two thing of note in this section were
1. The 'controversial' statements about placement and geography that I found to be rather timid. I would say don't go to law school anywhere outside of Yale, Harvard, and maybe Penn you couldn't imagine yourself living at least temporarily. Furthermore, unless you have strong connections elsewhere(I.E a father who's a partner) don't go to school anywhere outside the top fifty if you would never stay there permanently.
2. The financial aid info was blatantly wrong, stafford loans you either qualify for or don't, you don't need your parents info, and FAFSA doesn't begin reviewing applications until February so there's no reason to fill out the FAFSA in December except maybe to have it done before you go back to school. In the author's defense this was written a number of years ago and maybe the situation has changed since then.
Section 2
This section was the most boring and possibly most useful section of the book. It goes into great detail about study strategies and little else. As an aside a peculiar feature of this section was its emphasis on the 1l hiring process. The author insists that 1l employment is necessary but then they also talk about how they needed to send out fifty applications to get only a handful of acceptances some of which were for non-paying positions, all while taking on the rigors of being a 1l and this was someone who went to Penn mind you. Also, The section ends with a brief discussion of law review placement practices.
Section 3
This section talked primarily about firm internships, beginning with a look into the recruiting process, and culminating with a quick review of firm etiquette. The best part of this section was an interview in the middle of the section with the hiring partners at the author, Mr. Miller's firm. The interview was very insightful and thoroughly depressing. I had heard the interviewees views on the prestige of a school before but still hearing them from an actual hiring partner seemed to have an extra kick to it that was very unpleasant especially considering the firm was in a somewhat rural area; you'd think they'd at least give the local guys a shot :( .
Section 4
The most interesting part of this section was the discussion of clerkships. The book gives what is in my opinion very detailed, concise, overview of the clerkship process. One thing it didn't discuss was how future employers might view a clerkship; whether this is because they don't care or because they view it as universally positive I'm not sure. Finally, the books wraps up with an overview of the bar and bar review courses. The end section is something anyone looking to be an attorney will want to read but at the same time it kind of felt like the author was in overdrive in this part and simply trying to fulfill his duty to cover 'every' aspect of the law school experience.
Comments and critique
This book is useful if not also only a 'starters guide' it seeks to cover everything about law school very briefly. I would recommend it to anyone thinking about law school. My only two major points of critique are that:
1. It is very sometimes laughably so 'dated'. This isn't the authors fault really technology changes fast and they shouldn't be expected to keep up with every nuance. Still I couldn't help but laugh a bit when I read about the importance of having laser printing, IBM's versus MACs, getting your grades off of a phone system and my personal favorite how to become rich "become an investment banker".
2. The author quite frequently high-lights his point by using quotes from a panel of students. As a student who will be going to a tier 3 law school, I really wish the author would have included more students who didn't go to top law schools on this panel. Between him and his panel of twelve there only two students who didn't go to top 30 schools one of whom was a URM. Whether this was merely the result of a myopic perspective or a designed statement about the law profession I'm not entirely sure but needless to say I found the makeup of his panel to be unsatisfactory.
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Summary of Law School Confidential (Revised Edition): A Complete Guide to the Law School Experience: By Students, for Students
Law School Confidential is written for students about to embark on this three-year odyssey by students who have successfully survived. It demystifies the life-altering thrill ride that defines an American legal education by providing a comprehensive, blow-by-blow, chronological account of what to expect. It arms students with a thorough overview of the contemporary law school experience. This isn't the advice of graying professors or battle-scarred practitioners decades removed from law school. Miller has assembled a panel of recent graduates to act as "mentors", all of whom are perfectly positioned to shed light on what law school is like today. From taking the LSAT, to securing financial aid, to navigating the notorious first semester, to taking exams, to applying for summer internships, to getting on the law review, to tackling the bar and beyond...this book explains it all.
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