How To Get Off The Wait-List At Your Dream School

Anyone who has applied to law school and has gone through the process understands that you can and should apply to a wide range of schools.  The most common advice is to apply to some 'safe' schools, schools you know you have a strong chance of being admitted, you apply to some schools where you are right at their median for LSAT and GPA and then you apply for your 'reach' schools, schools where it is not likely you'll be accepted but you'd love the opportunity to become a student at that law school.  Once you have decided to apply, there are a couple things you can do to increase your chances of being pulled off the wait-list (WL) and being admitted for the fall.

1.  Make sure the school knows how interested you are in attending.  

Because law schools are getting applications from so many students (even with applications down nationally), it's difficult to figure out who really wants to come to your school and those that applied simply because they received a fee waiver.  Therefore, contact the school and find out if you can submit something like a "Statement of Continued Interest".  It's basically a statement that tells the law school you are really interested in attending and WHY you would be a good fit for their school.  You should also have a discussion with the law school representative on how often you should call and follow up with your application.  Some schools may say that you should call and check in once a month, or maybe once every two weeks.  You want to walk the fine line of being persistent and interested versus obnoxious.  I actually keep a list of those students who are interested in getting off the WL and I keep a log with their most recent contact.  That way, when I know I have a couple spots to fill, I can pick up the phone and reach the people that are really interested in attending.

2.  Follow through.  

If you tell a school that they are your #1 choice and you are offered a chance to be admitted off the WL, be prepared to immediately commit usually through the placement of a commitment deposit.  This means that if you haven't visited the school, then you should do so early in the admission cycle.  That way, if you are admitted, you know already that you like the location, the facilities and want to practice in that region.  Keep in mind too that law schools only have so many spots to fill.  They don't want to admit someone that will take up a spot if they truly aren't interested in matriculating and starting that fall.  The question of merit scholarship usually comes up when a student is admitted off the WL.  It certainly doesn't hurt to ask but be aware that when schools are admitting off the WL, they generally are doing so later in the cycle and scholarship funds are limited.  Remember to ask in a 'nice' way and that for some schools, you might have been lucky just to get off the WL, much less to receive a merit scholarship.

3. Be patient.

Law schools tend to vary on how they manage their WL's.  Some may WL a lot of students, some may WL very few.  If you apply to a reach school, you may not hear back from the school until very late in the summer.  Much of that depends on when the law school has its commitment deposit deadline.  If a law school has a deadline of April 1, then they may move on their WL by April 15.  If they have a deadline on July 1, then you may not get a call until 3-4 weeks before the fall semester starts.  Finally, schools may not hit their WL until much later in the summer when the other schools in their region have gone to their WL.  As students get admitted to a particular school, it then may open up spots for another school.  This process can take time so you need to be flexible, be realistic and keep in contact with your dream school if you want to maximize your opportunity to be admitted.

Whittier Law School Grads Achieve Second-Highest Bar Passage Rate in Almost 20 Years

Nearly 77% of first-time test takers pass February 2014 Bar Exam

The results of the February 2014 State Bar of California were released. Whittier Law School, the most diverse law school in California, recorded the second highest passage rate in nearly 20 years of the school’s history.

Taking the February 2014 General Bar Exam for the first time, 76.47% of Whittier Law School graduates passed. The overall passage rate for first-time takers of the February 2014 exam is 69% for California ABA-accredited schools, which Whittier Law School bested by more than seven points.

The California State Bar Exam is administered twice a year, and is generally regarded as among the toughest bar exams in the country.

“Our students worked exceptionally hard and we’re very proud of their success,” said Tina Schindler, Director of Bar Preparation. “In fact, those students who fully participated in the Whittier Law Bar Prep program passed at a rate of 85%, so I feel very good about the program we offer to our students.”

https://www.law.whittier.edu/index/news/article/whittier-law-school-records-second-highest-bar-passage-rate-in-almost-20-ye

Social Media: Think Before You Blog by Kristen Marquis

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  Having a social media presence is important nowadays, and blogging in particular opens a variety of doors for lawyers. A firm blog can bring in new clients, enhance the potential for speaking engagements and writing opportunities, and increase name recognition.

  Not only do Google and the other major search engines look for fresh content (i.e., your most recent blog post) when determining page placement for search results, but blogging about key topics in a practice area can help establish a lawyer as a thought leader in his or her field. And if one can narrow down that field to a niche, so much the better.

  Many law firms are beginning to see the value in achieving search engine optimization (SEO) by consistently updating the law blog on their websites. Including an appropriate number of keywords and information relevant to their practice areas in blog posts drives new traffic to those sites. For example, when a prospective client googles “how to register my trademark,” the firm’s attorneys hope that their blog post will appear on the first page of the search, the reader will click on the link, and will call the attorneys to request their assistance. Voila: The law firm lands a new client.

  As more law blogs pop up around the Web, it is important to be aware of the two major issues that every lawyer must consider when blogging, or when farming out blogging: ethics and plagiarism.

  Ethics

  Most California attorneys might have guessed by now that they can’t get away with posting information willy-nilly on the Web without the State Bar having a say in the matter. Though nothing has been formalized in terms of the Rules of Professional Conduct, the State Bar recently issued a formal ethics opinion that provides direction on when the ethics rules apply to a lawyer’s use of the Internet for business development, particularly when the message is “concerning the availability of professional employment” and is considered a communication for the purposes of advertising. (See Cal. St. Bar. Stndg. Comm. on Prof’l Resp. and Conduct, Formal Opn. No. 2012-186.)

  In California, if an attorney posts information online, it must be educational, useful, and accurate. Though this is a seemingly subjective standard, considering the actions of other state bars, it may be best to err on the side of caution.

  Take Florida, for example. The state is already notoriously strict with its attorneys regarding advertising and solicitation, and recent amendments to attorney advertising rules now subject Florida law firm websites to all advertising restrictions. Therefore, if a Florida law firm’s website expresses statements of “public concern,” as almost any law firm website with a legal blog does, such statements must be “objectively verifiable.” In other words, an attorney’s expression of a breaking legal issue or interpretation of a recent case result must be objectively verifiable by the state bar!

  Not surprisingly, after the amendment, the Florida State Bar’s Standing Committee on Advertising ruled that one law firm’s website violated state ethics rules because of statements such as these:

  - “[T]here may have been a time when we could trust big corporations … but those times are over.”

  - “Government regulation of … consumer safety has been lackadaisical at best.”

  - “[W]hen it comes to ‘tort reform’ there is a single winner: the insurance industry.”

  The firm and its name partners sued, claiming a First Amendment violation. (Searcy v. The Florida Bar, No. 13-CV-00664 (N.D. Fla. filed Dec. 11, 2013).) Also at issue were run-of-the-mill statements about the firm’s services and past cases, which were said to be “inherently misleading” because the statements did not include all “pertinent” facts. The case is still pending.

  Though California is not affected by Florida rules, and we are still waiting for our State Bar to take a definitive stand on law firm websites and blogging, it is safe to say that a lawyer (or the third-party legal marketing firm hired to blog on the lawyer’s behalf) should proceed with caution. The State Bar will probably not look fondly upon blogging about your law firm’s successes; suggesting that the reader callyou if a particular legal issue or need arises; implying that your firm’s victory in one case will lead to the same result in the reader’s case; or any other statement that implies pecuniary gain on your end.

  Duplicate Content and Plagiarism

  According to Google, 25 to 30 percent of content on the Web is what Google refers to as “duplicate.” This means that content online is often reused or regenerated. As long as the author grants permission and is credited appropriately, this is not plagiarism per se, and reusing another author’s content can actually be a savvy marketing move that sparks a professional synergy between the blogger and the original writer.

  But what happens when permission is not given? Plagiarism is an increasingly pertinent concern, as many legal- 
  marketing companies approach lawyers —who may or may not be Web-savvy—with empty promises and false pretenses. As discussed above, though ideally a comprehensive Web-marketing campaign includes a consistently updated legal blog, that’s just the beginning. If a lawyer, or a legal-marketing firm, lifts previously existing Web content and places it in the firm’s blog, you are not gaining the business development advantages that you are seeking (and paying for). In fact, it’s probably hurting your search engine rankings.

  Google strives to offer only one version of a piece of content in its results, rather than several similar versions of the same content. And except in rare circumstances, Google will try to rank the site that originally published the content, rather than sites that reuse the content. This often takes sites with duplicate content out of the equation and can even damage the search-result rankings of your blog’s good, original content. Also, by using any of the very effective online plagiarism/copyright checkers, website owners can and do regularly scan the Web for their content to ensure that they are reaping the benefits of their work. If an author finds that your website is reusing his or her content, or the content is “appreciably similar,” he or she can report it to Google and file a request to remove it under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

  Google documents each notice of alleged infringement, and sends a copy of each notice it receives “to a third-party which may publish and/or annotate it.” Thus, at the end of the first page of search results a notice will appear on the Web that someone is on the wrong end of a copyright dispute. The result? Penalization from Google (removal from search-engine rankings) and a potential legal battle under DMCA and other relevant copyright laws.

  On a related note, the unauthorized use of copyrighted images on a law firm’s website or blog can also lead to legal liability. Although many marketers or attorneys may think it’s harmless to lift an image or photo from Google Images or a website, the owners of those images generally do not agree. For example, Getty Images is notorious for scanning the Web for unauthorized uses of its images. And although the company recently released thousands of images for free embedding, unauthorized use of Getty’s images that are not free will spur the company to send a notice of copyright violation to the website owner and charge a fine. Fighting the claim is challenging, as Getty includes a screenshot of the unauthorized use in the letter. Blaming the marketing company will not work either, as you, the registered owner of the website, are responsible for its content.

  The Moral

  Legal blogging is no different from driving a car: As long as one plays by the rules, there’s probably little risk of getting pulled over for speeding—or snagged by the State Bar for being shady. In today’s digital world, an activeonline presence is necessary to stay competitive, relevant, and in the game. But every lawyer should be sure to protect his or her online reputation with an ethically sound blog that is also above legal reproach.

  Attorney Kristen Marquis’s Los Angeles–based company, WebPresence, assists lawyers in building their brand online.

   

   

The Admissions Process and How to Prepare for Law School

THE ADMISSIONS PROCESS AND HOW TO PREPARE FOR LAW SCHOOL

 

There are all sorts of websites and books and blogs and other materials out there about this but I'd like to give you just a brief rundown of what you need to do to get into law school.  Another really good research tool is through LSAC:  http://www.lsac.org/jd/applying-to-law-school/overview

 

 

1. Go to college
   1. Make sure it properly accredited.
   2. Get serious about school right from the get go.  Don’t be the one that has to write an addendum about how you partied too much your first year or two of undergrad.
2. Get your degree
   1. Choose your major based on what you’re interested in, not what you think the admissions committee wants you to major in.
   2. Focus on writing and logic classes.  They will help you write better and think more logically which will help you when you get to law school.
3. Register for the LSAT
   1. www.lsac.org
   2. Offered 4 times a year.
4. Prepare for the LSAT
   1. Begin by taking a free practice exam at lsat.org under timed conditions.
   2. Then decide if you want to
      1. Take a course
      2. Self-study
      3. Logical Games Bible
5. Ask two professors to write you a letter of recommendation
   1. Do this early.  The good professors get asked to write lots of LORS
      1. Provide them with a writing sample and your resume
      2. Fill out the forms for them.
6. Draft a personal statement
   1. Start early.  It’s agonizing.
   2. Have lots of people read it and critique it.
   3. Customize it for each school you apply to…one size does not fit all.
7. Apply to Law Schools
   1. Attend some law school fairs.  LSAC has regional fairs with 150+ law schools in attendance at each event.
   2. Create a calendar with all the due dates.
   3. Create a professional email address for this process and beyond.  Get rid of the socalfreshprince@yahoo.com.  Use your name john.smith@gmail.com.
   4. Visit law schools that you’re interested in applying to early.
8. Use verified information when you do your searches on law schools.  Lsac.org, USNWR, Law School Websites
9. Find a mentor and begin shadowing other attorneys to see what they do.
10. Get admitted and pay your commitment deposit
    1. Remember the deadlines.
    2. Try to commit and pay only one deposit for one school.  When you pay multiple deposits, you prevent schools from finding spots for others on a waitlist.
11. Fill out the FASFA
    1. You’ll want to complete your taxes.
    2. Update your information if needed.
    3. Get your credit report and clear up any issues at least 90 days prior to applying for loans.
    4. “If you live like a lawyer in law school, you’ll live like a law student when you become a lawyer.”
12. Prepare your personal life
    1. Tell your friends, family, loved ones that you are starting law school in the fall.  It’s never too early to start networking for internships, paid positions, clerkships and post graduate employment.  100 x J.D.  Start collecting business cards from lawyers and asking for referrals to other lawyers.
    2. It’s rigorous, time consuming, and you won’t have a lot of extra time to deal with distractions.
13. Give law school 100% but include some balance
    1. Exercise, church, friends, movies, travel…you can do it but you have to treat law school like a full time job.  3 hours of homework for every hour of class.  60 hours a week minimum.
14. Enjoy the moment
    1. It goes by so fast.
    2. Get involved in networking, volunteer groups, things you’re passionate about.

How Millionaires Manage Their Time by Jaimie Tardy

Let’s face it. One of the most difficult areas of most people’s lives is time management. We all want enough time for our work, our family, and ourselves. So how do the most successful people manage their time?

Photo courtesy of ©ShutterStock.com/merzzie

I’ve been lucky enough to interview over 130 millionaires. They know the value of their time, and use it to the best of their ability. I’ve curated the top tips on their time management to help you have more time to work, and more time to play and be with your family.

So how do you stay productive when faced with a seemingly endless to-do list? Here are four awesome tips for greater productivity, straight from the millionaires themselves. At the end of each one, I provide an action item.

1. Get everything out of your head. David Allen, author of Getting Things Done, shared this tip with me in an interview:
   

   What are all the things you need to pay attention to? Getting all that out of your head, it’s really game-changing when you do that. It doesn’t solve your problems, but it makes them evident. It makes it a lot easier then to make good intuitive choices about where you ought to be putting your focus, and where’s it okay that you don’t put your focus today.

   As I say, you need to know what you’re not doing before you feel comfortable about what you’re not doing. Getting a map of all the things you’re not doing, what are all the projects right now that you’re not doing if you’re listening or watching this? You better know what that is, or you won’t be present with anything that you’re doing.

   Nothing is holding your attention hostage, and you’re able to give your full attention to whatever that is, whether that’s playing with the dog or writing a business plan. That’s really where you want to be, and that’s a critical component.”

   Action Item: Stop what you are doing right now (or put a time in your calendar right now) to write down everything you have in your head. Both personal and professional. Write it in your to-do list or on post-it notes—it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that you write all of it down and then take the time to put it into your to do system.

2. Actively procrastinate. Rob Rawson, CEO of TimeManagement.com andStaff.com, shared this tip in his interview with me:
   

   I have a list of over two hundred tasks right now, all of those things could be good to do, but I can’t do all of them. I identify what are important tasks, but either way they are sitting there. A lot of them I will never do. That procrastination is so powerful. Then every week or every other week review that list, and ask, ‘Is that still necessary?’”

   Action Item: Don’t feel like you need to do everything on your list. Some items will sit on your lists for a while. That’s okay. They might not have the same urgency later.

3. Have a purpose and plan for your day. JV Crum III, CEO & Founder ofConscious Millionaires Institute, shared this tip with me.
   

   One of the most crucial parts of being productive in your work is to have a purpose for your day. Getting up in the morning and working without any goal or purpose can be a major downfall in accomplishing your goals. A person can start off the day getting ready to accomplish tasks, but without a clear purpose, you will more than likely not be as productive as you could be.”

   Rob Rawson, said something similar:

   I only use priorities for my today tasks. I don’t add email or any random task on my list. I do that in order to make sure I’m only doing the more crucial tasks. Right now I work on my highest priority first thing in the morning. I identify what will move me forward from the long term goals. I put that item top on my list.”

   Action Item: Either the night before, or the morning of, decide what your top tasks are, and stick to doing those first thing—before you get derailed by email or any other trivial task.

4. Practice the Friday 15. This is a system that was introduced to me by my millionaire friend, Hugh Culver. It is a great way reset your week, even though you want to be relaxing or going home early. It sets you up for the next week, so you can be more productive.
   

   [In this exercise] you only have fifteen minutes. The first thing I do is look at my plan for the week. [When I do] I see this disaster that started out so beautifully organized. I got a lot of stuff done but a lot of times my list is longer than when I started.

   So I looked at that and decided what it is that I can just finish in a couple of minutes. Because sometimes I just need to return a phone call, pay a bill, or change something on my blog. I get it done!

   The second thing I look at is what I want to move to next week or I want to either delegate to the people that I outsource to or that I want to get rid of. So I delegate it or dump it.

   Then the third thing is to create a new plan for next week. One of the mistakes we often make when we create a plan or a list is we put everything in there that we hope to do. But our expectations are too high. What I encourage people to do is keep it down to about a dozen things that are really critical for next week and that’s what I call your flight plan. So, just like a pilot taking of, I now know where I need to land. So by Friday those need to be completed.

   The last thing that I do is I clean up my area. I put stuff away. I get rid of clutter. I get rid of the Post-It notes, those three felt pens, two pens, and a pencil, because when I come in, I want to feel successful. And I never feel successful if I’m surrounded by clutter. Because clutter is not only a distraction—I look at it, and I think about it!—clutter reminds me I have not completed something.

   So when I come in on Monday, I feel successful, I’ve got my flight plan and I’m ready to go. So that’s why I call it your ‘Friday 15.’”

   Action Item: Action Item: This week, implement the Friday 15 and finish your week on a productive note.

You may not have the time to do all of these (since if you are reading this you are time starved!) But commit to one or two of these tips. I use them in my own life and have found my productivity increases when I manage my time, keep a clean environment, and live out my workweek with purpose.

When I feel in control of my time, instead of my time controlling me, I make better decisions and am more able to enjoy my life.

All the millionaires I have interviewed have one thing in common: they take responsibility for their time. As the ancient philosopher Lao Tzu said,“Time is a created thing. To say, ‘I don’t have time,’ is like saying, ‘I don’t want to.’”

Tips from the Bench by Judge Michael J. Seng

Tips from the Bench

Judge Michael J. Seng, United States Magistrate Judge, Eastern District of California

Interviewed by Ashley Emerzian

1. What is the biggest mistake you often see new lawyers make? 

You know, this may sound patronizing, but I cannot remember a new lawyer doing anything I thought was a "mistake" in the sense of an error or a blunder. Rather what I observe from the bench are people struggling to find their own way to do things correctly, persuasively and with decorum. That is a process everyone has to go through at one's own pace. I doubt any reasonable judge would be critical of anyone trying in good faith to work through that process even if he or she flounders a bit -- as we all did and some of us continue to do. 


2. What advice do you have for new lawyers struggling to find a rewarding career path? 

Experiment. Try different positions and different employers. And always reach beyond your comfort zone. In today’s market it is quite common, and apparently quite acceptable, for attorneys, young and old, to switch firms relatively frequently. But even within in a single firm, one can be available to partners and even clients for work outside a primary focus area. Moreover, we as a profession have a duty to give back; one might do volunteer work in a novel area. (But, please always remember that even volunteer legal work must be performed at an experienced attorney's level of competence!) 

3. What are some tips new lawyers should keep in mind if they are considering hanging up their own shingle? 

Oh my, where to begin? Here are five: 

Make sure you have access to experienced practitioners who can help you as you encounter those unavoidable, terribly difficult, legal, ethical, and, especially, client problems you certainly will get. 

Avoid the "salivation" factor, i.e., taking on more, or more complex, matters than you reasonably can be expected to handle competently just because the potential financial rewards seem to great to pass up. 

Closely related to the proceeding: Focus first on being an honest, conscientious, ethical and competent attorney. If you succeed in those areas, the financial rewards will come. To my observation, those who focus first and foremost on getting rich are much more likely to encounter legal, disciplinary and malpractice problems. 

Even successful practices take considerable time to generate a revenue stream. Make sure you have sufficient resources to support yourself, your family if you have one, and your practice for whatever time it reasonably will take you to bring in enough to cover those expenses. 

Address and resolve fee issues up front and ensure your clients timely keep their commitments to you. An ignored client dispute, especially a fee dispute, only gets worse. 

4. How has the legal profession changed over the course of your career? 

Much more contentious, at least in the litigation arena! 


5. How will these changes affect the next generation of lawyers? 

Hopefully, they will turn the tide back to more civil and professional practices. The alternative can make the practice very stressful, costly, unproductive and ugly for all involved. 


6. What can a new lawyer do to gain federal court experience? 

Volunteer! In Fresno alone we have over a thousand pro se (pro per) civil rights cases pending at all times. The plaintiff, the defendants and the Court would benefit from having a young attorney represent, or even just advise, the plaintiff up to and/or through trial. (If interested, contact Sujean Park at Sujean Park/CAED/09/USCOURTS.) 

7. What should a lawyer do if opposing counsel is misleading the Court? 

He or she is duty-bound to advise the Court, but should do so in a wholly objective manner: Give the Court the true facts or correct law and point out why the opposition is incorrect. Do not editorialize. Do not characterize your opponent's practice, intent, motives, character, etc. Avoid adjectives and adverbs! Provide the facts. The Court will know if someone else has been dishonest or disingenuous. 


8. Do you have any advice for new lawyers hoping to become a judge one day? 

Be honest, ethical, competent, hardworking and professional at all times. Participate in Court, bar association and community activities so that those in a position to support you know of your attributes. 


9. What strategy do you suggest for balancing personal and professional obligations? 

Tough question, especially for one who was never very good at it. I think one has to simply draw in advance, and religiously adhere to, very strict limits on what is acceptable. For example, my partner Gary Kerkorian, put in as many hours as anyone, but he made certain he was home for dinner with his family each and every night (and then he would come back to the office and work all night!)

10. Please share a memorable moment from your career and what new lawyers can learn from it. In most every case, and I suspect in most every tough transaction negotiation, there comes at least one point (often more) in which the lawyer becomes convinced he or she has just hit the grand slam home run out of the park so that all that remains is to reap the rewards of ones brilliance, only to come back the next day and experience a devastating, seemingly case-destroying, set-back. The moral: Take it all in stride. The practice of law can be like a roller coaster with magnificent highs and terrible lows. If you hold on, it can give you one hell of a great ride! 

Bruce Kasanoff

storyteller

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The Incredible Power of Not Taking Credit

Nothing limits your ability to achieve great things more than your desire to take credit for what you have achieved. This paradox is at the center of most problems that companies face.

It boggles my mind, for example, when some leaders take credit for the success of their organization. I think: you are already CEO, you already make $20 million, so why can't you empower the people who work for you instead of further inflating your own ego?

At many firms, employees spend more time worrying about who-is-going-to-get-the-credit than they do about the actual results. This is because compensation and promotion revolves around getting the credit, and also because if you don't get enough credit, then you might actually get fired.

But the fact is that you can accomplish much more, if you don't worry about taking the credit.

Skilled consultants know this; they gently nudge clients in one direction or another, making dozens - if not hundreds - of course corrections. When a job is well managed, clients think all the best ideas were theirs.

A few years back, I engaged in an extended experiment on this front. I have to keep the details fuzzy - because the participants were not aware of my strategy - but over the course of six months my goal was to maximize the impact of my actions while minimizing the perception of my role. In other words, I got a lot of stuff done without anyone realizing my orchestrations.

What amazed me was how easy it was to effect change once my goal was to NOT get credit for the resulting changes. Nudging someone in a certain direction is easy if your only objective is to nudge them slightly. You can share facts, ask innocent questions, and simply react most enthusiastically to the statements they make that support the change you favor.

Here's the cold, hard reality: the tough part about changing the world is getting credit. Just bringing about change is not that hard.

Here are a few places to start:

Set fires under people. Get them excited about their job, a new project, or simply a plan for the future. Again, bear in mind that you are not promoting yourplan, but rather an idea that seems disconnected from you. There will be no obvious upside for you, and because of this your credibility will be greater.

Demonstrate by doing. Don't be a do-nothing leader; be a colleague who acts instead of just talks. Through your actions, allow others to see what success looks like.

Take joy in the success of others.Redefine success so that it does not entail a slap on the back for yourself, but rather the satisfaction of knowing deep inside that you accomplished an important goal by empowering others to do their best. This is not entirely altruistic behavior; you will be creating the type of world in which you wish to live, and people will eventually form a subconscious sense that everything works better when you are around.

Allow things time to happen. Change takes time. Just because an idea enters your head does not mean that others will react immediately, especially if you are trying to effect change without taking credit. Be persistent but patient.

Remember this: the higher you are in the chain of command, the greater the impact you can have by sharing credit, or giving it away entirely.