Tag Archives: Law School Bound

Toronto Mastering The LSAT Preparation Courses

John Richardson – Mastering The LSAT  – Toronto, Canada – 416 410 7737

Put 30 Years of LSAT Teaching Experience and Law School Admissions Consulting To Work For You!

The only complete LSAT and Law School Application Course!

New Law School Preview Program – Everything you need to know about law school and how to succeed!


Who: John Richardson – Author: Law School Bound and Mastering The LSAT (of the bar of Ontario)

Where: University of Toronto – St. Michael’s College

When: Multiple start dates – Courses starting on any of:  November 16, 23, 30

Continue reading →

Opportunities To Study Law – The Trend Is Your Friend

Opportunities To Study Law


Most people go to law school because they want to become a lawyer. Pre-law students spend much of their time asking the answerable question of: what are the chances of getting into law school? Furthermore, they worry incessantly about Canadian law school rankings. Yet, many pre-law students in Canada are unaware of the range of opportunities available to them. The purpose of this post is to (at the very least) make you aware of the range of opportunities available to  you. It is NOT to give specific advice about programs. Remember that the “trend is always your friend”. Think about my predictions. A global legal practice is becoming the rule rather than the exception. Continue reading →

Character And The Practise Of Law In Ontario

Becoming A Lawyer – It’s A Question of Character

When people think of becoming lawyers, they typically think of:

– law school

– LSAT

– LSAT preparation

– grades

– law school letters of reference

– law school personal statements

It is important to also consider character.

How does one become a lawyer? The requirements are in an Ontario statute called “The Law Society Act”. There is only one statutory requirement (the Law Society makes up the rest in the form of regulations). That requirement is a requirement of “character”. To be specific that S. 27(2) of the Law Society Act states that: Continue reading →

John Richardson Interviewed – “Law School Bound”

Posted on April 1, 2010 by admin

In late March of 2010 I was interviewed about my “Law School Bound” book by Steve  Schwartz (the publisher of  “LSAT Blog“). What follows are the questions and answers.


 

1. You published Law School Bound back in 2006. What new advice do you have for law school applicants today?

Law School Bound was designed to guide people from the decision to attend law school, through the application process, through the bar admission process and into a legal career. The book was designed to “stand the test of time”. Therefore, I wouldn’t give any different advice in 2010. Continue reading →

Thoughts on LSAT Preparation – Let’s call it the “READ” test

Renaming The LSAT – Let’s call it the “READ” Test


Principle: The best acronyms should be descriptive acronyms!

What does the acronym “LSAT” stand for?

LSAT is an acronym that stands for “Law School Admission Test”.

The LSAT is:

– a four letter word;
– a barrier between you and the law school of your choice (or perhaps any law  school)
– a standardized test (every test taker gets the same questions);
– a multiple choice test (rewarding answer identification first and understanding second);
– a long test;
– a test administered under strict time constraints;
–  an important test Continue reading →

Canadian law school rankings and your choice of law school

I have just finished my personal “March Madness” in which I have presented law school admission and free LSAT preparation and law school admission seminars on Ontario university campuses.  I always students to take the LSAT in June or in October at the latest. These are the best LSAT test dates to take advantage of  our Toronto LSAT preparation courses. I am amazed at how much pre-law students   think about the rankings of various law schools.  This (IMHO) is a great mistake.

Rankings are  the last thing you should consider when choosing Canadian law schools. Since, this is an opinion and not a statement of fact, let me explain.

 

Canadian law school rankings – the new kid on the block

Canadian law school rankings are a relatively new phenomenon. For many years:

–        The  Canadian Lawyer law school rankings were the only game in town – they have been replaced with a survey of Canadian law schools;

–        MacLeans started its annual law school rankings a  few years ago

Both rankings attempt to differentiate the 16 common law schools from the civil law schools in Quebec.

Assuming the validity of the rankings (and there is no reason to do so), why would the ranking of a law school, matter potentially to a pre-law student?

Let me suggest two possible answers: Continue reading →

LSAT Logic Games – 8 Essential Skills

Welcome To LSAT Logic Games Dot Calm

The LSAT is a test of reading and reasoning in three different contexts. One of the contexts is called “Analytical Reasoning” or “Logic Games” (LSAT Logical Reasoning and LSAT Reading Comprehension are the other two contexts).

Many LSAT test  takers  experience a high degree of anxiety with the LSAT Logic Games. The good news is that  Logic Games is quite susceptible  to short term improvement.

Reading and Reasoning – The Two Fundamental  Aspects

Reading – Understanding the conditions in Logic Games

Reasoning – Making inferences  with the reasoning that you understand

More people have trouble with the reading and understanding of the conditions than with making inferences  from the conditions.

LSAT  Reality – Time Is A Wasting – You Need to Get Started

Any LSAT teacher or book can explain the answers to Logic Games questions after the fact. Although this has some value,  it is irrelevant. The real  problem is that people either don’t know how to get started or take  so long getting started that they run out of time. You must learn to proceed without the confidence even when you are uncomfortable.

Logic Games – The LSAT Perspective

In April of 2010, Lori Davis, a senior test designer at LSAT, offered a webinar on LSAT Analytical Reasoning. It was very interesting – I wrote a summary of of it.  Read about the Logic Games Webinar here.

Some Basic LSAT Logic Games Skills

Skill 1 – How To Accurately Understand The Conditions Continue reading →

Should you retake the LSAT?

Definition: the words “LSAT Happiness” mean that an LSAT test taker has:

“achieved a score that is high enough that he or she will not be rejected from law school.”

The February LSAT scores are out. There are four groups of score recipients: Continue reading →

The GRE as a possible substitute for the LSAT

4. If either the ABA or the law schools continue to require a “valid and reliable  admission test” what test or tests should  be required? Should  the LSAT be the only game in town?

The general requirement of a “valid and reliable admission test” is not a specific requirement  to  use  the LSAT.  (It is true that the ABA rules require a law school to demonstrate that another test is valid and reliable.) I predict  that there will be  competitors to the LSAT– and it is high time. Continue reading →

The LSAT, Law School Admission, and Role The LSAT Plays in Law School Admission

The LSAT, Law School Admission, and Role The LSAT Plays in Law School Admission

– John Richardson, Toronto Canada

The LSAT  is required by almost every law school in the United States and Canada. (It is interesting that the law schools in Michigan, Illinois and Alabama have not required the LSAT in certain circumstances. It is unclear how this is consistent with the ABA
rules.)

Let’s begin with some sentiment  from the mainstream media:

“Yet it’s well-known among law school applicants that many Canadian schools sort their applications into piles by LSAT score and simply axe off those below a certain percentile. How many brilliant future lawyers are lost below that line, who, for one reason or another, simply can’t handle the LSAT?

It seems to me that there’s some room here for a Canadian law school to set itself apart by announcing a new, more holistic approach to admissions by waiving the LSAT requirement and perhaps doing something like having admissions interviews, which no Canadian law school does, instead, on top of using references and personal statements and extra-curriculars and undergraduate performance. If not for a whole
entering class, then perhaps schools could set aside a certain portion of first-year seats for applicants that do not require the LSAT, like the University of Michigan law school did in 2008. Continue reading →